Office of the Historian

84. Presidential Review Memorandum/NSC–431

Washington, August 24, 1978

TO:

  • The Vice President
  • The Secretary of State
  • The Secretary of Defense

ALSO:

  • The Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff
  • The Director of Central Intelligence

SUBJECT

  • United States Global Military Presence (U)

Pursuant to the August 15 meeting of the National Security Council,2 the President has directed preparation of a Presidential Review Memorandum examining the U.S. military presence abroad from the standpoint of maintaining and enhancing our political and military position vis-a-vis the Soviets and of providing reassurance and confidence to key countries of concern to us. The PRM should develop options for U.S. military presences in various areas.

The PRM should be prepared by an interagency working group chaired by the NSC staff for consideration by the SCC. It should be submitted for SCC consideration and recommendations to the President by October 2, 1978.

Dissemination of this directive and participation in the PRM should be restricted as much as possible.

Zbigniew Brzezinski
  1. Source: Carter Library, National Security Council, Institutional Files, Box 1, Working Copies of PRM/NSC 1 through 47. Secret; Sensitive.↩
  2. See Document 76.↩