34. Memorandum From William Odom of the National Security Council Staff to the President’s Assistant for National Security Affairs (Brzezinski)1
SUBJECT
- Crisis Potential: Soviet Units in Cuba
[less than 1 line not declassified] there is an [less than 1 line not declassified] report of Soviet tank troops in Cuba.2 I have queried the intelligence community on this to learn that the evidence is far from conclusive. The [less than 1 line not declassified] is compatible with as benign an interpretation as Soviet military advisers going out for their annual summer military reserve training in groups of a dozen or so. The [less than 1 line not declassified] could be as benign as “maneuvers” on a tank driving exercise course. In a word, the situation is very unclear. Arnold Horelick reports that an intensified effort to clarify the situation is under way.
He was worried that we might overreact. I am giving you this memorandum to provide a better sense of limits and validity of [less than 1 line not declassified]
- Source: Carter Library, National Security Affairs, Brzezinski Material, Country File, Box 13, Cuba, 3–9/78. Top Secret; Sensitive.↩
- Not found. A July 31 telegram from the National Security Agency to the Department of State summarizing the existing intelligence regarding Soviet units in Cuba is in the Carter Library, National Security Affairs, Brzezinski Material, Country File, Box 15, Cuba, Soviet Brigade, 5–8/79.↩