Office of the Historian

402. Summary of Conclusions of a Special Coordination Committee Meeting1

Washington, January 4, 1980, 9:25–10:25 a.m.

SUBJECT

  • Pakistan—Funding Issues

PARTICIPANTS

  • State

    • Warren Christopher*
    • David Newsom*
    • Harold Saunders

  • Defense

    • W. Graham Claytor

  • JCS

    • Admiral Thomas Hayward
    • General John Pustay

  • CIA

    • Admiral Stansfield Turner
    • Frank Carlucci

  • White House

    • David Aaron
    • Henry Owen**

  • Vice President’s Office

    • Denis Clift**

  • NSC

    • Colonel William Odom**
    • Thomas Thornton**
    • Gary Sick

  • OMB

    • John White

*Departed at 10:00 a.m.

**Not present for final item

SUMMARY OF CONCLUSIONS

The SCC reviewed a series of papers on proposals for increasing economic and military assistance to Pakistan,2 development of an emergency fund to cover unanticipated expenses related to the Southwest Asia crisis, and the possibility of seeking legislative relief from certain restrictions on Presidential action.3 It was decided to proceed as follows:

1. Symington Amendment. All agreed that our first priority must be to lift the legislative restrictions which currently prevent U.S. assistance to Pakistan. The NSC staff will work with State in refining the draft bill which State had prepared for the meeting. (C)

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2. Supplemental Funding for Pakistan. OMB will work with State on a recommended funding level for a supplemental. This subject will be reviewed at the meeting on Monday.4 The SCC noted the discussion at the President’s Foreign Policy Breakfast earlier in the morning where a funding level of $100 million in FMS credits and $100 million in ESF was considered.5 It was agreed that we should inform both Pakistan and India in advance of any decisions. (S)

3. Increasing the Discretionary Authority of the President. The SCC agreed that we should use this opportunity to seek relief from certain legislative restrictions beyond the Symington Amendment as feasible. The test would be feasibility. We want to avoid a Legislative-Executive battle over prerogatives which could distract from or derail the Pakistan effort. State and the NSC will work together to identify restrictions which are troublesome and which might feasibly be waived in the context of the crisis. (S)

4. Pakistan Debt Relief. Henry Owen noted that debt relief might be an even more effective means of assisting Pakistan than FMS/ESF. He will work with Treasury and State to develop a paper on this option for consideration next Monday. (C)

5. Security Consortium. All agreed that it might be useful to develop a consortium of nations to assist Pakistani security. A consortium already exists on the economic side. However, it would be desirable for another nation—perhaps Pakistan itself—to take the lead in forming such a group, and we would wish to insure that it did not slow down our ability to act quickly. State will prepare a paper on a strategy of how we could best pursue the consortium option. (C)

6. Arms for Pakistan. A Defense paper was reviewed, which provided a series of options on the type of military equipment (and costs) which we might be willing to provide. The key question will be whether or not we are willing to provide advanced aircraft, including the possibility of the FX, which has now been approved for development. An alternative approach would be to focus on defensive equipment which Pakistan could use for self-defense in the event the conflict in Afghanistan spills across the border. The latter would include anti-tank weapons, howitzers, and tanks. Defense noted that many of the items—including M48 tanks—would have to be drawn from current inventories and would have a significant impact on U.S. force readiness. The SCC agreed that the possible packages needed to be better defined in terms of alternatives. State and Defense will prepare a paper defining [Page 898] the options and examining the guidance which we could provide to a military survey team, assuming Pakistan accepts our offer. (S)

Intelligence Issues

[3 paragraphs (18 lines) not declassified]6

  1. Source: Carter Library, Plains File, President’s Daily Diary, Box 10, 7/17–30/78. Secret. The meeting took place in the White House Situation Room. Carter wrote “Zbig, J” in the upper right-hand corner of the page.↩
  2. A January 3 memorandum from Saunders to Newsom, entitled “SCC Meeting January 4: Economic Assistance for Pakistan,” recommended giving Pakistan $100 million in ESF for FY 1980 and $100 million in FY 1981. For both years, the suggested programming of the funds was $60 million for fertilizer imports, $25 million for rural electrification, and $15 million for rural roads. (National Archives, RG 59, Central Foreign Policy File, P800028–0122) No paper on military assistance was found, but see footnote 13, Document 405.↩
  3. Neither of these papers was found.↩
  4. January 7.↩
  5. According to the President’s Daily Diary, from 7:30 to 9:15 a.m., January 4, Carter met with Vance, Brown, Donovan, Jordan, Cutler, and Brzezinski in the Cabinet Room. (Carter Library, Presidential Materials) No record of the meeting was found.↩
  6. Carter checked the Approve option, below which he initialed “J.” To the right of the options, Carter wrote: “Give me a breakdown, J.”.↩