Office of the Historian

136. Memorandum From Gary Sick of the National Security Council Staff to the President’s Deputy Assistant for National Security Affairs (Aaron)1

Washington, September 17, 1980

SUBJECT

  • Libya

The attached is a speech which Qadhafi made yesterday—the same date as the apparent hostile intercept of the U.S. reconnaissance aircraft.2 The tone of the speech is bellicose in the extreme, and it lends substance to the seriousness of the Libyan reaction.

The last paragraph, in particular, is a virtual call for war with the United States, referring to the forthcoming exercise as an invasion of the Arab homeland. Given the nature of this speech, we would probably be well advised to assume that the attack yesterday was real and that Qadhafi may in fact be planning some kind of suicide mission in conjunction with our exercise.3

I have talked to State (Draper) who is intensely aware of the risks. (State is having some psychiatrists examine Qadhafi’s recent words and behavior on the grounds that he may have finally gone totally insane.) However, Draper believes—and so do I—that we should proceed with the exercise.

You may wish to have another meeting this week to go over the rules of engagement, military options, and risks prior to the commencement of the exercise this weekend.4 We should take every possible precaution.

  1. Source: Carter Library, National Security Affairs, Staff Material, Middle East, Subject File, Box 61, Libya: 9–10/80. Secret. Aaron wrote “Send a copy to Pustay” in the upper right-hand corner and initialed the memorandum.↩
  2. Attached but not printed.↩
  3. Aaron underlined “some kind of suicide mission in conjunction with our exercise,” and placed an asterisk in the right-hand margin.↩
  4. Aaron drew a line from this sentence and wrote beneath the paragraph: “YES Set it up.”↩