Office of the Historian

174. Memorandum From Helmut Sonnenfeldt and Harold H. Saunders of the National Security Council Staff to the President’s Assistant for National Security Affairs (Kissinger) 1 2

Washington, July 10, 1970.

SUBJECT:

  • Turkey and Narcotics

A telegram was sent to Ankara last night instructing Ambassador Handley to return to Washington at the request of the President for consultations, and stating that the President places the highest priority on the drug problem notwithstanding the defense and political components. The cable (Tab A) was approved by Acting Secretary Johnson and was cleared for the White House by Dr. Moynihan. Assuming your office was not consulted, the NSC staff was not informed of it and saw it only after dispatch. We understand that Dr. Moynihan discussed this matter with the President and presented the Presidents views at a meeting on July 8 with Alex Johnson.

This circumstance underscores difficulties facing the bureaucracy on the issue of priorities of interests and tactics with respect to Turkey. This was brought out in the Heroin Task Force meeting of June 9 where there was a difference of opinion on whether and how further bilateral pressure should be applied to Turkey. A more recent example is reflected in the June 29 letter from Acting Secretary Johnson to Secretary Kennedy (Tab B) in which Alex expressed concern that Treasury might refuse to approve the recent Turkish request for PL 480 wheat-on the ground that the Turks have not helped us adequately on the opium issue.

It would seem important at this point to seize upon Ambassador Handley’s return as an opportunity to put the entire issue back into proper channels and to have it resolved. The best method would seem to be to instruct the Working Party of your Task Force to produce papers on the following points:

  • --with respect to Turkey, analysis of the obtainable goals (i.e., elimination of production, or full collection and control), together with alternative methods of achieving these goals taking into account our defense and foreign policy as well as domestic interests;
  • --with respect to France, an assessment of the degree to which France has cooperated with us, and how to achieve more effective assistance (they have been upset over US press stories charging ineffective French help);
  • --alternative positions the Administration might adopt with respect to legislative measures such as the Rodino amendment to the Foreign Assistance Act under which the President is authorized to suspend military or economic assistance to any country failing to prevent narcotics from entering the U.S. (Tab C);
  • --finally, a status report on the efforts to multilateralize the narcotics issue, and to ban natural opium.

The Chairman of the Working Party (Schwartz, State) should be instructed to submit these papers for your review, after which they should be distributed to the members of the Task Force. A Task Force meeting should be scheduled before Ambassador Handley returns to Ankara (around August 1) to reach agreement on these positions. Issues unresolved can be submitted by the Task Force to the President.

This procedure is designed to (a) ensure that the question of priority of interests in Turkey (defense/foreign policy vs. narcotics) is resolved before actions are taken which could inadvertently result in the collapse of the Turkish Government; and (b) to insure that further narcotics activity is channeled through your Task Forces Working Party where all views can be aired in a systematic manner and disputes referred for decision to the Task Force itself.

This issue has come to a point where we are in danger of serious disruption of our relationship with Turkey-including our ability to press for the tightest opium control possible. That is why we are suggesting this means of reasserting your control. We realize that this could put you in conflict with some proponents of narcotics control, but it need not. The issue is really how to pursue that objective in ways that are realistic in the foreign policy context.

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Recommendation: That you agree to this course of action and approve oral instructions to the Working Party (a written memo is unnecessary).

Approve _________ Disapprove __________ Other ________

  1. Source: National Archives, Nixon Presidential Materials, NSC Files, Box 357, Subject Files, Narcotics II. Confidential. Sent for action. Kissinger approved the recommendation on July 14. Tab A was telegram 108993 to Ankara, July 9 (Ibid., Box 663, Country Files, Middle East, Turkey, Vol. II), Tab B was a letter from Johnson to Kennedy, June 29, scheduled to be printed in Foreign Relations, 1969–1976, Eastern Mediterranean and Eastern Europe, 1969–1972, volume XXIX. Tab C was not attached.↩
  2. Sonnenfeldt and Saunders urged Kissinger to re-assert personal control over the international anti-narcotics effort because of the possibility of serious disruption of the U.S.-Turkish relationship.↩