Office of the Historian

282. Message From the Ambassador to Germany (Rush) to the President’s Assistant for National Security Affairs (Kissinger)1

Bonn, August 9, 1971.

Your message of August 72 was delivered to me by our messenger who came to receive one for you.3 I will supplement that one in this message.

The point you mentioned concerning “may be” in the access section is one of the most difficult in our negotiations. We have been continuously pressing Falin to change this to “will” but without success. As I mentioned in my other message, we have now been able to carry out Brandt’s suggestion to use “will, as a rule,” instead of “may be” in the two cases involved, namely, the examination procedures concerning inspection of sealed conveyances and that concerning the search of person or baggage of travelers.

In the case of sealed conveyances, the Soviets have stated that the GDR insists on having the right to make occasional spot checks in order to be sure that the sealed freight conveyance does not contain weapons or ammunition for military use, narcotic drugs, or other materials which might pose a direct or immediate danger to human or animal life while moving along designated routes. In the case of the [Page 818] individual, the Soviets state that the GDR must be able to protect itself against individuals seeking to travel on the designated routes with weapons, ammunition, narcotic drugs, and the like. The Soviets further insist that the details concerning any such search are to be worked out by the FRG and GDR in their implementing negotiations. While it would be highly desirable to have had “will” instead of “will, as a rule” in the agreement, our best attempts to do so have not been successful, and Bahr and I agree that there is no chance of changing this. In fact, I raised the issue again both last Friday4 and last evening in different forms but without success. We do hope that the issue can be tied down very strictly in the German negotiations.

For your convenience I am attaching the text of the clause as it now reads on access.5

Thanks very much for handling the Consulate General problem. Holding it until last poses to no problem, for in fact I have been repeatedly telling the Russians that this will be the case.

Many thanks for your generous remarks. Little could have been or can be done without your invaluable support and help, for which I am deeply appreciative.

This will be an interesting week, and we can take a full new look when it is over.

  1. Source: National Archives, Nixon Presidential Materials, NSC Files, Kissinger Office Files, Box 59, Country Files, Europe, Ambassador Rush, Berlin, Vol. 2. Top Secret; Sensitive; Exclusively Eyes Only. The message was sent through the special Navy channel in Frankfurt. No time of transmission is on the message; a handwritten note indicates that it was received in Washington at 1949Z.↩
  2. Document 280.↩
  3. Document 281.↩
  4. August 6.↩
  5. Attached but not printed.↩