Office of the Historian

229. National Security Study Memorandum 1351

Washington, July 17, 1971.

TO

  • The Secretary of State
  • The Secretary of Defense
  • The Director of Central Intelligence
  • Administrator, Agency for International Development

SUBJECT

  • Policy Toward Malta

The President has directed that a comprehensive review of U.S. policy toward Malta be undertaken. The study should identify U.S. interests in Malta and consider inter alia the implications of the following factors and developments for those interests:

—Foreign policy objectives of the Mintoff administration;

—Maltese domestic needs;

—UK-Maltese relationship;

—Malta’s relations with other countries, including Germany, Italy, Libya and the USSR—and the USSR’s intentions toward Malta;

—the need for NATO presence on Malta, political and military factors to be weighed in removing that presence, and possible political relationships between NATO and Malta;

—the nature of U.S. strategic interests in Malta;

—present and possible Maltese demands on the U.S.

The study should present options for U.S. policy and programs to advance or protect U.S. interests in Malta. The President has directed that the study be undertaken by an ad hoc group comprising representatives of the addressees of this memorandum and representatives of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the NSC staff, and under the chairmanship of the representative of the Department of State. The study should be forwarded no later than August 2, 1971, for consideration by the Senior Review Group.

Henry A. Kissinger
  1. Source: National Archives, Nixon Presidential Materials, NSC Files, Box 622, Country Files—Middle East, Malta, Vol. I. Secret. A copy was also sent to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.↩