327. Letter From Secretary of Defense Brown to Secretary of State Vance1
Congratulations to you and your staff on the successful conclusion of the Philippine Base negotiations. This agreement marks a significant milestone in the regional role of the United States in East Asia and the Western Pacific. It underscores our intent to retain a balanced and flexible military force in the area.
Closer to home, the agreement marks a high point in the relationship between our two staffs. Too often in the past, the State/Defense relationship has been characterized as an antagonistic one in which the two Departments find it difficult to discover common ground. The Philippine negotiations have belied this glib assertion. The negotiations were marked by extensive cooperation by our two staffs in developing positions quickly, smoothly and, perhaps most important, amiably. I am sure you share my belief that this example of cooperation and collective effort will serve as a model for our staffs to emulate in the future.
I would like to single out the efforts of several members of your staff for special note. Dave Newsom, as Ambassador to the Philippines, [Page 1059] played a key role in bringing Marcos into the negotiation picture personally and keeping him there, avoiding the sterile panel approach of 1976. As Undersecretary of State, he played a major part in keeping us all focused on our goal. Dick Holbrooke, with his trip to Manila in September 1977,2 set the stage for the successful negotiation. Bob Oakley gave large amounts of his time to making sure the often dull but always important pieces of our position became a workable entity. Finally, Dick Murphy followed Dave Newsom into the Ambassadorship and by skillful stewardship of the military talks and effective negotiation with President Marcos capped the process on January 7.3
In closing, as the Turkish negotiations begin,4 let me assure you that we in Defense are determined that the State/DoD cooperation which marked the Philippine talks will serve as a model for the Turkish talks as well.
Sincerely,
- Source: Washington National Records Center, RG 330, OSD Files: FRC 330–82–0205, 20, [untitled]. No classification marking. Slocombe sent a copy of the letter to Brown under an undated covering memorandum, stating that it “would be useful” to send the letter to Vance. (Ibid.)↩
- See Documents 300 and 301.↩
- See foonote 2, Document 326.↩
- Reference is to negotiations for an agreement on U.S. bases in Turkey. See Foreign Relations, 1977–1980, vol. XXI, Cyprus; Turkey; Greece, Document 124.↩