Office of the Historian

326. Memorandum From the President’s Assistant for National Security Affairs (Kissinger) to the Chairman of the Council on Environmental Quality (Train)1 2

Washington, August 4, 1972.

SUBJECT:

  • Implementation of US-Soviet Environmental Agreement

This is in reply to the CEQ memoranda of May 30 forwarding recommendations on implementation of the US-Soviet Agreement on Cooperation in the Field of Environmental Protection signed by the President in’ Moscow on May 23.

The President has requested the Under Secretaries Committee to monitor implementation of bilateral US-Soviet agreements signed during the Moscow visit, including the environmental agreement. Within this framework, the President has approved the recommendation that you chair the US side of the US-USSR Joint Committee on Cooperation in the Field of Environment Protection. He has also directed that you serve as US Coordinator for the agreement. He has asked me to forward the enclosed letter designating you as Chairman and Coordinator for the US side and requesting you to arrange for consultations with your Soviet counterparts in the near future in Moscow on specific cooperative projects to be carried out under the agreement.

There is no objection to the initial membership, and the provisions for additional members, as recommended in your memorandum for the US side of the Joint Committee.

Your proposed press release has been reviewed and revised. You should coordinate timing of the release with the White House press office.

Henry A. Kissinger
  1. Source: National Archives, Nixon Presidential Materials, NSC Files, Agency Files, Box 217, CEQ I. No classification marking. Copies were sent to Ehrlichman and Ziegler. Nixon’s letter to Train is Document 327. On April 28 the White House authorized sending a delegation to Moscow to negotiate an ad referendum environmental cooperation agreement based upon previously exchanged drafts. Dr. Gordon MacDonald headed the delegation. (Memorandum from Hillenbrand to Kissinger, May 1; ibid., Box 719, Country Files, Europe, USSR, Vol. XXII) On May 6 the environmental negotiations were successfully concluded. (Memorandum from Sonnenfeldt to Kissinger, May 6, ibid.) The text of agreement is printed in Department of State Bulletin, June 26, 1972, pp. 921-923.↩
  2. Kissinger informed Train that President Nixon had approved a recommendation that Train serve as U.S. coordinator to monitor implementation of the U.S.-Soviet Agreement on Cooperation in the Field of Environmental Protection.↩