Office of the Historian

98. Memorandum From the Deputy Secretary of State (Whitehead) to the Legal Adviser of the Department of State (Sofaer)1

Washington, September 29, 1987

I have been pressing Justice to get off the pot and let us go ahead and sign the Torture Protocol. It is embarrassing that the U.S., having initiatied a tough international stand against torture, should now be unwilling to sign the agreement. Justice believes it raises all kinds of legal problems and Arnie Burns tells me Steve Trott2 will now be in touch with you to confirm their views again. This has been going on for months. There are ways, I understand, to express our reservations with a statement at the time of signing that avoids future legal problems. I hope we can resolve the whole thing promptly.

John C. Whitehead3
  1. Source: Department of State, Correspondence of Deputy Secretary John Whitehead, 1982–1989, Lot 89D139, Memos To/From Bureaus—1987. No classification marking.↩
  2. Associate Attorney General Stephen S. Trott.↩
  3. Whitehead initialed JW above his typed signature.↩