Office of the Historian

152. Memorandum From Jessica Tuchman Mathews of the National Security Council Staff to the President’s Assistant for National Security Affairs (Brzezinski)1

Washington, July 5, 1978

SUBJECT

  • Human Rights and OPIC

The package at Tab A2 from Christopher arrived this morning. It says virtually nothing. Nothing is said about when the needy people exemption might be considered applicable and by what standard the “benefit” would be judged. Nothing is said about what information would be requested from OPIC in order to judge a particular project, especially as regards the social behavior of the company involved. It [Page 496] states that “in addition to human rights conditions in the country involved, there are a variety of important relevant factors to be considered in determining what recommendation to make concerning OPIC support”, but gives no clue as to what these factors might be. Even on the standard for judging government involvement, the memorandum hedges by saying that “This relationship might be gauged by such factors as . . .”

In short, it is a bare bones outline of Option 1,3 preserving maximum “flexibility” to implement the amendment in the broadest possible manner. The memorandum was drafted more than a month ago, and reflects none of the developments in Christopher’s thinking since then.

Recommendation:

That you direct me to set up a meeting to resolve this issue.4

Henry Owen has seen and concurs.

  1. Source: Carter Library, National Security Affairs, Brzezinski Material, Brzezinski Office File, Subject Chron File, Box 94, Human Rights: 1978. Confidential. Sent for action.↩
  2. Not attached; printed as Document 151.↩
  3. The options are set out in Document 150.↩
  4. Brzezinski placed a check mark on the approval line.↩