Office of the Historian

69. Minutes of a Special Coordination Committee Meeting1

Washington, November 6, 1979, 9:45–10:35 a.m.

SUBJECT

  • Kampuchean Relief

PARTICIPANTS

  • The Vice President
  • Mrs. Carter
  • Kit Dobelle

  • State

    • Secretary Cyrus Vance
    • Matthew Nimetz (Counselor of the Department; Act. Coord. of Refugees)
    • Richard Holbrooke (Asst. Secy. for Far Eastern Affairs)

  • OSD

    • Deputy Secretary W. Graham Claytor, Jr.
    • Ambassador Robert Komer (Under Secretary for Policy)

  • JCS

    • General David Jones
    • Lt. General John Pustay

  • DCI

    • Admiral Stansfield Turner

  • White House

    • Dr. Zbigniew Brzezinski
    • Ambassador Henry Owen

  • NSC

    • Lincoln P. Bloomfield
    • Leslie G. Denend

MINUTES

Brzezinski: He2 is still in favor of an airdrop by the United States to reach starving Kampucheans not otherwise being fed, on the grounds [Page 242] that we had a moral obligation to act. A study should be begun on ways and means, and we should let it be known that under certain contingencies we might have to act unilaterally.

Vance: Will discuss an airdrop with the French.

Brzezinski: It would be a pity if we have to follow France in taking such action.

Vance: The matter needs more study.

General Pustay: Referring to the Joint Staff’s paper,3 an airdrop would require prior reconnaissance flights, as well as fighter escorts in a hostile environment.

Brzezinski: Asked that a detailed operational plan be prepared.

Mondale: Suggested a modest airlift into Thailand, which Mrs. Carter could announce on her forthcoming trip.4 He wondered whether Mrs. Carter might not speak for the United States in the UN debate the following week5 on the subject of Kampuchea. He felt we should let it be known that we are considering unilateral action.

Owen: Indicated four purposes for Mrs. Carter’s forthcoming trip to Bangkok, 1) to view the situation in company with the Surgeon General and report back regarding refugee camps, improvements that are needed, and how we can help the Thais; 2) in company with an engineering officer who would accompany Mrs. Carter, to report back on logistical problems in organizing and transporting food into Kampuchea; 3) to bolster Thai morale; 4) to express US moral concern. Mrs. Carter would report to the Voluntary Agencies on her return.

Mondale: The UNHCR is behaving in a fashion that is slow, tired, and pro-Vietnamese. Governor Lamm6 holds similar views. He strongly recommended appointment with a single person to be in charge of all the camps, and another to see that the food came in.

Vance: Mrs. Carter should express sympathy and support for Thailand, particularly now they have accepted a true first asylum refugee policy.

Mondale: The trip should not appear to be a “guilt trip”.

Bloomfield: The trip should stress the purpose of building up and strengthening the international effort, and not give any impression that we are preparing Americanization of the enterprise. Vance expressed his agreement.

[Page 243]

Brzezinski: Arguments in favor of a US airdrop are: a dramatic expression of the concern of the President and the country, and the “weapons” in question would be food rather than bombs.

Contrary arguments: It might well encounter a hostile environment, produce an adverse reaction, and be used by Kampuchean political authorities to our disadvantage.

Mondale: It is scandalous that some people in Thailand are not being fed. Vance: The Thais now seem to be getting organized.

Vance: 90 to 95 percent of the material in Phnom Penh is still sitting there. He talked to the Vietnamese about it in New York the day before.7

Brzezinski: He favors an airdrop and an airlift.

Vance: The French would seem interested in playing a role in some such operation, and are also involved in opening up two additional fields in Kampuchea under Vietnamese control. While willing to do anything that will help, he wondered what the chances are of aircraft being shot down, and of the food getting to the hungry.

Owen: Senators Danforth, Baucus and Sasser, who had just returned from the area, reported that the airdrop in their opinion was not the best way.

Holbrooke: The greatest need is in the West, and the areas under control of Pol Pot, where US planes would be shot at. After the UN debate scheduled for November 17–19, several hundred thousand Kampucheans are likely to be pushed into Thailand in the dry season Vietnamese attacks.

There was general agreement to study the airdrop.

  1. Source: Carter Library, National Security Council, Institutional Files, 1977–1981, Box 105, SCC 194 Cambodia, 11/6/1979. Secret. The meeting took place in the White House Situation Room.↩
  2. Brzezinski is presumably referring to President Carter.↩
  3. The Joint Staff memorandum, DJSM 1941–79, November 5, outlines a variety of options for distributing food aid. (Ibid.)↩
  4. Mrs. Carter traveled to Thailand November 8–10. See Document 79.↩
  5. The General Assembly debate took place November 12–14.↩
  6. Richard D. Lamm, Governor of Colorado, a member of the delegation to the Pledging Conference.↩
  7. See Document 67.↩