Office of the Historian

154. Memorandum From Marshall Brement of the National Security Council Staff to the President’s Assistant for National Security Affairs (Brzezinski) and the President’s Deputy Assistant for National Security Affairs (Aaron)1

Washington, January 10, 1980

SUBJECT

  • A Wrong Signal to the Soviets (U)

I am strongly opposed to Watson returning to the Soviet Union this weekend. It sends exactly the wrong signal to the Soviets—i.e., that we are now ready to return to a “business as usual” posture. It also sends the wrong signal to the Allies and to the general public and will be a difficult public relations problem for Jody to handle. The President recalled Watson as a sign of the seriousness with which we regarded the situation in Afghanistan. In my view, he should not go back to the Soviet Union until we have completed a full policy review of the implications to us of the invasion of Afghanistan and until we have decided on the full range of actions we plan to undertake to deal with it.2 (C)

  1. Source: Carter Library, National Security Affairs, Staff Material, Office File, Outside the System File, Box 45, Afghanistan Invasion: U.S./Allied Relations, Olympics, Grain Embargo: 1/80. Confidential; Outside System. Sent for information. A copy was sent to Schecter.↩
  2. In the upper right corner, Carter wrote: “He won’t return for now.” Watson returned to his post in Moscow by late January.↩