Foreign Relations of the United States, 1969-1976, Volume XIX, Part 2, Japan, 1969-1972

63. Memorandum From the President’s Assistant for National Security Affairs (Kissinger) to Secretary of Defense Laird¹

Washington, December 5, 1970.

SUBJECT

• Relocation of Chemical Munitions from Okinawa to Johnston Island

The President has been informed of your plans regarding the relocation of chemical munitions from Okinawa to Johnston Island.² The President agrees that these plans should go forward as soon as a favorable report of the Council on Environmental Quality to Defense is in hand.

Additionally, the President has directed that a priority effort be made to ensure that appropriate facilities are constructed and all the munitions moved as soon as possible so that delay between the initial and final shipments will be kept to an absolute minimum and preferably not extending beyond July 1, 1971.³

The President has noted that an assessment of the importance of these particular stocks, requested on June 8, 1970, has not been provided. He has asked that this assessment be forwarded for his consideration not later than January 15, 1971.⁴

Henry A. Kissinger

1. Source: National Archives, Nixon Presidential Materials, NSC Files, Box 554, Country Files, Far East, Okinawa, Vol. I, 1969 and 1970. Secret; Eyes Only. Haig received this memorandum under a December 2 covering memorandum from Guhin. (Ibid.) Copies were sent to Davis, Behr, Kennedy, and Holdridge.
2. In a December 1 memorandum, Laird told Kissinger that the Department of Defense planned to relocate chemical weapons from Okinawa to Johnston Island in two phases, with a small, initial shipment occurring in January 1971 and a second shipment of the remaining weapons following the construction of chemical weapon storage facilities toward the end of 1971. (Ibid.)
3. On December 30 Packard reported in a memorandum to Kissinger that accelerating the transfer of chemical weapons from Okinawa to Johnston Island would cost an additional $5.89 million. (Washington National Records Center, RG 330, OASD/ISA Files: FRC 330–73A–1975, Box 22, Okinawa, 384) Because of Okinawan concern that the proposed route for the January shipment brought chemical weapons into the vicinity of populated areas, the United States ultimately used an alternate route to remove the last of them from Okinawa in September 1971. (New York Times, September 11, 1971, p. 5; memorandum from Under Secretary of the Army Thaddeus R. Beal to Laird, April 2, 1971; Washington National Records Center, RG 330, OSD Files: FRC 330–76–197, Box 66, Johnston Island, 370.64; and attached proposed memorandum from Laird to Kissinger, undated, ibid.)
4. A disagreement between JCS and OSD delayed the assessment that the President requested. The JCS asserted that the chemical weapons stored on Okinawa were an important deterrent to Soviet aggression; the staff of the OSD argued that the chemical weapons on Okinawa, which were slated to be moved to Johnston Island, were not essential to the U.S. chemical weapons deterrent and would be difficult to employ effectively during an emergency. (Philip Odeen to Laird, January 21, 1971; ibid., OSD Files: FRC 330–76–207, Box 10, Johnston Island, 370.64)