Office of the Historian

143. Memorandum From the President’s Assistant for National Security Affairs (Brzezinski) to Secretary of State Vance1

Washington, May 8, 1978

SUBJECT

  • Human Rights Reports

As you know, Representative Clarence Long has written a letter requesting State to send the Congress human rights reports on those countries which were not the subject of human rights reports required by the Security Assistance Act.2 Similarly, Congress is considering amendments to the Export-Import Bank Act which would require State to file human rights reports on all those countries which receive Export-Import Bank credits.3 Finally, a new OPIC act has passed Congress which also requires human rights reports.4 It is unclear whether such reports are required for countries which receive new OPIC insurance or for those which have received OPIC insurance in the past.

The President is concerned about the reporting requirements cited above. With respect to Congressional action, the President stated that we should hold firm on this, including the possibility of a veto.

Zbigniew Brzezinski
  1. Source: Carter Library, National Security Affairs, Brzezinski Material, Brzezinski Office File, Subject Chron File, Box 94, Human Rights: 1978. Confidential.↩
  2. Presumable reference to the International Security Assistance Act of 1977 (H.R. 6884, P.L. 95–92). The International Security Assistance and Arms Export Control Act of 1976—P.L. 94–329—had prohibited the granting of security assistance to nations that violated human rights except under extraordinary circumstances. The House International Relations Committee used the human rights guidelines codified in P.L. 94–329 in determining military and security assistance recipients for that fiscal year. (Congress and the Nation, Volume V, 1977–1980, p. 39)↩
  3. See footnote 9, Document 139.↩
  4. See footnote 6, Document 139.↩