Office of the Historian

27. Memorandum From the Deputy Secretary of State (Rush) to the President’s Assistant for National Security Affairs (Kissinger)1

Washington, November 28, 1973.

SUBJECT

  • NSSM 157 (Review of United States Position on Chemical Weapons Prohibition)

The Department of State position regarding NSSM 157 (Review of United States Position on Chemical Weapons Prohibitions) was set out in a memo I sent to the NSC on November 12, 1973. In that memorandum, we pointed out that the central question dividing agencies is whether or not to maintain an option to procure binary chemical munitions. It was our view that the case for binaries was sufficiently questionable so that, on balance, protecting an option to procure this system ought not to govern the selection of a U.S. initiative for developing limited international constraints on chemical weapons. However, we also indicated continued open-mindedness on the binary issue, and we said that “the Department of State would be pleased to see the rationale for binaries subjected to rigorous scrutiny, and is prepared to adjust its views on the basis of such new information as might then be developed.”

It seems to me that the President should not have to make a decision as to what means to employ for constraining chemical weapons until the possible utility of such weapons to the U.S. has been more thoroughly analysed. I therefore recommend that before NSSM 157 is moved any closer to final decision, the NSC should commission an inter-agency review touching on the essential unexplored questions: the rationale for a chemical weapons deterrent; the required delivery systems and stockpiles for a realistic CW deterrent; the optimum location of stockpiles; the possible role of binary munitions in such stockpiles; a review of legal and political constraints; and the relationship of all these considerations to the arms control alternatives set forth in NSSM 157.

Kenneth Rush

  1. Summary: Rush recommended to Kissinger that the National Security Council conduct an interagency review of “essential unexplored questions” relating to binary chemical munitions prior to advancing a final decision on NSSM 157.

    Source: National Archives, RG 59, Central Files 1970–73, POL 27–10. Secret. Drafted by Fuerth. Attached as Tab A to Document 26.

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