Office of the Historian

217. Memorandum From Secretary of Defense Weinberger to the President’s Assistant for National Security Affairs (Clark)1

Washington, undated

SUBJECT

  • US-Moroccan Joint Military Commission (JMC) (U)

(U) In response to your tasking memorandum, of May 24 (TAB A),2 an interagency review (IG), chaired by Assistant Secretary Armitage, was held on June 10.3 See TAB B for the list of attendees.

(C) The consensus of the representatives is as follows:

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The reported GOM payment of $10.3M eases the immediate crisis, as it delays Brooke Amendment sanctions until at least September, when payments totaling $10.9M (plus late charges) are due to avoid Brooke Amendment sanctions.4
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In the spirit of the Presidential commitment to King Hassan,5 and given Morocco’s responsiveness to US policies, as well as its strategic importance, it is incumbent upon the Administration to step up efforts to restore to Morocco the $52M diverted for El Salvador.
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It appears reasonably certain that Congress will appropriate $22M for Morocco in the FY 83 supplemental bill. In regard to the [Page 466] remaining $30M, however, we need to wait until we have a clearer view of the extent Congress will satisfy the Administration’s requests for El Salvador.
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Should we fail in restoring the $52M FMSCR, due to Congressional or other actions, we would look for alternative ways of satisfying Morocco’s requirements. Such action might take the form of lesser sums of ESF.

(C) Although not within the purview of the IG, the group took advantage of the assembled expertise to briefly and informally discuss Morocco’s needs for FY’s 84–85 and the out years. An OSD position paper on this subject, intended for consideration by the State Department in the normal budgetary process, is at TAB C.

(C) It was agreed that, although the immediate problem has been somewhat mitigated by Morocco’s payment, it will continue to require high-level attention, given that no relief to Morocco’s dire financial condition is in sight for the foreseeable future.

  1. Source: Reagan Library, Executive Secretariat, NSC Country File, Africa, Morocco (04/27/1983–05/03/1983). Secret. Tabs B and C are attached but not printed. Printed from an unsigned and uninitialed copy.↩
  2. Tab A is attached but not printed. See footnote 4, Document 216.↩
  3. No minutes of the IG meeting have been found.↩
  4. See footnote 2, Document 215.↩
  5. See Document 213.↩