188. Memorandum From Secretary of State Muskie to President Carter1
[Omitted here is material unrelated to India.]
2. SFRC Hearing on Tarapur. This afternoon Chris,2 accompanied by Gerry Smith, “consulted” with the SFRC on nuclear fuel exports to India. Eight Senators from the SFRC and the Government Affairs Committee attended, with Senator Glenn in the chair. Chris’ net assess [Page 490] ment is that the response was more positive—and much less negative—than he had anticipated. If our further soundings confirm this reaction, it will indicate that a concurrent resolution of disapproval, even if it does pass the House, is unlikely to pass the Senate.
Senator Jackson was outspoken in urging that the exports be allowed. Javits said that you should proceed to act under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Act (NNPA) and take a “flat line” that our position was legally correct and desirable on foreign policy grounds. Senator Percy is ambivalent because of his authorship of NNPA, but nevertheless agreed that the end result of disapproving the exports would be bad overall for the U.S. in South Asia. Senators Tsongas and Sarbanes’ questions were not hostile and they seem open to persuasion. Even Senator Glenn said that he was “torn two ways” on the issue—regional political considerations versus his concerns about non-proliferation objectives.
[Omitted here is material unrelated to India.]