Office of the Historian

149. Memorandum From Secretary of Defense Brown to the President’s Assistant for National Security Affairs (Brzezinski)1

Washington, March 5, 1977

SUBJECT

  • Conversation with The President on CTB Considerations

At your suggestion, I conveyed my misgivings about the peaceful nuclear explosions loophole in CTB to the President in a conversation yesterday.2 Moreover, I described the JCS position that a ban on nuclear testing would be contrary to our national security interests. I assured him that I would be working on the broadest, most balanced view possible here in the Defense Department.

The President agreed that CTB would be a useful topic for a luncheon discussion by him with the Joint Chiefs, Charles Duncan, you and me.

Harold Brown3
  1. Source: Carter Library, National Security Affairs, Brzezinski Material, Subject File, Box 6, Comprehensive Test Ban (CTB), 3–12/77. Secret.↩
  2. No record of this conversation has been found. According to the President’s Daily Diary, Carter and Brown met from 4:45 to 5:20 p.m. on May 4. (Carter Library, Presidential Materials)↩
  3. Brown signed “Harold” at the end of the memorandum.↩