65. Memorandum From the Acting Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs (Slocombe) to Secretary of Defense Brown1
SUBJECT
- Soviet Forces in Cuba
At the noon briefing, State’s spokesman (Hodding Carter) made the attached statement on the Cuban forces.2 It parallels what Dave Newsom used in talking to the majority and minority leaders of the Senate and House and the chairmen and ranking members of the Foreign Relations Committees last night. Carter was also to use a later version of the attached Q&As in answer to questions and to refrain from further comment.
There has been no formal contact with the leadership of the Armed Services Committees. Newsom suggested you might want to call the chairmen and ranking republicans. In view of the formal State announcement and the leaks, there is nothing new to be said to them, but I think the gesture might still be appreciated—and could be useful: If you call you are likely to be asked what we plan to do. I suggest you answer by
—noting that we agree that, as the statement says, the forces are not a military threat to the US,
—they are a matter of concern on broader grounds,
—we have raised the issue with the Soviets and are carefully considering our next steps (FYI: NSC now expects a principals-level meeting on Wednesday.)3
[Page 133]—it is important that we not over react and put ourselves in the position of making demands that go beyond our real interests and on which we are not prepared to follow through.
It would, I believe, be highly desirable if the armed services committee leadership were sensitized (more than well-known hawk Frank Church seems to be) to the danger of blustering demands we can’t (and perhaps shouldn’t) back up.4
In sum, I think that the calls would be worth the effort. They might also give you some sense of the congressional reaction to the problem. (Newsom informs me that Church’s reaction was not shared by all his colleagues: Javits and Zablocki said they were concerned about “pressures to over-react.” Stone will issue a statement which he told Newsom will say he feels the US should indicate its strong opposition, and that he considers that this force is a matter of concern because it could be “leading to the establishment of a base.” Given the importance of what’s a “base” in terms of the President’s commitment, that’s a quite moderate position.)
Acting Assistant Secretary of Defense International Security Affairs
- Source: Washington National Records Center, Records of the Office of the Secretary of Defense, the Deputy Secretary of Defense, and the Special Assistants to both, FRC 330–82–0205, Cuba, Jan–Aug 1979. No classification marking. A stamped notation on the first page reads, “Dep. Sec has seen.”↩
- Attached but not printed. For the text, see the Department of State Bulletin, October 1979, p. 63. See also Newsom, The Soviet Brigade in Cuba, p. 35.↩
- See Document 67.↩
- At the bottom of the page, an unknown hand wrote, “Recently confirmed 2000–3000 combat troops in Cuba.”↩