DEPARTMENT OF STATE OFFICE OF THE HISTORIAN BUREAU OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office ISBN 978-0-16-084411-9 Preface The Foreign Relations of the United States series presents the official documentary historical record of major foreign policy decisions and significant diplomatic activity of the United States Government. The Historian of the Department of State is charged with the responsibility for the preparation of the Foreign Relations series. The staff of the Office of the Historian, Bureau of Public Affairs, under the direction of the General Editor of the Foreign Relations series, plans, researches, compiles, and edits the volumes in the series. Secretary of State Frank B. Kellogg first promulgated official regulations codifying specific standards for the selection and editing of documents for the series on March 26, 1925. These regulations, with minor modifications, guided the series through 1991. Public Law 102-138, the Foreign Relations Authorization Act, established a new statutory charter for the preparation of the series which was signed by President George Bush on October 28, 1991. Section 198 of P.L. 102-138 added a new Title IV to the Department of State's Basic Authorities Act of 1956 (22 U.S.C. 4351, et seq.). The statute requires that the Foreign Relations series be a thorough, accurate, and reliable record of major United States foreign policy decisions and significant United States diplomatic activity. The volumes of the series should include all records needed to provide comprehensive documentation of major foreign policy decisions and actions of the United States Government. The statute also confirms the editing principles established by Secretary Kellogg: the Foreign Relations series is guided by the principles of historical objectivity and accuracy; records should not be altered or deletions made without indicating in the published text that a deletion has been made; the published record should omit no facts that were of major importance in reaching a decision; and nothing should be omitted for the purposes of concealing a defect in policy. The statute also requires that the Foreign Relations series be published not more than 30 years after the events recorded. The editor is convinced that this volume meets all regulatory, statutory, and scholarly standards of selection and editing. Structure and Scope of the Foreign Relations Series This volume is part of a subseries of volumes of the Foreign Relations series that documents the most important issues in the foreign policy of Presidents Richard M. Nixon and Gerald R. Ford. This specific volume documents U.S. national security policy from 1969 to 1972. Readers interested in the larger context in which the formulation of national security policy during this period took place should consult the volumes in the Foreign Relations, 1969–1976, subseries on the Soviet Union (volumes XII through XV), China (volumes XVII and E-13), Vietnam (volumes VI through IX), and Foundations of Foreign Policy (volume I). Readers interested in the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks should consult Foreign Relations, 1969-1976, volume XXXII, SALT I, 1969-1972, and volume XXXIII, SALT II, 1972-1979; for other arms control initiatives, see Foreign Relations, 1969–1976, volume E-2, Documents on Arms Control and Nonproliferation, 1969-1972. For the U.S. defense relationship with Europe, readers should consult Foreign Relations, 1969-1976, volume XLI, Western Europe; NATO, 1969-1972, and Foreign Relations, 1969-1976, volume XXXIX, European Security. Focus of Research and Principles of Selection for Foreign Relations, 1969-1976, Volume XXXIV After assuming office in January 1969, President Richard M. Nixon received some surprising news that affected the formulation of national security policy for the remainder of his first administration: since the end of his stint as Vice President eight years earlier, the Soviet Union had achieved rough strategic parity with the United States. Where the United States had at one time enjoyed a commanding military superiority compared to its main global rival, it now suffered from "significant vulnerabilities" vis-à-vis the Soviet Union. This volume documents the Nixon administration's efforts to grapple with this new strategic situation; its review of U.S. nuclear and general purposes forces and strategic doctrine; its attempts to ascertain the level of technological sophistication achieved by the Soviets in their missile program; and its decision to deploy Safeguard, a modified anti-ballistic missile system (ABM). The volume also examines the evolution of the administration's strategic priorities as its defense plans ran up against the realities of a worsening American economy and a tightening federal budget; its policy towards the use of chemical and biological weapons; U.S. nuclear policy in Asia; and the transition from military conscription to an all-volunteer armed force, a movement undertaken during the first Nixon administration as the war in Vietnam drew to a close. While the primary focus of the volume is on the formulation of national security policy, one chapter is devoted to the October 1969 Joint Chiefs of Staff Readiness Test, in which President Nixon secretly placed on alert portions of the United States military, including its nuclear forces, a fact that remained virtually unknown for many years thereafter. Throughout this volume, a theme that arises time and again is the relationship between the United States' military strength and its diplomatic strength; in particular, the importance of military might-real or perceived-to the United States' ability to maintain its credibility in the eyes of allies and adversaries alike. Like all recent Foreign Relations volumes in the Nixon-Ford subseries, the emphasis of this volume is on the formulation of policy, rather than its implementation. Regarding national security policy, the key players in the policymaking process were the White House, the National Security Council, the Department of Defense, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the Central Intelligence Agency, with input from the Department of State. Editorial Methodology The documents are presented chronologically according to Washington time. Memoranda of conversation are placed according to the time and date of the conversation, rather than the date the memorandum was drafted. Editorial treatment of the documents published in the Foreign Relations series follows Office style guidelines, supplemented by guidance from the General Editor and the chief technical editor. The documents are reproduced as exactly as possible, including marginalia or other notations, which are described in the footnotes. Texts are transcribed and printed according to accepted conventions for the publication of historical documents within the limitations of modern typography. A heading has been supplied by the editor for each document included in the volume. Spelling, capitalization, and punctuation are retained as found in the original text, except that obvious typographical errors are silently corrected. Other mistakes and omissions in the documents are corrected by bracketed insertions: a correction is set in italic type; an addition in roman type. Words repeated in telegrams to avoid garbling or provide emphasis are silently corrected. Words or phrases underlined in the original are printed in italics. Abbreviations and contractions are preserved as found in the original text, and a list of abbreviations is included in the front matter of the volume. Bracketed insertions are also used to indicate omitted text that deals with an unrelated subject (in roman type) or that remains classified after declassification review (in italic type). The amount and, where possible, the nature of the material not declassified has been noted by indicating the number of lines or pages of text that were omitted. Entire documents withheld for declassification purposes have been accounted for and are listed with headings, source notes, and number of pages not declassified in their chronological place. All brackets that appear in the original text are so identified in footnotes. All ellipses are in the original documents. The first footnote to each document indicates the source of the document, original classification, distribution, and drafting information. This note also provides the background of important documents and |
