49. Editorial Note

On January 18, 1971, President Nixon sent a memorandum to the Secretaries of State, Treasury, Agriculture, Commerce, and Labor; the Director of the Office of Management and Budget; the Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers; the President’s Assistant for National Security Affairs; the Executive Director of the Domestic Council; and the Special Trade Representative establishing a Council on International Economic Policy (CIEP). The President would chair the Council (in his absence the Secretary of State would chair the meetings), and the addressees of the memorandum were the Council’s members. The President’s memorandum was released to the public on January 19; see Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: Richard M. Nixon, 1971, pages 40-41. The memorandum and additional documentation on the establishment of the CIEP are scheduled for publication in a forthcoming Foreign Relations volume on the Organization and Management of Foreign Policy. Peter Peterson was named the first Director of the CIEP.

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On February 1 Secretary of Defense Laird requested that the Department of Defense be represented on the CIEP, in part because of the balance-of-payments linkage with burden-sharing and offset negotiations. (Memorandum from Laird to Kissinger, February 1; National Archives, Nixon Presidential Materials, NSC Files, Agency Files, Box 226, DOD 12/1/70-2/23/71) In a February 19 memorandum to White House Staff Assistant John Campbell, Kissinger noted that Laird’s request was reasonable but doubted the CIEP would have sufficient military or security business to warrant a permanent Defense Department member. Kissinger suggested getting Peterson’s opinion before making a decision on Laird’s request. (Ibid.) At least in part because of concerns about NSC control, Kissinger on July 17 sent a memorandum to Peterson, who had some sympathy with the idea, opposing Defense Department participation in the CIEP. (Ibid., Box 218, CIEP) On August 9, however, Peterson sent a memorandum to the CIEP members, including the Secretary of Defense, stating the President’s decision that the Secretary of Defense should be a member of the Council and that the Department of Defense would participate fully in the Council’s work. (Ibid.)