382. Editorial Note
Pursuant to item 4 in NSDM 159 (Document 380), John N. Irwin, II, in his capacity as Chairman of the NSC Under Secretaries Committee, sent a memorandum to the Deputy Secretary of Defense, the President’s Assistant for National Security Affairs, the Director of Central Intelligence, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the President’s Assistant for International Economic Affairs, the Under Secretary of Commerce, and the Director of the Office of Science and Technology on May 22, 1972, informing them that the President had requested the Under Secretaries Committee to undertake a basic examination of how the COCOM system should be used in the future to control exports to Communist countries. He noted that although the COCOM list review had not yet been completed, work on the project would have to get underway in order to meet the June 15 deadline for the report to the President. Irwin indicated that he had asked Assistant Secretary Willis C. Armstrong to chair an interagency task force to prepare the report, and attached a suggested seven-page outline of topics the task force might include in the report. (National Archives, RG 59, S/S Files: Lot 81 D 309, NSC-U/SM 109B)
Armstrong forwarded a copy of the task force report to Irwin under cover of a November 20 memorandum, Document 383.