- Il ·t -11 · ·• _ · · ' t·· # · ·o·• ij ·•·' · i n 't' j '7 u - J _ ·· 1 3 7 I_' t tHJ'f · ···h- 1 · i ' d ______ ______ -- - - - - - - - ' - _ __ - OP 8EGRm BRITISH EMBASSY WASHINGTON D C 2 January l974 The Honorable Richard Milhous Nixon Eresident of the United States of America Washington DC the attached message from the Prime Minister to you ECwr SSlriED E 0 13525 Section 3 5 t-liA'l lth-ti 2 t YfJl-k' R 'j J J hQII By xtl1 NARA Dato H q 101 f' 1 - OF q 9 0P SEORE9 Text of message from the Prime Minister to President Nixon When we met in February last year I discussed with you the background to the decision with which HlVIG has been faced in connection with the improvement of our strategic nuclear forces so that they may be able to penetrate the area ballistic missile defences and radar cover which the Soviet Union is permitted by the ABM Treaty to deploy around Moscow We have had to weigh the military technical and financial factors relevant to two possible options for improvements One option upon which your people and ours have been working together for some time is to effect a very considerable increase in the penetrative capability of our existing Polaris A3T missiles we have ourselves developed a good deal of the necessary technology but we have also relied upon you for very substantial and continuing support The second option which you have more recently and very generously offered to us is that we should buy Poseidon C3 missiles less the nuclear components of the Mark III warhead for which we should ourselves be responsible and with a dispensing system adapted to remove a Mirv capability I need not tell you of the difficulties through which the British economy is at present passing We have been badly hit by the energy crisis and by the world-wide escalation TOJ SlECRET - 2 - escalation of commodity prices which have greatly aggravated our balance of payments difficulties Of courE 1 e we shall come through it all but only by tightening our belts So we have had to conduct a drastic review of publ c expenditure and you will have seen that on l7 December we announced measures of retrenchment designed to reduce demand by £l 2OO million in the next financial year Of this sum we had to seek £l78 million for the defence budget ''I have been particularly anxious that we should not weaken our contribution to NATO's conventional deterrent to which I know that you_too attach great importance I am entirely clear that an adequate conventional posture is an essential ingredient of deterrence and I regard the provision of efficient conventional forces as an essential contribution to the partnership upon which the Atlantic Alliance must rest We do not foresee any reductions in our conventional forces as a result of the reductions in defence expenditure that we have announced We have therefore had to examine the nuclear options with particular attention both to costs and to the implications for our conventional forces Against this background we have decided upon the option of improving our Polaris missiles We greatly appreciated your generous offer of the Poseidon-based option and were conscious of its many advantages But the Polaris-based option is substantially cheaper over the next few critical years for our g i9p 8BCRE t - 3 our public expenditure programme costly in foreign exchange and it is also less We realise that it lacks the potential capability of the Poseidon-based option to penetrate terminal defences should the Russians decide to deploy these at some future date But with our smaller and less flexible deterrent force it is not necessary for us as it is for you to be able to penetrate terminal defences that might be deployed around ICBM complexes and if they were deployed around central Moscow within the limitations of the ABM Treaty we judge that a considerable portion of the greater Moscow area not to mention the other great cities of the Western USSR would be open to penetration by our improved Polaris missiles I am sure that you will understand the reasoning behind our decision I very much hope that you will feel able to confirm your agreement to the principle of our continuing collaboration so that our people and yours can proceed together to full development of the improved Polaris system I am of course keeping knowledge of our decision to a very restricted circle here at this stage It would be important however to be able to announce the decision when we publish our 1974 Defence White Paper which is due to appear on 13 February but has to be put into final form by 25 January After the White Paper has been published we would of course plan to set experts to work without delay