PREPARATION FOR NSC MEETING ON MBFR

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: Library of Congress
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): LOC-HAK-14-1-48-2
• Release Decision: RIFLIM
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 3
• Document Creation Date: January 11, 2017
• Document Release Date: October 21, 2011
• Sequence Number: 48
• Publication Date: May 29, 1971
• Content Type: MEMO

No Objection to Declassification in Full 2013/08/07: LOC-HAK-14-1-48-2
?S13 CRET
MEMORANDUM FOR
SUBJECT:
NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL
WASHINGTON. MC. 20506
May 29, 1971
/37,-"e:C.
28854
The Attorney General
The Under Secretary of State
The Deputy Secretary of Defense
The Director, Central Intelligence Agency
The Director, Arms Control and Disarmament Agency
The Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff
Preparation for NSC Meeting on MBFR
The President has directed the Verification Panel to prepare for
the National Security Council an evaluation of the substantive and
procedural issues involved in developing a common position within
the North Atlantic Treaty Organization on Mutual and Balanced
Force Reductions with the Soviet Union and its Warsaw Pact allies.
The preparations for NSC consideration of these MBFR issues entail
the following efforts:
(1) U. S. Position on MBFR
In order to lay the substantive ground work for Presidential
decision on the elements of MBFR, the Verification Panel should
formulate the major alternatives and evaluate the pros and cons of
each. The purpose would be to formulate for Presidential consideration
a range of possible elements which the United States could be willing to
discuss within NATO and in exploratory talks with the Soviet Union and
its allies. The paper should draw extensively upon earlier interagency
work to consider, inter alia;
or selected
-seeitrar?
-- The areas for MBFR.
-- The participants (e. g., all NATO and all Pact countries
countries).
NSS, DOS, OSD Reviews
Completed
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SECRET 2
-- The question of reducing "foreign (i.e. , stationed)
forces only or all forces in the area."
-- The size and timing of reductions to be considered
including the possibility of ceilings.
-- The variety of nuclear and conventional force
components involved including manpower, equipment, reinforcement
capability, and provisions regarding each.
- Piovisions regarding verification and warning.
-- Other collateral measures, including NATO force
improvements made desirable by MBFR.
To illustrate the specific implications of a choice of elements, the
Verification Panel's on-going work on detailed options should also
be incorporated along with a preliminary assessment of the impli-
cations of each.
(2) Consultation Scenario
The Verification Panel should prepare a scenario for
comprehensive consultations with our NATO allies aimed toward
the development of an allied consensus on the major substantive
issues and the procedures to be used in the negotiations. The paper
should identify the questions of substance and procedure which should
be decided within the alliance before formal negotiations can be launched,
indicate the appropriate form (e. g., intensified consideration of MBFR
by the NAG, followed by a special meeting of NATO Deputy Foreign
Ministers at an early date) and provide a timetable for accomplishing the
? consultations, taking into account any decisions reached at the NATO
Spring Ministerial (June 3-4) on these matters. The paper should also
take into account the need to coordinate MBFR consultations with the
parallel work within the alliance on NATO force improvements.
Concepts for Negotiations
The Verification Panel also should prepare a paper assessing
alternative concepts for entering into negotiations with the Soviet Union
and its allies on Mutual and Balanced Force Reductions.
SECRET
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IP
MEMORANDUM
NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL
URGENT ACTION
May 26, 1971
FROM: K. Wayne Smith 20/1
SUBJECT: Preparations for a Presidential Decision on MBFR
In NSDM-108, you directed that the Verification Panel prepare an
evaluation of the procedural and substantive issues and alternatives
involved in U. S. positions on MBFR. I have prepared a directive
from you to the Panel spelling out the work that needs to be done
(Tab A).
The guidance calls for preparation of:
? A formulation of the range of possible elements in the U. S.
position and an evaluation of their implications. As you know, much
of the substantive work needed for this has already been done but it
needs to be refined and restructured for Presidential consideration.
-- A fairly detailed scenario for substantive preparation in NATO.
This is necessary given past heavy NATO involvement, German and
U. K. resistance to MBFR and the obvious need to get an alliance
position before negotiations start.
? A formulation of alternative concepts for exploratory talks and
eventually negotiations with the Warsaw Pact.
This work is necessary if we are to get off on the right foot on MBFR
with a Presidential decision on the procedural issues and the broad
outlines of a substantive U. S. position. Hal Sonnenfeldt concurs.
RECOMMENDATION
That you sign the directive at Tab A.
SECRET
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