119. Department of State Evening Report for President Carter1
[Omitted here is discussion of Afghanistan, Israel, Egypt, El Salvador, and Guatemala.]
8. Activities in Cuba and the Caribbean. David Newsom chaired an interagency meeting on August 20 to review the findings of an ongoing intelligence community exercise to monitor possible Soviet moves in Cuba and the Caribbean. The review concluded that Soviet military activity in the area has not reached any of the thresholds which would pose a threat to U.S. interests or require a U.S. response.2 The Soviets have been pursuing a relatively cautious military posture. There is, for example, no evidence of significant deliveries of sophisticated military equipment, of Soviet fleet activities in the area or of visits of Soviet submarines to Cuba during recent months, and the Soviet brigade appears to be maintaining its normal training cycle. There is no evidence of any new ballistic missiles being delivered to Cuba, and the SA-9s deployed with the Soviet brigade are of limited (40 kilometers) range.
Newsom asked the CIA to continue its monitoring of Soviet activities in Cuba and the Caribbean area. The interagency group will review the situation again in October and will remain in operation to report to you as necessary on Soviet/Cuban challenges to the U.S. and on our efforts to anticipate or respond to such challenges.
- Source: Carter Library, Plains File, Box 8, 15. Secret. Carter initialed at the top of the page. Pastor sent an excerpt of this report to Aaron on August 21. In the margin, Aaron commented, “This is bullshit. This must not happen again. Why were we not included? Pastor, what the hell is this?” (Carter Library, National Security Affairs, Staff Material, North/South, Pastor, Country, Box 16, Cuba, 8–9/80)↩
- In the margin to the left of this paragraph, Carter wrote, “good.”↩