78. Memorandum From the Deputy U.S. Negotiator (Bell) to the Assistant Secretary of State for Inter-American Affairs (Rogers)1
Panama: State of Play
The NSC staff has decided not to issue any guidance to Defense or State as a result of the meeting with the President.
Rather, Defense is to take the initiative in putting forward a proposal whereby (a) unilateral actions would be employed to relieve pressures while (b) negotiations are stretched out as a prelude to (c) a delay in submitting the treaty for ratification until early 1977.2
This exercise is apparently underway, but no due-date has been fixed. There are reports that Action Officers in the Defense Department have been told to “take their time” about it.
The Negotiators will wait to see what, if anything, emerges from Defense in the coming days. Ingersoll and Bunker, who have talked several times, have agreed to talk again upon Bunker’s return to the Department Wednesday morning from a Seattle-Vermont trip. (I return to Washington this Friday evening from the Seattle trip).3
But we are already prepared to counter the Defense proposal. Our position would run generally along the lines of the attached draft—which it would be useful for you to read as background, although I [Page 222] am revising it to “stretch out” the negotiation somewhat further and to identify an outer-limit to the stretch-out.4
One probable problem with the Defense proposal is that it will come down for unilateral actions and stretched-out negotiations, yet will not offer what will make any negotiations—stretched-out or not—possible: a relaxation of the guidance. We believe it is more and more clear that Defense will have to be ordered by the President to “give” on lands and on duration, despite what Clements said at the NSC meeting.
This panorama has been complicated by what the Secretary mentioned to Lievano on Saturday5—which has surely got back to the Panamanians by now. I believe they will read the Secretary’s query, correctly or not, as a strong indication that he wishes he could escape from the negotiation. (I have briefed Bill Jorden, by secure means, of what I know of the Lievano conversation, so that he can be alert to reactions.)
A further complication is that Clements reportedly spread the word to senior Defense officers Monday6 that State and Defense had reached an agreement:
—42 years for duration (defense)
—no signed treaty until April 1977
The Negotiators have no background on any such agreement.
Concluding:
—our friends in Defense, who are reliable, will keep us posted on developments.
—if there is inordinate delay, we may want to put forward our own paper.
—our position vis-à-vis the Panamanians is becoming more tenuous as the Negotiators’ absence from Panama grows increasingly protracted and reports of the Secretary’s intentions reach them.
—you should note Bunker’s memorandum based on a talk with Ingersoll, also attached.7
[Page 223]Mindful of your asking to be advised when and how to help, I can think of no profitable action during your one-day stopover in Washington—except perhaps to talk to Ingersoll to see if he has any thoughts. We will report any significant developments to you in Tokyo.
- Source: National Archives, RG 84, American Embassy, Panama, Panama Canal Treaty Negotiation Files, Lot 81F1, Box 125, POL 33.3–2/Jurisdiction, 1975. Secret; Sensitive; Stadis; Nodis.↩
- See Document 79.↩
- While Bunker was in Seattle, he addressed the Rainier Club on the treaty negotiations. For the text of his May 22 address, see the Department of State Bulletin, June 23, 1975, pp. 859–864.↩
- A draft paper, undated, entitled “U.S-Panama Treaty Negotiations,” is attached but not printed. In the draft, Bell wrote: “They [unilateral actions] would prevent neither confrontation nor censure. And if they could be moved through the Congress, which is doubtful, they would rob future negotiators of the best bargaining chips. Conclusion of a treaty seems possible if the President relaxes sufficiently the negotiation instructions.”↩
- In telegram 117309 to Bogota, May 20, the Department transmitted a summary of Kissinger’s meeting with Lievano on Saturday, May 17. (National Archives, RG 59, Central Foreign Policy File, D750177–0365)↩
- May 19.↩
- The May 19 memorandum of a telephone conversation between Bunker and Ingersoll is attached but not printed. Regarding Kissinger’s meeting with Lievano: “Secretary Kissinger asked Foreign Minister Lievano whether latter thought we could come to agreement with Panama without formal treaty signing. Lievano replied that ‘you must find a way to give Panama some security.”’↩
- Bell initialed “SMB” above his typed signature.↩