Office of the Historian

217. Memorandum From the President’s Assistant for National Security Affairs (Carlucci) to President Reagan1

Washington, undated

SUBJECT

  • Consultations on the SDI Program

Issue

To provide direction for consultations with our allies and Congress on the SDI program.

Facts

Following last Tuesday’s NSPG discussion,2 we prepared the draft NSDD at Tab A3 to serve as a basis for consulting our allies and Congress prior to your making any decisions on restructuring the SDI program. Both allied and Congressional leaders stress that they expect such consultations to occur.

Discussion

The draft NSDD sets for the approach to be used in consultations in considerable detail. We believe such detail is essential to ensure that a consistent message is communicated. The NSDD also requests the Secretary of Defense to provide information on how the program might be restructured, and the State Department Legal Advisor to complete his ongoing legal review.

The draft NSDD has been reviewed by your senior advisors including the Secretaries of State and Defense. Their comments have been included.

Recommendation

OK NO

____ ____ That you sign the draft NSDD at Tab A setting forth guidance for consultations on SDI.4

  1. Source: National Security Council, National Security Council Institutional Files, Box SR–094, NSDD 261. Secret. Sent for action. Copies were sent to Bush and Regan. Powell initialed the memorandum on behalf of Carlucci.↩
  2. See Document 211.↩
  3. Printed as Document 218.↩
  4. An unknown hand wrote a checkmark beneath the “OK” option.↩