LETTER TO JOHN F. THOMAS FROM HENRY A. KISSINGER

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: Library of Congress
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): LOC-HAK-10-5-21-1
• Release Decision: RIFLIM
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 7
• Document Creation Date: January 11, 2017
• Document Release Date: July 27, 2010
• Sequence Number: 21
• Publication Date: December 23, 1970
• Content Type: LETTER

No Objection to Declassification in Full 2013/03/26: LOC-HAK-10-5-21-1 f
December 23, 1970
Dear John:
It was good of you to pass along your expression
of continued confidence in the President's strong
attachment to the principles of asylum and refuge.
I shall be very happy to convey this to him. You
may be assured that the President has instructed
that all necessary measures must be taken to
ensure that such a tragic event cannot happen again.
Warm regards,
Henry A. Kisl nger
Mr. John F. Thomas
Director, Intergovernmental
Committee for European
Migration
9, Rue du Valais
Geneva, Switzerland
No Objection
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V
SU1J Lithuanian erector Case': Ho fully the
W. John Thomas, ' the Director of the ter ove ment i committee. of
European Migration, has written (Tab. B) to report that, though he was
20
upset .by the defector incideat,F he is confident that the president personally
believes strongly in the right of asylum (There In just a Mat the letter
t
rt
t Mr. Thomas hopes the, U5 v4U come its generous financial a
for bits Committee.) There is a brief reply letter at tab . for your sign are.
You may recall, that a aam r of t+, d and hand-written water has from
iK-udirka (the ,t>whuar an defector) fwd their way Into J merlcan hands.
,pcntly, some of the :ftaheries experts. and the interpreter on and
obtained. some originate and Xeroxed others.) The documents altimately
pt to, C (from State, the mast Gourd and the arioe Hobe .es vision
of rce) for evalazatioo and trap tlatiou. State has seat you a men
(Tab QQ.c have eubseentiy received a copy of a
he Coast Guard coatalai g a f translation of Euei.rka - s
:r l notch h (rah -D). Town n e solos concludes that none of the
tPfo?Uati.On the notebook is of intelliget vai.. This- should conclude
at least this aspect of the incide it is sable, however, that state may
decide to release the documents to the press at some point U there- Is any
continuation of. the previous press speculation that the documents contained
m rtant intelligence i orirmatiou. a press speculation might have do
ice to ; udirka, and the public release. of the documents might be .
of marginal help to bim
R3COM NDATiO
That you sign the letter to Mr. Thomas at Tabs.
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4P FOR EUROPEAN MTGRATI(M
THE DYRECTOA GENEVA. SWITZERLAND
7 December?1970
PERSONAL
Dear Henry:
I deliberately refrained from sending a cable to the President
on the unfortunate incident which occurred at Martha's Vineyard with
regard to the Lithuanian sailor, Mr. Simas. You will recall that'
when I met with the President in February 1969 he emphasized his
personal concern for refugees and he pledged his support to the
efforts the Intergovernmental Committee for European Migration was
and is making to resettle from the European camps as quickly as
possible those who "seek freedom with their feet". Although my
twenty five years of service in the refu-ee field made me extremely
upset about the incident, I did not feel that the President required
a reminder from me to take whatever action he deemed necessary to see
that such an incident will not reoccur.
The Intergovernmental Committee for European Migration moved
nearly 60,000 refugees to new homelands in 1969 and will move over
50,000 this year largely due to the generous contribution from the
United States, fully supported by the President.
Please convey to the President that, while I do have a concern
over what appears to be an administrative slip, I do have confidence
in his personal belief in the right of asylum evidenced by his con-
tinued willingness to support the efforts being made by the 31
Member Governments of ICEM to alleviate the plight of those who have
reached a safe haven.
With warm personal regards,
Mr. Henry Kissinger
Special Division 1/
White House
Washington, D.C.
U. S. A.
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a. V .
S J16498
SECRET/MIS December 8, 1970
NIEMORANDUM FOR MR. HENRY A. KISSINGER
THE WH TE HOUSE
SUBYECT: Documents Relating to Lithuanian Seaman
Sims I. Kudirka
In our memorandum to you of December 2, we noted that the
Department of State had received from the Division of Foreign
Fisheries of the National Marine Fisheries Service (U.S. Depart-
ment of Commerce) a number of Xeroxed copies of typed and written
materials belonging to Mr. Kudirka. We understand that these
materials were photographed or copied while Mr. Kudirka was
seeking asylum aboard the US Coast Guard Cutter VIGILANT. The
copies of materials relating to Mr. Kudirka were included in a
notebook belonging to our American delegation containing technical
and background papers on the fisheries negotiations which took
place between US and Soviet representatives on November 23 off
Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts. The only original of a document
relating to Kudirka in the notebook is the letter from the Soviet
fishing-fleet commander, Popov, alleging that Mr. Kudirka had
stolen 3,000 rubles from his safe and requesting his return to
the Sovetskaya Litva. A copy of this communication is contained
in the Department of Transportation's report to the President on
the Kudirka case.
All of the material which was photographed of Mr. Kudirka's
personal belongings was forwarded on December 3 to Mr. Karamessines
of CIA for urgent analysis from an intelligence point of view.
According to CIA, an initial reading of these particular documents
indicates that they are "inconsequential." The Agency's analysis,
will not be completed until it receives another group of
however
,
documents relating to Mr. Kudirka which were in the hands of the
US. Coast Guard. We have no way of knowing whether the materials
in the hands of the Coast Guard merely duplicate those we passed
on to CIA or whether they constitute supplementary material and
have some substantive importance. As of 11:00 a.m., December 7,
CIA had not yet received. the materials in the possession of the
Coast Guard, but expected them shortly.
SECRET/EXDIS
GROUP 3
Downgraded at 12-year intervals,
not automatically declassified.
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SECOET/EMIS
We shall :forward to you any. analysis whJ.ch CIA gives us of
the Kud3rka m terial'.
In the. meantime, you .may. be aware of news stories `repo ing
allegations by.Congressman:-Pueinski of Illinois. -that Mr_. Kudirka
had important documents with him and that. he could possibly - have
been one of the most Important. informers of our time c~ if it
turns out that all the documents are innocuous, Congressman
Pucinski may inadvertently have done an additional .disservice.:
Mr. , Kudtrka, since it is :highly likely that the Soviet authorities-:
would use such statements to accuse Mr`. Kudirka.of crimes other
than` that. of attempting. to defect. This could result; an even
stiffer Punishmentthan he will undoubtedly receive.
If the CU analysis shhows the documents to be ;innocuous, we
believe consideration should be given to releasing them to the
dress. We will. make a recommendation on tY ,s scare once we have
received the CIA analysis. In the.: meanwhile; the National Marine
Fisheries . Service has armed that, :we should retain the notebook
on a temporary.. basis
`M ore L K,iot, Jr:
Exeouti. : S. ecreta ry
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