Office of the Historian

208. Summary of Conclusions of a Special Coordination Committee Meeting1

Washington, February 6, 1980, 9–10:05 a.m.

SUBJECT

  • Pakistan/Saudi Arabia

PARTICIPANTS

  • State

    • Warren Christopher
    • David Newsom
    • Matthew Nimetz
    • Richard Cooper*
    • Peter Constable
    • George Vest*

  • OSD

    • Secretary Harold Brown
    • W. Graham Claytor
    • William Perry*
    [Page 672]

    JCS

    • General David Jones
    • General John Pustay

  • CIA

    • Frank Carlucci

  • White House

    • Zbigniew Brzezinski
    • David Aaron
    • Henry Owen
    • Lloyd Cutler
    • Hedley Donovan

  • NSC

    • Gary Sick
    • Thomas Thornton
    • Robert Blackwill
    • * Present for last ten minutes only

The meeting was devoted almost entirely to a report by Dr. Brzezinski and Mr. Christopher on their mission to Pakistan and Saudi Arabia.2 Dr. Brzezinski noted that the assessment of the situation by both Pakistan and Saudi Arabia is graver than ours. They both see Soviet actions as part of a deliberate strategic challenge to the U.S. and the region.

[Omitted here is material related to Pakistan.]

In Saudi Arabia, the mission was struck by the change of mood from a year ago. The Saudi response to our proposals for a closer security relationship was much more positive. Both the Saudis and the Pakistanis seem to have reacted very positively to the President’s State of the Union address and the explicit security commitment which it announced.3 The Saudis took an alarmist view of the situation in the PDRY, including a report of Soviet and Cuban troop exercising there which we cannot confirm. [4 lines not declassified]. The Saudis complained about the slowness and inadequacy of the U.S. response to their requests for advanced military equipment. They outlined the levels of aid they were prepared to provide to Pakistan but asked that these numbers be very tightly held and, if necessary, that the actual levels be revealed by the Pakistanis rather than us. They were bitter in their condemnation of Sadat’s attacks on the Saudi leadership, and they made a very persuasive argument that progress on the Palestinian issue is critical to progress in security and other fields. (S)

Our side raised with the Saudis and the Pakistanis the possibility of joint military exercises and use of facilities in the region. The Saudis did not reply directly, but Dr. Brzezinski and Mr. Christopher felt that the attitude was basically positive. (S)

[Omitted here is material related to Pakistan.]

  1. Source: Carter Library, National Security Council, Institutional Files, Box 108, SCC 269, 02/06/80, Pakistan/Saudi Arabia. Secret. The meeting took place in the White House Situation Room. The minutes are not attached and were not found. Carter initialed the first page.↩
  2. See Document 207.↩
  3. See Document 45.↩