439. Memorandum From the Special Assistant to the Assistant Secretary of State for International Organization Affairs (Wilson) to the Assistant Secretary (Cleveland)1
SUBJECT
- Space Communications
I was stunned yesterday to overhear Dick’s comments which suggested that the State Department is on top of space communications like NASA is on top of SYNCOM; or maybe it’s worse, since NASA at least has a pretty good idea of where SYNCOM is.
Can it possibly be that the Department of State still thinks that “science” is a peculiar branch of metaphysics on which the Secretary should be “advised” from time to time—that outer space is beyond the pale of politics—that international telecommunications has no more to do with international relations than has IT&T in Brazil—that a global satellite communications system will somehow be fathered by the FCC out of the Space Council with Edward R. Murrow serving as Godfather?
After the flap last year about “peaceful uses” (muted only by the hullabaloo of the Cuban crisis); after dashing up to the Hill to testify that the communications satellite bill fully protected the foreign policy interests of the United States (a highly dubious proposition); and after publicly, formally and explicitly stating a U.S. policy commitment to a truly universal satellite communications system managed by a truly international organization (which was followed up so effectively that [Page 998] the British appear to be far gone toward a decision to establish a Commonwealth satellite system)—I should have thought that the State Department at long last would have taken charge of this subject.
At the risk of being accused of empire-building, don’t you think IO should now move in and take the responsibility? After all, whatever else it is, this is a problem in international organization.
- Source: Kennedy Library, Cleveland Papers, Outer Space, Communications Satellites, Box 20. Personal and Confidential.↩