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  4. Document 28

28. National Security Decision Memorandum 471

Washington, March 9, 1970.

TO

  • The Vice President
  • The Secretary of State
  • The Secretary of Defense
  • The Secretary of the Treasury
  • The Attorney General
  • The Secretary of Commerce
  • The Director, Office of Emergency Preparedness

SUBJECT

  • U.S. Policy Toward Rhodesia

The President has decided to close the U.S. Consulate in Rhodesia in response to the request of the Government of the United Kingdom.

The President has directed that the announcement of our withdrawal be consistent with our previous public position on the question of the presence of our Consulate in Salisbury. The maintenance of the [Page 77] Consulate did not imply recognition of the regime in Rhodesia. Withdrawal is a response to the request of the legal sovereign power in Rhodesia, the United Kingdom.

The President also has directed an urgent review of all existing regulations implementing UN sanctions against Rhodesia and all pending applications for imports from Rhodesia, especially with respect to imports of chrome ore. This review should examine alternative revisions in these regulations designed to minimize penalties to U.S. firms acting in good faith, while at the same time meeting U.S. legal obligations under our adherence to UN sanctions against Rhodesia.

This review should be conducted by an ad hoc group comprising representatives of the Secretaries of State, Defense, Treasury and Commerce, the Attorney General, the Director of the Office of Emergency Preparedness, and the Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs. The group should be chaired by the representative of the Secretary of State. The study should be submitted to the President by March 27, 1970.

The President has instructed the security classification and very limited distribution of this memorandum be observed scrupulously.

Henry A. Kissinger
  1. Source: National Archives, Nixon Presidential Materials, NSC Files, NSC Institutional Files (H-Files), Box H–214, National Security Decision Memoranda, NSDM 47. Secret; Nodis. Haig initialed the memorandum. Copies were sent to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Director of Central Intelligence.↩