Office of the Historian

126. Memorandum From the Executive Secretary of the Department of State (Tarnoff) to the President’s Assistant for National Security Affairs (Brzezinski)1

Washington, March 11, 1980

SUBJECT

  • Diplomatic Relations with Libya

After the Gafsa raid2 and the February 4 attack on the French Embassy in Tripoli3 we withdrew our Charge and reduced our Embassy staff to two. We now plan to have Charge William Eagleton return to Tripoli on or about March 13 for the purpose of packing up and paying farewell calls on American community leaders, his diplomatic colleagues and appropriate Libyan Government officials.

In the course of his farewell calls on Libyan officials Charge Eagleton will make it clear to them that he is departing permanently and will, in addition, use the talking points at Tab A to explain to them the reasons for this action.4 He will inform the Libyans that we have no wish to slam the door but neither can we maintain a fully functioning Embassy under present circumstances.

There is no plan at present to replace Charge Eagleton with a senior level officer.5 Nonetheless we plan to maintain a small relatively junior staff (5) in Tripoli which can provide basic services to the American community and give us some political and economic reporting.

Meanwhile, we are planning to talk with the Libyan Peoples’ Bureau representative here in Washington about the status of their operations in the United States. While we have no intention of asking them to close down, we plan to insist that they bring their mission [Page 302] into conformity with accepted Vienna Convention norms as outlined in our October 10, 1979 note to the Libyan Government (attached).6

Peter Tarnoff
Executive Secretary
  1. Source: Carter Library, National Security Affairs, Brzezinski Material, Country File, Box 48, Libya: 1/77–1/81. Secret. Brzezinski wrote: “OK. ZB 3/28/80” in the upper right-hand corner. Sent to Brzezinski under a March 17 covering memorandum from Sick, who recommended concurrence with the Department’s proposal. Brzezinski wrote on the note: “ok with me!”↩
  2. See Document 204.↩
  3. In a February 4 memorandum to Carter, Vance wrote: “Both the French Embassy in Tripoli and their Consulate in Benghazi were sacked by Libyan mobs today in actions clearly related to French support for Tunisia.” (Carter Library, National Security Affairs, Brzezinski Material, Subject File, Box 22, Evening Reports (State): 2/80)↩
  4. Brzezinski underlined “Charge Eagleton will make” and “he is departing permanently,” and highlighted this sentence. Tab A, an undated paper entitled “Suggested Talking Points for Eagleton’s Use with the Libyans,” is attached but not printed.↩
  5. Brzezinski underlined this sentence and highlighted the paragraph.↩
  6. Attached; printed as Document 107.↩