135. Minutes of Secretary of State Kissinger’s Principals and Regionals Staff Meeting1

[Omitted here are a list of attendees and discussion of unrelated matters.]

Mr. Shlaudeman: Ellsworth will be going down on Friday.2

Secretary Kissinger: Ellsworth will be going down to where? Oh, Ellsworth Bunker —yes.

Mr. Shlaudeman: He’s spent five days so far. The fact that we’re resuming negotiations has been somewhat obscured—at least, to the press. (Laughter.) Nobody’s paid much attention to it.

Secretary Kissinger: Ellsworth is to keep his mouth shut.

Mr. Shlaudeman: He’s only going to listen. That’s all he will do. But I think you can anticipate the Panamanians talk a good deal. They’ll have quite a bit to say.

Secretary Kissinger: Why is he going Friday rather than Monday?

Mr. Shlaudeman: Well, this was the commitment we made to them.

Secretary Kissinger: Oh, no, it wasn’t. I said within two weeks.3

Mr. Shlaudeman: Which you said that we would say publicly within two weeks but which you would get before the end of it.

Secretary Kissinger: I’ll tell you, I’ve got to cut down the number of people coming to my meetings. Come down before when?

Mr. Shlaudeman: Before the end of the following week.

Secretary Kissinger: I don’t remember that. That wasn’t clear to me. That sure as hell wasn’t clear to me. He said before the end of the [Page 359] following week, and I said: “Let’s say within two weeks, and he could come down earlier.”

I don’t see what we gain. The earlier he’s down, the earlier they’ll be blown up.

Mr. Shlaudeman: I agree.

Secretary Kissinger: Therefore, we get him down early. I mean I’m trying to understand the reasoning. I saw him—when?—Thursday.

Mr. Shlaudeman: You saw him Thursday.

Secretary Kissinger: If he had come down on Monday or Tuesday the following week, it would still have been well within the two weeks we talked about.

Mr. Shlaudeman: If he comes down on Friday, it can blow up on Monday. They’ll want to negotiate Saturday.

Secretary Kissinger: No. They’ll stay four or five days.

Mr. Shlaudeman: If you’d like him to put it off until Monday, we can see.

Secretary Kissinger: I would much prefer. The later the better. What do we gain by having this thing blow up?

Mr. Shlaudeman: We don’t.

Mr. Habib: Is it going to blow up, Harry?

Secretary Kissinger: Of course.

Mr. Habib: The latest thing Torrijos said—he made a public statement that he didn’t expect much to be done before public elections. So he seems to be already preparing the public mood for not much progress at this round.

Mr. Shlaudeman: And they know we will not talk about durations but they will talk to us about durations.

Secretary Kissinger: Are we going to talk about anything constructive?

Mr. Shlaudeman: Yes. We can talk about land and water.

Secretary Kissinger: O.K.—if they’ve been promised for Friday. But it wasn’t my impression that that’s what would be done. O.K.4

[Omitted here is discussion of unrelated matters.]

  1. Source: National Archives, RG 59, Transcripts of Secretary of State Kissinger’s Staff Meetings, 1973–1977, Lot 78D443, Box 11, Secretary’s Staff Meeting, October 12, 1976. Secret.
  2. October 15.
  3. Kissinger is referring to his October 7 meeting with Boyd; see Document 134.
  4. Bunker arrived in Panama City on Wednesday, October 20.