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SEC. LAIRD
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290085252
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SEC. LAIRD
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National Security Files (Nixon Administration)
Henry A. Kissinger's (HAK) Office Files
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SECRET/EYES ONLY
January 3, 1969
MEMORANDUM FOR SECRETARY-DESIGNATI LAIRD
From: Henry A. Kissinger
Subject: Memorandum to the President-Elect on a New
NSC System
Attached is a copy of the memo I discussed with you
yesterday. As I indicated, it has been discussed with Mr. Rogers
and General Goodpaster, and approved by the President-elect.
I would like to talk with you about the memo when you have
read it (perhaps tomorrow), and would appreciate any suggestions
you may have on how to conduct the Congressional consultations.
I also am sending along a copy of the book I mentioned to
you the other day. I hope you will find it interesting and useful.
The President-elect is anxious that this memo be held
closely until the press announcement is made.
Enclosures:
1. Memorandum to the President-elect
2. "The Great Terror" by Robert Conquest
Reproduced at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library
DECLASSIFIED
This document has been reviewed pursuant to Executive Order 13526 and has been determined to be declassified
10/08/1900/X
SECRET/EYES ONLY
January 3, 1969
MEMORANDUM FOR SECRETARY-DESIGNATE LAIRD
From: Henry A. Kissinger
Subject: Memorandum to the President-Elect on a New
NSC System
Attached is a copy of the memo I discussed with you
yesterday. As I indicated, it has been discussed with Mr. Rogers
and General Goodpaster, and approved by the President-elect.
I would like to talk with you about the memo when you have
read it (perhaps tomorrow), and would appreciate any suggestions
you may have on how to conduct the Congressional consultations.
I also am sending along a copy of the book I mentioned to
you the other day. I hope you will find it interesting and useful.
The President-elect is anxious that this memo be held
closely until the press announcement is made.
Enclosures:
1. Memorandum to the President-elect
2. "The Great Terror" by Robert Conquest
Reproduced at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library
DECLASSIFIED
This document has been reviewed pursuant to Executive Order 13526 and has been determined to be declassified
SECRET/EYES ONLY
January 3, 1969
MEMORANDUM FOR SECRETARY-DESIGNATE LAIRD
From: Henry A. Kissinger
Subject: Memorandum to the President-Elect on a New
NSC System
Attached is a copy of the memo I discussed with you
yesterday. As I indicated, it has been discussed with Mr. Rogers
and General Goodpaster, and approved by the President-elect.
I would like to talk with you about the memo when you have
read it (perhaps tomorrow), and would appreciate any suggestions
you may have on how to conduct the Congressional consultations.
I also am sending along a copy of the book I mentioned to
you the other day. I hope you will find it interesting and useful.
The President-elect is anxious that this memo be held
closely until the press announcement is made.
Enclosures:
1. Memorandum to the President-elect
2. "The Great Terror" by Robert Conquest
Reproduced at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library
DECLASSIFIED
This document has been reviewed pursuant to Executive Order 13526 and has been determined to be declassified
SECRET
January 9, 1969
MEMORANDUM
TO:
HENRY A. KISSINGER
ASSISTANT TO THE PRESIDENT-ELECT FOR
NATIONAL SECURITY AFFAIRS
FROM:
MELVIN R. LAIRD
SUBJECT:
Your Memorandum dated January 3, 1969 concerning
a New NSC System.
I have read and re-read your proposal many times and have
tried to relate it to the discussions we had in Key Biscayne on pro-
posed changes in the National Security Council System. After much
study and considerable reflection on the draft proposal, I am forced
reluctantly to conclude that as Secretary of Defense-designate, I
cannot fully approve the proposal in its present form.
This decision was reached for several major reasons, among
which I would list the following:
First, it would institute as presently drafted, a "closed
loop" in which all intelligence inputs would be channeled through a
single source, the Assistant and his NSC staff. Such an arrangement
in effect would or could isolate not only the President from direct
access to intelligence community outputs but also the Secretary of
State, the Secretary of Defense, and other top-level members of the
President's team.
I have found in my past dealings with the intelligence com-
munity and DOD officials, for example, that it is not a good practice
to interpose a third party, no matter how capable and objective,
between the man responsible for intelligence information and those
who must take responsibility for acting upon it. A method must be
provided to correct this deficiency.
Second, it would place in the hands of the Assistant and
his NSC staff the primary right of initiating studies and directing
where they will be performed as well as determining which policy issues
should be placed on the agenda for NSC meetings. There should be some
consultation provided for with the principals in establishing the
priorities of these studies. It would also give the Assistant both
SECRET
Reproduced at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library
DECLASSIFIED
This document has been reviewed pursuant to Executive Order 13526 and has been determined to be declassified
SECRET
Page 2 of Two Pages
the power and the responsibility for implementing NSC policy as well
as the right of determination of issues arising from the implementation
Hent
of those policies without requiring consultation or even notification
of NSC principals. This could very well result in principals going
around the NSC and directly to the President as a regular practice.
This would negate what I believe the President-elect is trying to accom-
plish. The principals who make up the National Security Council, in-
cluding the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, should be able to place
policy issues on the agenda subject only to the veto of the President.
Third, it is my desire, as I know it is yours, to strengthen
and revitalize the National Security Council as a major Presidential
tool in determining National Security policy. But in my view, this
cannot be accomplished by aggregating to the NSC and through it to the
Assistant to the President the major tools that have always been in-
tended to be utilized equally by all of the President's top-level
board of advisers in the National Security field.
These three points constitute several of the major reasons
why I find it necessary to raise these serious questions about the pro-
posed New NSC System, as outlined in your draft of January 3rd. In
our conversation today and in my conversation yesterday with General
Goodpaster it was made clear that the above comments were in line
with your understanding of how the NSC would operate. I do feel,
however, that the memo creating the new system should formally spell
out these important points.
Needless to say, I look forward to a period of sustained
mutual cooperation between the Assistant to the President for
National Security Affairs and the principal advisers to the Presi-
dent in this vital area. I am sure that in further consultations
among all of the principal advisers, we will arrive at a mutually
satisfactory New NSC System. This, I think, is most important.
Melvin R. Laird
SECRET
Reproduced at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library
DECLASSIFIED
This document has been reviewed pursuant to Executive Order 13526 and has been determined to be declassified
January 16, 1969
MEMORANDUM FOR SECRETARY-DESIGNATE LAIRD
From:
Henry A. Kissinger
Subject: Vietnam Alternatives
Attached is a paper on Vietnam alternatives which I
have prepared at the direction of the President-elect. I
have given him a copy of this draft.
Subject to your comments, I expect formally to send
the paper--perhaps with some revisions--to the NSC members
on January 20 for discussion at an NSC meeting on January 25.
In the interim, the President-elect has directed that the
paper be given very limited distribution, and that the
attached copy should therefore be restricted to yourself
and David Packard.
Reproduced at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library
DECLASSIFIED
This document has been reviewed pursuant to Executive Order 13526 and has been determined to be declassified