Office of the Historian

60. Draft Telegram From the Department of State to the U.S. Interests Section in Cuba1

Washington, August 24, 1979

Subject: Soviet Brigade in Cuba.

1. You should arrange to make following demarche, on August 25 if possible, at highest available level of FonOff:

—From a variety of sources, we have received growing evidence which we consider conclusive of the presence of a Soviet brigade in Cuba.

—We wish to advise your government of this fact, and of the concern this creates in the United States and the obvious impact on our relationship.

—We do not intend to make this fact public, but we are required to report our conclusions to the Congress and must expect that this information will eventually become the subject of public debate in the United States.2

—We would welcome your government’s explanation as to the reasons for this unfortunate development.

2. Report reaction.

  1. Source: Carter Library, National Security Affairs, Staff Material, North/South, Pastor, Country, Box 13, Cuba, 8/15–31/79. Secret; Cherokee; Immediate; Niact; Nodis. Drafted by Newsom; cleared by Lake, Bremer, Goodby, O’Donohue, and Vaky; approved by Christopher. Talking points for use with the Soviet Embassy are attached. The draft telegram was not sent. Instead, a more sharply-worded text was drafted on August 29 after the telegram was discussed in an SCC meeting (see Document 61). The revised text was sent as telegram 227405 to Havana, August 29, printed in Foreign Relations, 1977–1980, vol. VI, Soviet Union, Document 217. The démarche was also delivered in Washington; see Document 63.↩
  2. On August 29, Richard Baker, a special assistant in Newsom’s office, was notified that Aviation Week magazine was preparing to publish a story on the Soviet military presence in Cuba. According to Newsom, a paragraph in the story matched an August 22 report in the classified National Intelligence Daily about updated intelligence on Cuba which had been ordered following the leak of ambiguous intelligence about the Soviet presence in Cuba to Senator Richard Stone on July 17. (Newsom, The Soviet Brigade in Cuba, p. 22)↩