Office of the Historian

22. Memorandum From the President’s Assistant for National Security Affairs (Kissinger) to President Nixon1

Washington, May 5, 1969.

SUBJECT

  • Military Contingency Plans for Strikes on North Korea

In accordance with your request,2 the Department of Defense has forwarded a series of contingency plans for strikes on North Korean targets (enclosure 1).3 The plans include concept proposals for the following:

[6 paragraphs (43 lines) not declassified]

The JCS considered striking [less than 1 line not declassified] other remunerative military targets (Tab G) but recommend against such [2 lines not declassified].

The JCS analysis (Enclosure 1) concludes that:

[4 paragraphs (11 lines) not declassified]

The JCS recommends: [5 lines not declassified]

[1 paragraph (10 lines) not declassified]

  1. Source: National Archives, Nixon Presidential Materials, NSC Files, Box 435, Korea; EC–121 Shootdown, North Korean Reconnaissance Shootdown—Contingency Plan, Vol. I Haig. Top Secret; Sensitive. A notation on the memorandum indicates Nixon saw it.↩
  2. On April 26, Nixon issued NSSM 53, which “directed that a full range of military contingency plans be prepared in the event of future provocations by North Korea.” (Ibid., Box 365, Subject Files, National Security Study Memoranda, Nos. 43–103) On May 1, Kissinger sent a memorandum to Rogers, Laird, and Helms, indicating that Nixon had rescinded NSSM 53 since NSSM 34 (Document 4) called for long-range contingency studies. (Washington National Records Center, RG 330, OSD Files: FRC 72 A 6308, Box 1, NSSMs, General Files, 040, NSC, July 1969)↩
  3. All tabs and enclosures are attached but not printed.↩