Parity, Safeguard, and the SS–9 Controversy


2. National Security Study Memorandum 3

Source: National Archives, Nixon Presidential Materials, NSC Files, Box 365, Subject Files, NSSMs, Nos. 1–42. Secret.


3. National Security Study Memorandum 8

Source: National Archives, Nixon Presidential Materials, NSC Files, Box 365, Subject Files, NSSMs, Nos. 1–42. Top Secret.


4. Notes of Review Group Meeting

Source: National Archives, Nixon Presidential Materials, NSC Files, NSC Institutional Files (H-Files), Box H–111, SRG Meetings Minutes, Originals, 1969. No classification marking. The original is a transcription of handwritten notes in an unknown hand, the only record of the meeting found. The notes do not indicate when the meeting began, but give an ending time of 4:20 p.m. The following attended: Henry A. Kissinger, James Schlesinger, Philip J. Farley, Counselor of the Department of State Richard F. Pedersen, Deputy Director of ACDA Adrian S. Fisher, R. Jack Smith representing the Central Intelligence Agency, Director of USIA Frank Shakespeare, Haakon Lindjord of OEP, Lieutenant General William B. Rosson of the Joint Staff, JCS, Defense Adviser to the U.S. Mission to NATO Ralph Earle II, and Alexander M. Haig, Laurence E. Lynn, Spurgeon Keeny, Helmut Sonnenfeldt, and Morton Halperin of the NSC Staff.


5. Minutes of National Security Council Meeting

Source: National Archives, Nixon Presidential Materials, NSC Files, NSC Institutional Files (H-Files), Box H–109, NSC Meetings Minutes, Originals, 1969. Top Secret; Sensitive. No drafting information appears on the minutes, which incorrectly lists February 10 as the date on which the meeting was held. According to the President’s Daily Diary, the meeting was held on February 12 from 10:36 to 11:52 a.m. in the Fish Room of the White House. The following attended the meeting: President Nixon, Vice President Spiro T. Agnew, Secretary of State William P. Rogers, Melvin R. Laird, Lincoln, Chief of Staff of the USAF General John P. McConnell, Richard Helms, Bryce Harlow, Kissinger, and Lynn. (Ibid., White House Central Files, President’s Daily Diary)


6. Paper Prepared by the National Security Council Staff

Source: National Archives, Nixon Presidential Materials, NSC Files, NSC Institutional Files (H-Files), Box H–20, NSC Meeting, February 14, 1969. Top Secret. No drafting information appears on the paper, which summarizes a 21-page paper, entitled “Strategic Policy Issues,” included in the President’s briefing book for the NSC meeting of February 14. Kissinger sent the complete paper to Agnew, Rogers, Laird, and Lincoln on February 12 to serve as the basis for the NSC’s discussion of strategic policy issues. (Ibid.) The NSC Review Group discussed a draft of the full-length paper during its meeting on February 6. (Ibid., Box H–34, Review Group Meeting, February 6, 1969)


7. Notes of National Security Council Meeting

Source: National Archives, Nixon Presidential Materials, NSC Files, NSC Institutional Files (H-Files), Box H–20, NSC Meeting, February 14, 1969. Top Secret; Sensitive. No drafting information appears on the notes. These notes were transcribed from Alexander Haig’s handwritten notes, which are ibid. According to the President’s Daily Diary, the following attended the meeting, held in the Cabinet Room of the White House: Nixon, Agnew, Rogers, Laird, Secretary of the Treasury David Kennedy, Gerard Smith, Lincoln, Helms, Elliot Richardson, David Packard, General John P. McConnell, Ellis H. Veatch, Director of the Bureau of the Budget’s National Security Programs Division, Kissinger, and Haig. (Ibid., White House Central Files, President’s Daily Diary)


8. Minutes of National Security Council Meeting

Source: National Archives, Nixon Presidential Materials, NSC Files, NSC Institutional Files (H-Files), Box H–109, NSC Meeting Minutes, Originals, 1969. Top Secret; Sensitive. No drafting information appears in the minutes. The participants continued the discussion of strategic policy issues begun during the NSC meeting of February 14. According to the President’s Daily Diary, the following attended the meeting, held in the Cabinet Room of the White House from 10:26 a.m. to 12:26 p.m.: the President, Kissinger, Agnew, Rogers, Laird, David Kennedy, Lincoln, General Earle Wheeler, Helms, Packard, Gerard Smith, and Veatch. (Ibid., White House Central Files, President’s Daily Diary)


9. National Security Study Memorandum 23

Source: National Archives, Nixon Presidential Materials, NSC Files, Box 365, Subject Files, NSSMs, Nos. 1–42. Secret. Copies were sent to Agnew, Rogers, Wheeler, Helms, Lincoln, and Robert Mayo.


10. National Security Study Memorandum 24

Source: National Archives, Nixon Presidential Materials, NSC Files, Box 365, Subject Files, NSSMs, Nos. 1–42. Secret.


11. Memorandum From the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (Wheeler) to Secretary of Defense Laird

Source: Washington National Records Center, OSD Files: FRC 330–75–103, 373.24, Safeguard. Top Secret. No drafting information appears on the memorandum. A stamped note, dated February 27, on the first page reads: “Sec Def has seen.”


13. Memorandum of Conversation

Source: National Archives, Nixon Presidential Materials, NSC Files, Box 1023, President/HAK Memcons, Memcons—The President/Gen. De Gaulle, February 28–March 2, 1969. No classification marking. The meeting took place in the Grand Trianon Palace in Versailles. Nixon traveled in Europe from February 23 through March 2. Presidents de Gaulle and Nixon held discussions focusing on the Soviet Union on February 28; on Germany, Berlin, and the future of Europe during the morning of March 1; and on economic matters on March 2. Memoranda of these conversations are ibid. The record of the talks held on the morning of March 1 is scheduled for publication in Foreign Relations, 1969–1976, volume XLI, Western Europe; NATO, 1969–1972. The memorandum of conversation of the March 1 discussion of economic matters is ibid., volume III, Foreign Economic Policy, 1969–1972; International Monetary Policy, 1969–1972, Document 7. For Nixon’s recollections of these meetings, see Nixon, RN, pp. 371–375.


14. Paper Prepared in the Department of Defense

Source: Ford Library, Laird Papers, Box 27, Safeguard. Secret. No drafting information appears on the paper. This paper was prepared in response to NSSM 23, Document 9. Laird sent it to Kissinger as an attachment to a March 1 covering memorandum. On March 4, Kissinger forwarded it to Agnew, Rogers, Laird, and Lincoln for their consideration prior to the following day’s NSC meeting. Copies were sent to David Kennedy, Mayo, Gerard Smith, Helms, Wheeler, and Richardson. (National Archives, Nixon Presidential Materials, NSC Files, NSC Institutional Files (H-Files), Box H–21, NSC Meeting, FY 70 Defense Budget, March 5, 1969)


15. Memorandum From the President’s Assistant for National Security Affairs (Kissinger) to President Nixon

Source: National Archives, Nixon Presidential Materials, NSC Files, NSC Institutional Files (H-Files), Box H–21, NSC Meeting, FY 70 Defense Budget, March 5, 1969. Top Secret. Sent for action.


16. Minutes of National Security Council Meeting

Source: National Archives, Nixon Presidential Materials, NSC Files, NSC Institutional Files (H-Files), Box H–109, NSC Meeting Minutes, Originals, 1969. Top Secret; Sensitive. No drafting information appears on the minutes. The meeting lasted from 8:42 to 10:32 a.m., was held the Cabinet Room of the White House, and was attended by the President, Kissinger, Vice President Agnew, Rogers, Laird, David Kennedy, Lincoln, Wheeler, Helms, Richardson, Gerard Smith, Mayo, Lee A. DuBridge, Packard, Lynn, and Haig. (Ibid., White House Central Files, President’s Daily Diary)


17. Minutes of Meeting Among the President’s Assistant for National Security Affairs (Kissinger), the Deputy Secretary of Defense (Packard), and Other Department of Defense Officials

Source: National Archives, Nixon Presidential Materials, NSC Files, NSC Institutional Files (H-Files), Box H–109, NSC Meetings Minutes, Originals, 1969. Top Secret; Sensitive. No drafting information appears on the minutes. Also attending were Lynn, Haig, Ralph Earle, Acting Assistant Secretary of Defense (Systems Analysis) Ivan Selin, Deputy Director of the Nuclear Monitoring Research Office Verne Charles Fryklund, Jr., and Director of Defense Research and Engineering John S. Foster, Jr.


18. Paper Prepared by the National Security Council Staff

Source: National Archives, Nixon Presidential Materials, NSC Files, Box 843, ABMMIRV, ABM—Memoranda. Top Secret. No drafting information appears on the paper, but internal evidence indicates that it was drafted by the NSC Staff. A note attached to the paper indicates that it was hand-carried to the President on the evening of March 5. Nixon wrote the following at the bottom of Kissinger’s March 5 covering memorandum: “1) They have closed the gap. 2) They continue to increase. 3) They want to talk. 4) We must see that the gap is not widened on other side.


19. Memorandum From the Under Secretary of State (Richardson) and the Director of the Arms Control and Disarmament Agency (Smith) to Secretary of State Rogers

Source: National Archives, RG 59, Entry No. 5000, S/S–NSC Meeting Files, 1969–70: Lot 71 D 175, Box 3, NSC Meeting, March 5, 1969. Secret. Apparently drafted on March 5. Cleared by Johnson.


20. Memorandum From the Director of the Arms Control and Disarmament Agency (Smith) and the Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs (Johnson) to Secretary of State Rogers

Source: National Archives, RG 59, Entry No. 5000, S/S–NSC Meeting Files, 1969–70: Lot 71 D 175, Box 3, NSC Meeting, March 5, 1969. Top Secret. Drafted by Farley. Printed from a copy that was not initialed by Smith or Johnson. There is no indication on this copy of the memorandum that Rogers saw it.


21. Memorandum From the President’s Assistant for Congressional Relations (Harlow) to President Nixon

Source: National Archives, Nixon Presidential Materials, NSC Files, Box 843, ABMMIRV, ABM—Memoranda. No classification marking.


22. Transcript of Telephone Conversation Between President Nixon and the President’s Assistant for National Security Affairs (Kissinger)

Source: National Archives, Nixon Presidential Materials, NSC Files, Box 489, President’s Trip Files, Dobrynin/Kissinger, 1969. No classification marking. According to the President’s Daily Diary, Nixon spoke with Kissinger from 10:28 to 11:17 p.m. (Ibid., White House Central Files, President’s Daily Diary)


23. Memorandum for the President’s File by the President’s Assistant (Haldeman)

Source: National Archives, Nixon Presidential Materials, White House Special Files, President’s Office Files, Box 77, Memoranda for the President, Beginning March 9, 1969. No classification marking. According to the President’s Daily Diary, the meeting, which lasted from 11:25 a.m. to 12:02 p.m., took place in the Oval Office. (Ibid., White House Central Files)


24. Memorandum From the President’s Special Assistant (Buchanan) to President Nixon

Source: National Archives, Nixon Presidential Materials, White House Special Files, President’s Office Files, Box 77, Memoranda for the President, Beginning March 9, 1969. No classification marking.


26. Memorandum From Secretary of Defense Laird to President Nixon

Source: National Archives, Nixon Presidential Materials, NSC Files, Box 709, Country Files, Europe, USSR, Vol. II. Top Secret; [codeword not declassified]; No Foreign Dissem. Kissinger sent the memorandum to Nixon under a covering memorandum dated April 22. The covering memorandum, in which Kissinger summarized Laird’s points, bears a stamped note that reads, “The President has seen.”


27. National Security Study Memorandum 50

Source: National Archives, Nixon Presidential Materials, NSC Files, Box 365, Subject Files, NSSMs, Nos. 43–103. Secret. Copies were sent to Rogers, Helms, and Mayo.


28. National Security Study Memorandum 57

Source: National Archives, Nixon Presidential Materials, NSC Files, Box 365, Subject Files, NSSMs, Nos. 43–103. Confidential. Copies were sent to Secretary of Transportation John A. Volpe, DuBridge, Gerard Smith, and Wheeler.


29. National Security Study Memorandum 58

Source: National Archives, Nixon Presidential Materials, NSC Files, Box 365, Subject Files, NSSMs, Nos. 43–103. Confidential. Copies were sent to Mayo, DuBridge, Gerard Smith, Wheeler, and Paul W. McCracken, Chairman, Council of Economic Advisers.


30. Memorandum From Director of Central Intelligence Helms to the President’s Assistant for National Security Affairs (Kissinger)

Source: National Archives, Nixon Presidential Materials, NSC Files, Box 845, ABMMIRV, MIRV Test Program. Secret. Haig forwarded this memorandum to the Office of the Secretary of Defense on May 27 and requested comments on it by the following morning. (Ibid.)