p --SEC T SENSITIVE Gutsidc he S yrtQm z 3c Xx IJ' 1t-f MEMORANOUM ACTION NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL March 18 1980 MEMORANDUM FOR ZBIGNIEW BRZEZINSKI FROM JIM THOMSON%' SUBJECT Summary of yesterday's sec U Attached Tab I is a memo for the President covering the sU11DUary of the March 17 1980 sec meeting on UK Strategic Force Modernization I was a bit unclear about who would contact the British initially if the President decides to suggest 1981 -- thE President to Mrs Thatcher personally or someone else David - Wade-Gery I have assumed the former A personal aside you know my views on the international and SALT connections from my earl er memo but I think 1981 courts domestic political disaster far more than moving ahead now or in June As time and primaries go by the President's vulnerability is increasingly from the Right Should this issue get loose it will be added to the list of soft on defense decisions B-1 neutrom bomb etc that the Right likes to chant it will loom even larger since it involves a loyal ally And it is almost certain to get loose we spoke yesterday about the British problems of controlling their bureaucracy but we have ur own problem Although we have kept this matter restricted to a small circle the circle is always larger than we know since the agencies and not we determine agency staffing For example it is likely that the US Navy which has a big stake in this decision has a good idea what is going on f l'Sj Finally even for a late June early July decision · the need for a Congressional para 36-b review should not be a problem If -- as McIntyre predicts -- Congre s will be in session into October there will be roughly 8 -10 more weeks of legislative periods after July 1 This is roughly the time needed for the 50-day review period 30 formal and 20 informal and there are ways to foreshorten the informal period State is looking into this since June is Cy's option COPY CARTER LIBRARY RECOMMENDATION That you sign the memo to the President at Tab I Disapprove 'fOf SE6I U SENSITIVE Classified extended by Z Brzezinski Review Harch 18 2010 Reason for extension NSC l 13 a « 1