Foreign Relations of the United States, 1969–1976, Volume XXXV, National Security Policy, 1973–1976

207. Memorandum for the Record¹

Washington, August 8, 1975, 11:00 a.m.

SUBJECT

• 40 Committee Meeting, 8 August 1975, 11:00 a.m.

Members Present:

• Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs Henry A. Kissinger; Deputy Secretary of Defense William P. Clements; Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Joseph Sisco; Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General George Brown; Director of Central Intelligence William E. Colby.

Also Present:

• Director of INR William Hyland; Deputy Director of CIA William Nelson; Assistant to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Lt. General John W. Pauly; Deputy Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs Lt. General Brent Scowcroft. Deputy Assistant Secretary for African Affairs Edward W. Mulcahy and Chief, Africa Division, CIA, James M. Potts were present for Item No. 1; Assistant Secretary for European Affairs Arthur A. Hartman and Chief, Europe Division, CIA, [name not declassified] were present for Item No. 2; CIA General Counsel John S. Warner was present for Item No. 3.

[Omitted here is discussion unrelated to Project MATADOR.]

3. MATADOR ²

Colby: (Briefed on his MATADOR paper.)³ There are three alternatives: pay the taxes; admit that property belongs to the U.S.; admit that it belongs to CIA.

Kissinger: What is the problem?

Colby: Whether we identify as U.S. property only, or specifically identify as CIA which would reveal an intelligence connection. Justice wants to go the CIA route; we want to identify the U.S. Government as owner.

Scowcroft: Buchen opts for the U.S. route, too.

Colby: Right.

Kissinger: We do not want to identify it as CIA property. Go the U.S. route.

Clements: Henry, we’re still working on this plan of what to do with the equipment. We may want to turn it over to the Navy. Maybe we could identify it as Navy property.

Colby: That won’t be possible. We have to go to court on Monday and we will have to file an affidavit on ownership, and we couldn’t say that it was Navy property.

[Omitted here is discussion unrelated to Project MATADOR.]

1. Source: National Security Council Files, Ford Administration Intelligence Files, 40 Committee Meetings, Minutes/Approvals, 1975. Top Secret; Eyes Only. Drafted by Ratliff.
2. This portion of the memorandum is marked Top Secret; [codeword not declassified]. Not distributed.
3. According to Ratliff’s memorandum for the record, August 8, the 40 Committee “decided that Option ‘a’ [pay the taxes] of the CIA paper on ‘Project MATADOR Tax Exposure,’” August 6, 1975, “was the preferred course to follow in initiating litigation to resist the assessment of taxes against MATADOR contractors.” (Ibid.) The paper was not found.