SALT II, 1972–1980
151. Letter From Soviet General Secretary Brezhnev to President Carter
Source: Carter Library, National Security Affairs, Staff Material, Office, Box 69, USSR: Brezhnev-Carter Correspondence, 1–2/77. No classification marking. Unofficial translation. Brzezinski noted in his memoirs that Brezhnev’s letter was received on February 25. (Brzezinski, Power and Principle, p. 154)
152. Minutes of a Meeting of the Special Coordination Committee
Source: Carter Library, National Security Affairs, Brzezinski Material, Brzezinski Office File, Subject Chron File, Box 113, SALT: 3–4/77. Top Secret; Sensitive. The meeting took place in the White House Situation Room.
153. Letter From Soviet General Secretary Brezhnev to President Carter
Source: Carter Library, National Security Affairs, Staff Material, Office, Box 69, USSR, Brezhnev-Carter Correspondence, March to April 1977. No classification marking. Unofficial translation.
154. Memorandum From the President’s Assistant for National Security Affairs (Brzezinski) to President Carter
Source: Carter Library, National Security Affairs, Brzezinski Material, Subject File, Box 55, SALT: Chronology: 1/24/77–3/24/77. Top Secret; Sensitive. Sent for information. All Tabs except Tab H are not attached; all Tabs are not printed.
155. Memorandum of Conversation of a Meeting of the National Security Council
Source: Carter Library, National Security Affairs, Brzezinski Material, Subject File, Box 55, SALT: Chronology: 1/24/77–3/24/77. Secret; Sensitive. All brackets, except those inserted by the editor to indicate omissions, are in the original. The meeting took place in the Cabinet Room of the White House.
156. Presidential Directive/NSC–7
Source: Carter Library, National Security Affairs, Staff Material, Office, NSC Meetings, Box 26, Institutional File, #1500s–1800s, 2–4/77. Top Secret. Also sent to the Director of the Arms Control and Disarmament Agency, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the Director of Central Intelligence.
158. Memorandum From the President’s Assistant for National Security Affairs (Brzezinski)
Source: Carter Library, National Security Affairs, Brzezinski Material, Subject File, Box 55, SALT: Chronology: 3/25/77–5/9/77. Top Secret; Sensitive; Eyes Only. Also sent to the Secretary of State, the Secretary of Defense, the Chairmen of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the Director of Central Intelligence, and the Director of the Arms Control and Disarmament Agency. The memorandum was not signed by Brzezinski, but on April 9 Aaron, with Brzezinski’s concurrence, sent a memorandum to Carter explaining that while the SCC discussion did not merit a PD or PRM, it should serve as guidance for further action. Carter approved it and its distribution. (Ibid.)
159. Memorandum From Robert Hunter of the National Security Council Staff to the President’s Assistant for National Security Affairs (Brzezinski)
Source: Carter Library, National Security Affairs, Brzezinski Material, Subject File, Box 55, SALT: Chronology: 3/25/77–5/9/77. Top Secret; Sensitive. Also at the meeting, which lasted from 4 to 4:40 p.m., were Mondale, Vance, Brzezinski, and Hunter. The memorandum of conversation of the meeting is ibid.
160. Memorandum From the President’s Assistant for National Security Affairs (Brzezinski) to President Carter
Source: Carter Library, National Security Affairs, Brzezinski Material, Subject File, Box 55, SALT: Chronology: 3/25/77–5/9/77. Top Secret.
161. Memorandum From the President’s Assistant for National Security Affairs (Brzezinski) to President Carter
Source: Library of Congress, Manuscript Division, Harold Brown Papers, Box 11, Harold Brown–Private File, SALT 1977. Top Secret; Sensitive. Sent for action. Carter wrote at the top of the first page: “Zbig—Let’s set up mtg soon—Me, you, Cy, Harold, VP, Paul.” For the account of that meeting, see Document 163.
162. Memorandum From William E. Odom of the National Security Council Staff to the President’s Assistant for National Security Affairs (Brzezinski)
Source: Carter Library, National Security Affairs, Brzezinski Material, Subject File, Box 52, SALT: 3–4/77. Secret. Sent for information. Brzezinski wrote at the top of the first page of the memorandum: “good, ZB.”
163. Memorandum of a Meeting
Source: Carter Library, National Security Affairs, Brzezinski Material, Subject File, Box 55, SALT: Chronology: 3/25/77–5/9/77. Top Secret; Sensitive. The President met on April 23 with his advisers from 9:30 to 11:20 a.m. in the White House Cabinet Room. (Ibid., Presidential Materials, President’s DailyDiary) In an April 25 memorandum to Carter, Brzezinski sent these “decision minutes” of the meeting for the President’s approval as “guidance to Vance and Warnke only for present exploratory talks.” Carter approved and wrote “correct” next to the language on exploratory talks. Brzezinski also attached an April 25 memorandum from Harold Brown to the President expressing concerns about the strategy. Brzezinski agreed with several of Brown’s points, especially that the two-year limit might become permanent and that the U.S. negotiating technique might result in too much speculation among the Soviet leadership about U.S. concessions and too little about Soviet concessions. (Ibid., National Security Affairs, Brzezinski Material, Subject File, Box 55, Chronology: 3/25/77–5/9/77) Brown’s memorandum is ibid.
164. Memorandum From Secretary of State Vance and the Director of the Arms Control and Disarmament Agency (Warnke) to President Carter
Source: Carter Library, National Security Affairs, Brzezinski Material, Subject File, Box 55, SALT: Chronology: 3/25/77–5/9/77. Top Secret. Carter wrote at the top of the first page: “Cy—It is a time for inflexibility, and for them to make specific proposals. The 2-year limit on Backfire, SLBM, GLCM, & large missiles are necessary window dressing & show good faith. J.”
165. Paper Prepared by the National Security Council Staff
Source: Carter Library, National Security Affairs, Brzezinski Material, Subject File, Box 52, SALT: 3–4/77. Top Secret; Sensitive. Brzezinski sent this paper to Carter under cover of an April 30 memorandum, noting that he had his “systems analysis people do a short analysis of the new SALT TWO concept.” He also included a table comparing the new proposal to the comprehensive proposal and the current Soviet position, which is printed as an attachment below. Carter wrote on this covering memorandum: “Good analysis. J.” (Ibid.)
166. Memorandum Prepared in the Central Intelligence Agency
Source: Carter Library, National Security Affairs, Brzezinski Material, Subject File, Box 55, SALT: Chronology: 3/25/77–5/9/77. Top Secret. This memorandum is unsigned and without attribution. Carter wrote “Zbig—excellent. J” at the top of the first page.
168. Memorandum From Roger Molander and Victor Utgoff of the National Security Council Staff to the President’s Assistant for National Security Affairs (Brzezinski)
Source: Carter Library, National Security Affairs, Brzezinski Material, Subject File. Box 52, SALT: 5–6/77. Top Secret; Sensitive. Sent for information.
169. Memorandum From Director of Central Intelligence Turner to President Carter
Source: Carter Library, National Security Affairs, Brzezinski Material, Subject File, Box 52, SALT: 5–6/77. Secret; Sensitive. Carter wrote a note on the top of the first page asking Brzezinski to give copies to Vance and Warnke. In a June 6 memorandum to Brzezinski, Hyland characterized this CIA memorandum as a “disappointing and cautious piece of analysis” that simply stated the Soviet position and suggested that nothing more could be expected except “some minor tuning.” Hyland concluded that the “Soviets have only begun to reveal their bargaining position, and they will take the negotiations down to the wire in September.” Then, Hyland believed, “we will discover the bottom line.” (Ibid., Brzezinski Donated Material, Geographic File, Box 17)
170. Memorandum From the President’s Assistant for National Security Affairs (Brzezinski) to President Carter
Source: Department of State, RG 59, Files of Secretary of State Vance, 1977–1980, Lot File 84D241, Box 10, Vance EXDIS Mem-cons. Top Secret; Exdis. Carter initialed the memorandum.
171. Summary of Conclusions of a Special Coordination Committee Meeting
Source: Carter Library, National Security Affairs, Brzezinski Material, Brzezinski Office File, Subject Chronology, Box 113, SALT: 5–6/77. Top Secret; Sensitive. The meeting took place in the White House Situation Room.
172. Memorandum of Conversation
Source: Carter Library, National Security Affairs, Brzezinski Material, Subject File, Box 33, Memcons: Brzezinski: 1–9/77. Top Secret. The meeting took place at the White House. The memorandum of conversation is scheduled to be printed in full in Foreign Relations, 1977–1980, Vol. VI, Soviet Union.
173. Summary of Conclusions of a Special Coordination Committee Meeting
Source: Department of State, RG 59, Files of Secretary of State Vance, 1977–1980, Lot File 84D241, Vance NODIS Memcons, 1977. Top Secret; Sensitive. The meeting took place in the White House Situation Room. Brzezinski sent this Summary of Conclusions to Vance under cover of a memorandum dated July 11. (Ibid.)
174. Memorandum From President Carter to Vice President Mondale, Secretary of State Vance, and Secretary of Defense Brown
Source: Carter Library, National Security Affairs, Brzezinski Material, Subject File, Box 55, SALT: Chronology: 8/9–31/77. Top Secret; Sensitive. Also sent to the Secretary of State, the Secretary of Defense, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the Director of Central Intelligence, and the Director of the Arms Control and Disarmament Agency.
175. Memorandum From Secretary of State Vance and the Director of the Arms Control and Disarmament Agency (Warnke) to President Carter
Source: Carter Library, National Security Affairs, Brzezinski Material, Subject File, Box 52, SALT: 7–9/77. Secret.
176. Memorandum From the President’s Assistant for National Security Affairs (Brzezinski) to President Carter
Source: Carter Library, National Security Affairs, Brzezinski Material, Subject File, Box 55, SALT: Chronology: 8/9–31/77. Top Secret; Sensitive.
177. Memorandum From Vice President Mondale to President Carter
Source: Carter Library, National Security Affairs, Brzezinski Material, Subject File, Box 52, SALT: 7–9/77. Secret. Sent for information. The memorandum was not initialed by Mondale, but Carter wrote “Fritz—Sounds good pending detailed analysis—Simplicity is a major attraction for me. J” at the top of the first page.
178. Memorandum for the Record
Source: Carter Library, NSC Institutional Files, Box 55, NSC 7, SALT, 9/6/77. Secret; Sensitive. The meeting took place in the Cabinet Room.
179. Presidential Directive/NSC–20
Source: Library of Congress, Manuscript Division, Harold Brown Papers, Box 11, Box 55, Harold Brown–Private File, SALT 1977. Top Secret. Also sent to the President’s Assistant for National Security Affairs, the Director of the Arms Control and Disarmament Agency, the Chairman of the Joint Chief of Staff, and the Director of Central Intelligence. In an undated memorandum, Brzezinski sent this Presidential Directive for Carter’s approval. Carter approved the PD and wrote: “ok, but the joint limit of MLBM & ALCM/B of 100–300 not indicated. J.” (Ibid.)
180. Memorandum From President Carter to Secretary of State Vance and the Director of the Arms Control and Disarmament Agency (Warnke)
Source: Carter Library, National Security Affairs, Brzezinski Material, Subject File, Box 55, SALT: Chronology: 8/9–31/77. Top Secret; Sensitive. A handwritten note on the memorandum indicates it was sent on September 9.