Office of the Historian

177. Letter From Senator Frank Church and Senator Jacob Javits to President Carter1

Washington, September 21, 1979
Dear Mr. President:

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee met on September 20, 1979, to consider U.S. arms transfer policy to Morocco and the general situation in northwest Africa. This meeting was held in response to your Administration’s request for the Committee’s advice on this matter.

After a thorough discussion of the issues, the Committee came to the following conclusions:

(1) The United States should reaffirm its strong disposition in favor of a negotiated settlement to the Saharan conflict and should begin a concerted diplomatic initiative to find a negotiated settlement.

(2) The United States should appoint a seasoned American ambassador to Morocco of the kind most suitable to open communications again between the United States and King Hassan.

(3) The United States should furnish Morocco with weapons suitable for the defense of that country and as an expression of support for the Moroccan Government. These weapons should be furnished for the defense of Morocco, but we recognize that such weapons might be used in the Saharan conflict.2 The United States should make it clear that provisions of these weapons is not an American endorsement of Morocco’s policy in the Sahara and therefore the United States should not provide weapons that would be suitable only for counterinsurgency operations in the Western Sahara.3

The Committee unanimously supported the first two findings above and approved the third by a vote of 6 to 3 with one abstention.

The Committee also wishes to express its satisfaction at the way in which your Administration conducted consultations on this matter.

With best wishes,

Sincerely,

  • Jacob K. Javits
    Ranking Minority Member
  • Frank Church
    Chairman
  1. Source: Carter Library, National Security Council, Institutional Files, Box 78, PRC 127, 10/16/79, North Africa. Unclassified.↩
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