51. Summary of Conclusions of a Meeting of the Senior Review Group1
Washington, October 16, 1970, 4:03–4:47 p.m.
SUBJECT
- Cambodia—NSSM 99 (Part I)
PARTICIPATION
- Chairman—Henry A. Kissinger
- State—Under Secretary John Irwin
- Ambassador U. Alexis Johnson
- Mr. James Wilson
- Mr. Arthur Hartman
- Defense—Mr. David Packard
- Mr. G. Warren Nutter
- Rear Adm. William R. Flanagan
- CIA—Lt. Gen. R. E. Cushman
- Mr. Paul Walsh
- [name not declassified]
- JCS—Adm. Thomas H. Moorer
- B/Gen. Robert P. Lukeman
- Gen. Melvin Zais
- OMB—Mr. James Schlesinger
- AID—Mr. John Hannah
- Mr. Ernest Stern
- NSC Staff—Col. Richard T. Kennedy
- Mr. John H. Holdridge
- Dr. K. Wayne Smith
- Capt. Robert L. Sansom
- Mr. Dennis N. Sachs
- Mr. D. Keith Guthrie
SUMMARY OF CONCLUSIONS
- 1.
- The Senior Review Group reaffirmed that US strategy for Cambodia should be as described in Strategy 3, Variant 3 of the VSSG Working Group paper.2 The objective will be to maintain the present Cambodian Government in control of the half of the country that includes the populated area, capital, and port. The US will seek to provide the Cambodian armed forces with a light infantry capability which will to the maximum extent possible carry the burden of the country’s defense, with outside assistance from South Vietnamese and possibly Thai forces as required.
- 2.
- Contingency plans will be worked out with Thailand for employment of Thai ground and air forces in the defense of Cambodia if required.
- 3.
- In connection with the Phase 1 assistance program to allocate $80
million to Cambodia:
- a.
- Issuance of a Presidential Determination to transfer $49 million from Supporting Assistance to Cambodian MAP will proceed immediately.
- b.
- Defense and AID will work out procedures for financing civilian and military-related economic imports, taking into account requirements for Congressional consultation, applicable legislative restrictions, and timing relative to Congressional action on the foreign aid appropriations bill and to submission of a supplemental aid appropriations bill.
- c.
- The Office of Management and Budget will oversee implementation of the Phase 1 program.
- 5.
- AID and Defense will take all necessary steps to insure that in the event a supplemental aid appropriation is not obtained, the US will be in a position to provide assistance to Cambodia through a Section 506 drawdown3 or through a development loan.
[Omitted here are the minutes of the meeting.]
- Source: National Archives, Nixon Presidential Materials, NSC Files, NSC Institutional Files (H-Files), Box H–111, Senior Review Group Meetings Minutes, Originals, 1970. Top Secret; Nodis. The meeting took place in the Situation Room of the White House.↩
- For a summary of the response to NSSM 99 and a description of the strategies, see Document 39.↩
- Section 506 of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 granted the President special emergency authority to drawdown inventory and equipment for the Department of Defense.↩