Office of the Historian

156. National Security Study Memorandum 1111

Washington, December 29, 1970.

TO

  • The Secretary of State
  • The Secretary of Defense
  • The Director of Central Intelligence
[Page 469]

SUBJECT

  • Study of Four Power Negotiations on Berlin and Implications of Ostpolitik

REFERENCES

  • NSDM 91; Chancellor Brandt’s Letter of December 15, 19702
1.
The President wishes to review the four-power negotiations in Berlin and the alternatives we might adopt in the next phase. The review should include (1) a statement of the main issues, and the positions adopted by the USSR, the Western Allies, and where pertinent, the attitude of the West German government; (2) the currently agreed Western position, including fallback positions not presented to the USSR; and (3) the view points of our Allies and Bonn on how to proceed in the next phase. On this basis, the study should present and discuss the various approaches we could adopt on the main issues, and evaluate the effects that would result. This evaluation should build on the policy guidelines outlined in NSDM–91.
2.
This study should be undertaken by a working group established by the Chairman of the European Interdepartmental Group, and should be submitted by January 12, 1971.
3.
The President also wishes a longer term study to cover the consequences of various developments in the Eastern policy of the West German government. This study should assume (a) the success of the Berlin talks and subsequent ratification of the Soviet and Polish treaties, and (b) the failure of the Berlin talks and the consequences. In particular, the study should examine longer term problems such as the problems associated with the international recognition of East Germany, admission to the UN, questions relating to our rights and responsibilities for Berlin and Germany as a whole, domestic problems inside West Germany, our relations with Bonn, and Bonn’s relations with its Western allies, as well as the effects on Soviet policy and Eastern European attitudes under the alternative assumptions.
4.
The same group indicated in paragraph 2, will be charged with this study, with completion by February 10, 1971.
Henry A. Kissinger
  1. Source: National Archives, Nixon Presidential Materials, NSC Files, Box 365, Subject Files, National Security Study Memoranda (NSSM’s) Nos. 104–206. Secret; Nodis. No drafting information appears on the memorandum. A copy was also sent to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Sonnenfeldt forwarded the text as an attachment to a December 18 memorandum to Kissinger; see footnote 1, Document 153.↩
  2. Documents 136 and 145.↩