COLLECTION FINDING AID



NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISOR.

NSC MIDDLE EAST AND SOUTH ASIAN AFFAIRS STAFF FILES, 1974-77



CONTENTS

Summary Description | Biographical Information | Introduction | Series Descriptions | Container List

SUMMARY DESCRIPTION

Substantive materials on foreign policy and defense issues for thirty countries ranging geographically from Morocco to Saudi Arabia to India. The materials provide information about such topics as military and economic assistance, regional alliances, territorial disputes, Soviet interests and activities, the Middle East peace negotiations, the Arab economic boycott of companies trading with Israel, US security interests in the Persian Gulf and Indian Ocean, the Palestine Liberation Organization, the United Nations, atomic energy, oil, terrorism, and human rights. Robert B. Oakley headed this NSC unit.

QUANTITY
 33.6 linear feet (ca. 67,200 pages)

DONOR
 Gerald R. Ford (accession numbers 70-NLF-253, 95-NLF-027, 95-NLF-028))

ACCESS
 Open, but some materials continue to be national security classified and restricted. Access is governed by the donor’s deed of gift, a copy of which is available on request, and National Archives and Records Administration regulations (36 CFR 1256).

COPYRIGHT
 Gerald R. Ford donated to the United States of America his copyrights in all of his unpublished writings in National Archives collections. The copyrights to materials written by other individuals or organizations are presumed to remain with them. Works prepared by U.S. Government employees as part of their official duties are in the public domain.

Prepared by Geir Gundersen, September 1995; Revised by Mark Fischer, September 2015
[s:\bin\findaid\nsc\nsc middle east and south asian affairs staff.doc]

Provenance of the National Security Adviser Files

BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION


Robert B. Oakley


March 12, 1931 - Born – Dallas, Texas

1952 - AB, Princeton University

1952-55 - Officer, US Naval Intelligence

1956-57 - Post-graduate study, Tulane University

1957-58 - Foreign Service Institute, Department of State

1958-60 - General Services and Political Officer, US Embassy Khartoum, Sudan

1960-63 - Office of United Nations Political Affairs, Department of State

1963-65 - Economic Policy Officer, US Embassy Abidjan, Ivory Coast

1965-67 - Political Officer, US Embassy Saigon, South Vietnam

1967-69 - Political Officer, US Embassy Paris, France

1969-71 - Political and Security Staff, US Mission to the United Nations

1971-74 - Political Officer, US Embassy Beirut, Lebanon

1974 - Member, Policy Planning Staff, Department of State

1974-77 - Senior Staff Member for Middle East and South Asian Affairs, National Security Council (detailed from Department of State)

1977-79 - Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for East Asia, Department of State

1979-82 - US Ambassador to Zaire

1983-84 - US Ambassador to Somalia

1984-85 - Director, Office for Counter-Terrorism and Emergency Planning, Department of State

1985-86 - Acting ambassador-at-large for counter terrorism, Department of State

1986 - Resident Associate, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

1987-88 - Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Near East and South Asia, National Security Council

1988-1991 - US Ambassador to Pakistan

1991-1992 - US Institute of Peace

1992-? - President, C & O Resources Inc., Washington, D.C.

1992-93 - US special envoy to Somalia

December 10, 2014 - Died, McLean, Virginia

INTRODUCTION

The Office of Middle East and South Asian Affairs provided the primary staff support to the Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs on foreign policy and defense issues for thirty countries ranging geographically from Morocco to Saudi Arabia to India. As with the National Security Council's other geographic offices, the Office of Middle East and South Asian Affairs had a wide variety of responsibilities. It coordinated and helped ensure appropriate follow-up on issues in the Middle East, South Asia, and North Africa (which went to the President for decision through the Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs); participated in NSSM or other interagency studies; helped provide a coordinated intelligence flow to the President and the Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs; and handled many details relating to Presidential involvement in visits, speeches, meetings and any other event involving the First Family or the White House on matters affecting this area.

Robert Oakley, a career foreign service officer on detail from the Department of State, headed the office from September 1974 through January 1977. As the Senior Staff Member for Middle East and South Asian Affairs, Oakley reported directly to the Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs, attended all senior National Security Council (NSC) staff meetings, represented the NSC at appropriate interagency meetings, and maintained a wide range of contacts with other agency representatives, appropriate White House offices, and other NSC offices. Oakley was also an integral part of Henry Kissinger's Middle East policy team, helping spearhead US efforts to resolve the Arab-Israeli conflict in the aftermath of the October 1973 war. In this capacity, he worked closely with the Department of State and traveled as a member of the negotiating team on all trips. In addition, Oakley worked with the White House Counsel's Office and representatives of other agencies on the issue of the Arab economic boycott of companies doing business with Israel, helping formulate recommendations to the President about administration policy.

As Senior Staff Member, Robert Oakley also supervised two staff officers. This was a flexible arrangement in which one officer had primary substantive responsibility for Middle East issues and the other for South Asian issues. Each person assumed the other's tasks during absences or covered the entire range of countries and issues during the Senior Staff Member's absences. From 1974 to mid-1976, Arthur Houghton, on detail from the State Department, had the primary responsibility for Middle East issues, in particular economic and military supply problems and the peace negotiations. Upon completion of his detail, Houghton was replaced by Gary Sick. Sick, on detail from the Department of Defense, mainly focused on arms sales transfers, general military considerations, and the Persian Gulf. Rosemary Niehuss, permanently assigned to the NSC, had primary responsibility for South Asian and Iranian issues, but also had considerable secondary responsibility for Middle East and North African issues. In addition, she handled or provided guidance on almost all administrative aspects of the work of the office.

The convenience files are a valuable source of information on a wide range of foreign policy and defense issues for thirty Middle East, South Asian, and North African countries. Unfortunately, for reasons that are unclear, several of the collection's series are incomplete. The Country File, Visits File, and General Subject File contain only scattered materials prior to 1976, while the Presidential Briefings File does not contain any materials after June 1975. However, the Kissinger Trips File, Peace Negotiations Chronological File, and Chronological File are complete series.

The materials are particularly strong in regard to Egypt, Jordan, Iran, Israel, Lebanon, Morocco, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, and Syria. There is much information on US military and economic assistance, visits by heads of state and high-ranking government officials, Henry Kissinger's Middle East shuttle diplomacy, regional alliances and territorial disputes, US security interests in the Persian Gulf and Indian Ocean, and Soviet interests and activities. The files document such specific topics as the Egyptian-Israeli negotiations for return of the Sinai Peninsula, the Arab economic boycott of companies trading with Israel, the outbreak of civil war in Lebanon, the impact of the Middle East peace process on the prices and availability of oil, Israel's and Pakistan's fledgling nuclear weapons program, the establishment of a US naval base in the Indian Ocean at Diego Garcia, Soviet relations with Egypt and Syria, HAWK missile sales to Jordan, and the struggle between Algeria and Morocco for control of Spanish Sahara.

Related Materials (September 2015)
The most closely related materials are in the Presidential Country Files for Middle East and South Asia and the appropriate NSC Staff Files which sometimes include guidelines for dealing with Middle Eastern and South Asian affairs. Records in the NSC Institutional Files also deal with substantive political, military, and economic issues of Middle Eastern countries. Several categories of the White House Central Files Subject Files, especially the CO – Countries files, also contain related material. Researchers can identify the file locations of additional materials relating to Middle East and South Asian policy from PRESNET search reports, which are available upon request.

SERIES DESCRIPTIONS

Country File, (1975) 1976‑77.  (Boxes 1‑24, 9.6 linear feet)
Memoranda, telegrams, background and position papers, cables, memoranda of conversations, reports, correspondence, notes, messages, biographies, and clippings regarding United States diplomatic relations with thirty Middle East, South Asian, and North African countries: Afghanistan, Algeria, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Egypt, India, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Maldives, Morocco, Nepal, North Yemen, Oman, Qatar, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, South Yemen, Spanish Sahara, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, and United Arab Emirates. There is information on military and economic assistance, territorial disputes, regional alliances, Soviet interests and activities, the Middle East peace negotiations, the evacuation of Beirut, oil, atomic energy, terrorism, and human rights.

Arranged alphabetically by country.

View container list for this series

Visits File, (1974) 1976. (Boxes 25‑27, 1.2 linear feet)
Memoranda, telegrams, lists, schedules, statements, itineraries, and correspondence regarding the planning for the visits of heads of state and high-ranking officials from Afghanistan, Egypt, Iran, Israel, Jordan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Sri Lanka, Syria, and Tunisia. Vice President Rockefeller's trip to the Far East (including stops in Iran and Tunisia), Secretary of the Treasury William Simon's trip to the Middle East, and Assistant Secretary of the Treasury Gerald Parsky's trip to Saudi Arabia are also documented. Included is information on military and economic assistance, Lebanon, the Arab economic boycott of companies trading with Israel, oil, non-aligned countries, international finance, and the presentation of American Bicentennial gifts.

Arranged alphabetically by country and thereunder chronologically.

View container list for this series

General Subject File, (1974) 1976‑77. (Boxes 28‑39, 4.8 linear feet)
Memoranda, correspondence, telegrams, reports, background and position papers, press releases, and clippings regarding United States interests and diplomatic efforts in the Middle East, South Asia, and North Africa. There is information on military and economic assistance, regional alliances, territorial disputes, regional security, Soviet interests and activities, Middle East peace negotiations, the Arab economic boycott of companies trading with Israel, White House liaison with Arab-American and Jewish-American groups, the Palestine Liberation Organization, oil, US security interests in the Persian Gulf and the Indian Ocean, the role of the United Nations in the Middle East, and the transition from the Ford to Carter administrations.

Arranged alphabetically by subject.

View container list for this series

Kissinger Trips File, 1974‑76. (Boxes 40‑41, 0.8 linear feet)
Telegrams, background and position papers, summaries, travel arrangements, itineraries, and drafts of statements primarily concerning Henry Kissinger's trips to Egypt, Israel, Saudi Arabia, Syria, and Jordan promoting the Egyptian-Israeli peace negotiations. There is also information on military and economic assistance, Arab-Israeli relations, atomic energy, the Palestinian Liberation Organization, the sale of arms and ammunition to Ethiopia during the Eritrean War, and Kissinger's visits to India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran, Tunisia, Bangladesh, Great Britain, France, and the Netherlands.

Arranged chronologically.

View container list for this series

Presidential Briefings File, 1974‑75. (Boxes 42‑44, 1.2 linear feet)
Daily briefings and supporting telegrams, cables, and memoranda prepared for President Ford and Henry Kissinger regarding events in the Middle East, South Asia, and North Africa. There is information on US diplomatic efforts in the Middle East, regional alliances, Soviet interests and activities, the Palestine Liberation Organization, the United Nations, the floods in Bangladesh, oil, international finance, and events in India, Pakistan, Algeria, Morocco, Israel, Jordan, Syria, Iraq, Libya, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Lebanon, and Tunisia.

Arranged chronologically.

View container list for this series

Peace Negotiations Chronological File, 1974‑76. (Boxes 45‑55, 4.4 linear feet)
Telegrams, memoranda, background and position papers, cables, reports, presidential briefings, and talking points on the Egyptian-Israeli peace negotiations. The materials focus on the role of Henry Kissinger's shuttle diplomacy and illustrates the relationships developed by Kissinger and President Ford with Middle East leaders through their personal contacts and the exchange of messages. There is also information on events and topics affecting the negotiations and the peace agreement including Arab-Israeli relations, the occupied territories, compliance with the first disengagement agreement, the establishment of a US monitoring force in the Sinai, the Palestine Liberation Organization, the assassination of Saudi Arabian King Faisal, terrorism, arms sales to Middle East countries, and United Nations Security Council debates on the Middle East.

Arranged chronologically.

View container list for this series

Chronological File, 1974‑77. (Boxes 56‑84, 11.6 linear feet)
Memoranda, correspondence, talking points, memoranda of conversations, meeting minutes, background and position papers, telegrams, press guidance, and messages concerning US interests and diplomatic efforts in the Middle East, South Asia, and North Africa. This series apparently served as the office reading file and duplicates most, if not all, outgoing documents generated by the NSC Operations Staff for Middle East and South Asian Affairs. There is information on a wide variety of topics including military and economic assistance, regional alliances, territorial disputes, the Middle East peace negotiations, the Palestinian Liberation Organization, the civil war in Lebanon, US security interests in the Persian Gulf and Indian Ocean, the Arab economic boycott of companies trading with Israel, Soviet interests and activities, the Rabat Arab Summit, terrorism, Iranian investment in Pan Am, heads of state visits, Soviet Jews, atomic energy, oil, and mandatory declassification review requests from previous Administrations. In addition, there is information on the administrative aspects of the Office of Middle East and South Asian Affairs, as well as office contacts with other NSC offices, White House staff, and agency representatives.

Arranged chronologically.

View container list for this series

CONTAINER LIST

Box 1 - Country File

Box 2 - Country File

Box 3 - Country File

Box 4 - Country File

Box 5 - Country File

Box 6 - Country File

Box 7 - Country File

Box 8 - Country File

Box 9 - Country File

Box 10 - Country File

Box 11 - Country File

Box 12 - Country File

Box 13 - Country File

Box 14 - Country File

Box 15 - Country File

Box 16 - Country File

Box 17 - Country File

Box 18 - Country File

Box 19 - Country File

Box 20 - Country File

Box 21 - Country File

Box 22 - Country File

Box 23 - Country File

Box 24 - Country File

Box 25 - Visits File

Box 26 - Visits File

Box 27 - Visits File

Box 28 - General Subject File

Box 29 - General Subject File

Box 30 - General Subject File

Box 31 - General Subject File

Box 32 - General Subject File

Box 33 - General Subject File

Box 34 - General Subject File

Box 35 - General Subject File

Box 36 - General Subject File

Box 37 - General Subject File

Box 38 - General Subject File

Box 39 - General Subject File

Box 40 - Kissinger Trips File

Box 41 - Kissinger Trips File

Box 42 - Presidential Briefings File

Box 43 - Presidential Briefings File

Box 44 - Presidential Briefings File

Box 45 - Enter Peace Negotiations Chronological File

Box 46 - Peace Negotiations Chronological File

Box 47 - Peace Negotiations Chronological File

Box 48 - Peace Negotiations Chronological File

Box 49 - Peace Negotiations Chronological File

Box 50 - Peace Negotiations Chronological File

Box 51 - Peace Negotiations Chronological File

Box 52 - Peace Negotiations Chronological File

Box 53 - Peace Negotiations Chronological File

Box 54 - Peace Negotiations Chronological File

Box 55 - Peace Negotiations Chronological File

Box 56 - Chronological File

Box 57 - Chronological File

Box 58 - Chronological File

Box 59 - Chronological File

Box 60 - Chronological File

Box 61 - Chronological File

Box 62 - Chronological File

Box 63 - Chronological File

Box 64 - Chronological File

Box 65 - Chronological File

Box 66 - Chronological File

Box 67 - Chronological File

Box 68 - Chronological File

Box 69 - Chronological File

Box 70 - Chronological File

Box 71 - Chronological File

Box 72 - Chronological File

Box 73 - Chronological File

Box 74 - Chronological File

Box 75 - Chronological File

Box 76 - Chronological File

Box 77 - Chronological File

Box 78 - Chronological File

Box 79 - Chronological File

Box 80 - Chronological File

Box 81 - Chronological File

Box 82 - Chronological File

Box 83 - Chronological File

Box 84 - Chronological File