78. Memorandum From the President’s Assistant for National Security Affairs (Brzezinski) to the Cabinet1
In order to infuse greater clarity into public understanding of our foreign policy, the President wishes that all Cabinet members understand our key foreign policy goals so that they may be emphasized in your public statements and speeches.2
The summary which follows is based on major Presidential speeches as well as statements by Secretary of State Vance and other top officials.
Our Foreign Policy Goals
1. We seek wider cooperation with our key allies and a more cooperative world system. Close collaboration with Japan and Western Europe has long been the point of departure for America’s global involvement. Responding to changes over the past 15 to 20 years in the global distribution of power, we are seeking to broaden these patterns of cooperation. This means developing new and wider relationships with such regionally influential nations as Nigeria, Indonesia, India, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Venezuela, and Brazil.
2. Stabilizing the U.S.-Soviet relationship. Through a broader range of negotiations we are pursuing a pattern of detente which must be both comprehensive and genuinely reciprocal.
3. Maintaining sufficient military capabilities to support our global security interests. To achieve this we shall maintain a strategic nuclear balance; work closely with our NATO allies to strengthen and modernize our defenses in Europe; maintain and develop a quick reaction global force available for rapid development [deployment] to counter threats to our allies and friends in Asia, the Middle East, and other regions of the world.
[Page 386]4. Politically we shall remain engaged in all regions of the world. We shall preserve our strategic and economic presence in the Asian-Pacific area by widening our cooperation with Japan and expanding our relationship with China. We shall enhance our collaboration with the moderate states of Africa in the cause of African emancipation. In Latin America, we are no longer tied to a regional approach. We shall strengthen bilateral ties with the nations of Latin America while cooperating more fully with them in their global concerns. In the Middle East, we continue to pursue a genuine peace settlement. Our commitment to Israel remains unshakeable while we expand our relationships with moderate Arab countries.
5. Constructive and cooperative solutions to emerging global problems. We are committed to head off any drift toward nuclear non-proliferation and the reduction of conventional arms sales.
6. Sustaining support for our policies by rooting them firmly in moral values. Our devotion to human rights is responsive to man’s yearning everywhere for greater social justice. We seek a revival of America’s optimism, a reawakening of America’s idealism, and commitment to reform.
- Source: Carter Library, National Security Affairs, Brzezinski Material, Subject File, Box 26, Foreign Policy: 12/77–12/78. No classification marking. Brzezinski sent an earlier version of the memorandum to the President under a May 5 memorandum, asserting: “One way to reduce public confusion over our policy is for all top officials to use certain key formulations when speaking about foreign affairs. Indeed, the repetition of certain ‘code phrases’ (e.g., ‘détente must be both comprehensive and reciprocal’) will help to indicate that we speak with a single voice from the top down.” He added that the attached memorandum “is designed to accomplish that objective.” (Ibid.)↩
- The earlier version of this paragraph (see footnote 1 above) reads: “In order to infuse greater clarity into public understanding of our foreign policy, the President wishes that all Cabinet members use certain common formulations and phrases in their public statements and speeches.” The President crossed out the portion of the paragraph beginning with “use” and ending with “their,” drew a line into the right-hand margin, and added the replacement text found here.↩