· D No Objection To Declassification 200 04 29 NLC-128-12-8 C RET · ···· THE SECRETARY OF STATE · · k' · l • WASHINGTON f 1 _U ·' May 23 1977 SECRET l'AEMORANDUlvl FOR TI-lE PRESIDENT FROM Cyrus Vance c£ State Department review completed You indicated that you wis 1ed at the Somalis be maae aware of the $500 million Soviet-Ethiopian 1 Message to Somalia B ffi _ S 'eel · rc - -- -- - ········ -· ·· ·- - - - l I 2 Soviet Jewish Emigration in April We have been informed by the Dutch that the Soviets processed 1 243 Soviet emigrants with exit visas for Israel during April bringing the cumulative total for the first four months of 1977 to 4 645 -- virtually identical to the figure for the same perio in 1976 when 4 652 were processed 25Xl It is worth noting that the emigration flow has continued at about the same pace in the past two years even while the Soviets have stepped In the past several weeks a number of prominent Soviet Jews have had their apartm ts searched have been called in for questioning by the KGB and have been named in the Soviet press as engaging in anti -Soviet actions or being in league with the CIA At the same tim·e several Jewish refuseniks those refused Soviet exit permission for Israel have been allowed to emigrate Of the some 900 refusenik families on the ist presented to the Soviets during my Moscow visit we know of about twenty-five who have received exit permission in the past month and a half up their harassment of Jewish activists in the Soviet Union This mix of tactics employed by the Soviets appears to have several'objectives 1 to allow the flow of emigrants to continue at a level which will reduce the danger of their being accused particularly · at Belgrade of completely cutting off emigration opportunities 2 · · through harassment and th i eats to make emigration a risky business so that the desire to emigrate Brm· ng Soviet Jews can be kept down 3 by alleging subversive activities by Jewish activists to prepare a case SECRET SECRET GO S No Obiection To nPrl ifir tirm ' QJnA Q f 11 1'10 1'1 Q 1 0 No Objection To Declassification 2008 04 29 NLC-128-12-8-1-8 SECRET -2- again possibly for Belgrade that the emigration problem was invented by Western anti-Soviet forces and nurtured by Western intelligence 3 Spanish -- NATO During my conversations in Madrid with both the King and Prime Minister Suarez I raised the question of NATO and told them that we were prepared to sponsor or help in any way they feel appropriate to facilitate their entry into NA They were appreciative but indicat that this was going to be tlifficult politically and that they had to proceed with care Even after next months' elections in which Suarez expects to do well he said they will have problems convincing the Spanish military to embrace the · NATO tie Their leading generals fear that membership in NATO would involve burdensome commitments to upgrade Spanish forces at a huge cost In addition Suarez said that he would have to face the delicate political problem of balancing left of center and right of center forces which also inhibit his advocating NATO membership - told both Suarez and the King that we would await their expression of readiness before pushing for Spanish membership in NATO £· 4 Congressional Briefings and Consultations This week I will meet with 'the House tiiternational Relations Committee· the Foreign Relations Committee and Scoop's Arms Control Subcommittee on SALT All of these meetings will be in executive session On the matter of the F-15 for Saudi Arabia I will see Hubert soon as possible to begin the consultative process My plan is to confine our initial discussion to those strong supporters of Israel who we need to bring on board before they are approached· by the Israelis and their own constituents There are about eleven key members of the Senate and House in this group Once these members have been reached and we have some indication of Congressional sentiment we can expand the consultations s 5 State-USIA Reorganization I received a report on this matter which was unsatisfactory have since designated Warren Christopher to chair· an inte t -agency task force that will produce recommendations for this reorganization by next month Jbere is considerable Congressional and some press interest in this issue with several key ··sECRET No Obiection To Dec lrlssifir tinn nnAtn dt Q · r_1 L1 3L1_Q - No Objection To Declassification 2008 04 29 NLC-128-12-8-1-8 j • ' SECRET -3 Senators arguing for and against having the Voice of America remain under government control Frank Stanton headed a panel that lssued a report two years ago recommending that USIA give up most of its news production op rations to State that a new Information and Cultural Agency be formed to handle cultural exchange and general information programs and the VOA become independent I have discussed this plan with Stanton and believe that he has come up with at ·lea t some elements of des lrable reform I Stanton's conclusions have been challenged by a recent GAO report that recommends that USIA's cultural exchange programs be handled by State 'The GAO report has led some to advocate the creation of an ACDA-like agency to handle the U S government's cultural and information programs abroad all I willhave to wait until the report is finished before making my recommendations to you am convinced however that our management and approach to international public affairs has to be strengthened and streamlined What I will aim for is a structure that gives our foreign information and cultural programs a new impetus In this connection I will also make some suggestions regarding who should staff whatever new organization emerges We have a wealth of talent in this country for such an operation and we must get the very best to head it up SECRET No hiP r tion Tn nPr l c c ifil ltinn V Lf_ ' Q 1 11 ' _1 ' Q_1 ' _Q_1_Q