Office of the Historian

9. Memorandum From the Chairman of the National Security Council Under Secretaries Committee (Rush) to President Nixon1

Washington, June 28, 1973.

SUBJECT

  • Weather Modification

Under NSDM 165 concerning weather modification, a decision on military weather modification was deferred. The NSDM is now over a year old; no further steps have been taken to develop policy on this matter.

Senator Pell intends to hold hearings soon on his resolution banning hostile uses of weather modification and other types of geophysical warfare. At similar hearings last year, we could say only that the resolution was “premature.”

It was widely assumed last year that our real objection to the resolution was that the U.S. was engaging in the military use of weather modification in Southeast Asia.

When the Under Secretaries Committee considered weather modification over a year ago, no information on weapons uses was made available by the Department of Defense or the Joint Chiefs of Staff. With the termination of U.S. involvement in hostilities in Indochina, I presume that the need for secrecy on weather modification is lessened and data can now be made available to the Under Secretaries Committee for review. If need be, participation can be strictly limited and controlled.

I recommend that you direct the Under Secretaries Committee to review the utility of weather modification as a military weapon, or its use in conjunction with military activities, and that you further direct [Page 23] the Department of Defense and the Joint Chiefs of Staff to make all data necessary to the preparation of the study available to authorized members and staff of the Under Secretaries Committee.

Kenneth Rush
Chairman

  1. Summary: Rush recommended that Nixon direct the National Security Council Under Secretaries Committee to review the utility of weather modification as a military weapon and direct the Department of Defense and Joint Chiefs of Staff to provide all data necessary for the completion of such a study.

    Source: National Archives, RG 59, Office of the Executive Secretariat, Records Relating to the National Security Council Under Secretaries Committee: Lot 81D309. Secret; Limdis. Brandon Grove, Staff Director of the Under Secretaries Committee, forwarded copies of the memorandum to Clements, Kissinger, Moorer, and Helms under a June 28 memorandum. (Ibid.) NSDM 165, “International Aspects of Weather Modification,” May 2, 1972, is in the National Archives, Nixon Presidential Materials, NSC Files, Institutional Files, National Security Decision Memoranda, Box H–208, NSDM 151–200 (Originals).

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