Office of the Historian
  1. Home
  2. Historical Documents
  3. Foreign Relations of the United States, 1977–1980, Volume XVI, Southern Africa
  4. Document 6

6. Memorandum From the Director of the United States Information Agency (Reinhardt) to the President’s Assistant for National Security Affairs (Brzezinski)1

Washington, June 29, 1977

REFERENCE

  • June 27, 1977, Memorandum Re Cubans in Angola2

Through the Voice of America we do have the capability to publicize the image you describe of the Cubans in Africa. To do so we need and are arranging a creditable source of this information and a peg to hang the story on. To this end, we are requesting that the VOA be granted an interview with Richard Moose, the newly appointed Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, who has just returned from a trip to Africa.3 During the interview Mr. Moose will have the opportu[Page 13]nity to discuss African attitudes towards the Cubans. The interview will be broadcast in our worldwide English Service and will further serve as a basis for comment and analysis in our other language services. I assume the report to which the President refers is also available to Mr. Moose.

Once Mr. Moose has enunciated these points and the information is in the public domain, our Press and Publications Service can also carry his comments on the Wireless File, which goes to all of our embassies and is available for press placement.

I think that it will be most helpful if you call a meeting of all agencies assisting in this project so that we can assess overall progress. Meanwhile, we shall proceed as outlined above.

  1. Source: Carter Library, National Security Affairs, Staff Material, North/South, Pastor, Country File, Box 11, Cuba: 6–7/77. Secret.↩
  2. See Document 4.↩
  3. In a July 6 memorandum to Vance, Turner, and Reinhardt, Brzezinski wrote: “The three memoranda contain a number of interesting possibilities, and I believe it would be useful to discuss them at the next meeting of the Special Activities Working Group of the SCC.” Regarding the Moose interview, he wrote: “In the interim, I think it would be best if we took no action in this area; specifically the interview with Assistant Secretary Moose should be held off until we can coordinate it with other activities.” (Carter Library, National Security Affairs, Staff Material, North/South, Pastor, Country File, Box 11, Cuba: 6–7/77) The three memoranda Brzezinski referred to are printed as Documents 6, 7, and 8. The minutes of the SCC meeting are Document 11.↩