CIA PARTICIPATION IN THE LAW OF THE SEA TASK FORCE

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80B01495R000800110004-8
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: C
• Document Page Count: 5
• Document Creation Date: December 9, 2016
• Document Release Date: February 8, 2000
• Sequence Number: 4
• Publication Date: May 27, 1970
• Content Type: MF

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DATE: 27 May 1970
TO: Messrs. _/Praetor/Smil
25X1A 25X1A
25X1A
Law of the Sea Task Force
REMARKS: 25X1 A
of OBGI was over last
week discussing this Task Force which will
be preparing for international negotiations
over the next few years. State Department
has asked for Agency participation in a
Task Force Subcommittee which would col-
lect data.
Dick felt we should probably have a
wider role in the Task Force proper as
well as in the Subcommittee. As the lines
of coordination would cut across several
offices in this Directorate and extend into
DDS&T, I asked Dick to write a memo ex-
plaining what this was all about and to include
a draft memo to State. The Department,
incidentally, has been queried informally and
would be delighted to have CIA participation.
This is not something you should take
much time with and I do not recommend
reading all the attachments. You should know
about it, however. If you approve of our
participation in the Task Force at two levels,
25X1 A I will ask Jim Brammell to go forward with
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27 May 1970
MEMORANDUM FOR: Deputy Director for Intelligence
SUBJECT: CIA Participation in the Law of the
Sea Task Force
1. The Legal Advisor, Department of State, has asked
OBGI to provide assistance to a working group of the recently
formed .Law of the Sea Task Force (Attachment 1). In my view,
the Task Force is concerned with policy matters that will be
of increasing importance to CIA. The following paragraphs
briefly describe the situation as it stands and the approach I
would propose we take.
2. Background
a. The rapid advance of technology over the past
ten years has greatly changed the political significance
of the oceans. Agreements reached in the Law of the Sea
Conferences at Geneva in 1958 and 1960 were incomplete
and not wholly viable at the time. New international agreements
are needed now to update and revitalize the regime of law
covering fisheries, the territorial sea, and use of the
continental shelves, and to regulate international practice
in matters of pollution and exploitation of the deep seabed.
Failure to renegotiate acceptable international codes will
result in the continued proliferation of extreme unilateral
claims and unrestrained seaward extension of national
sovereignty. As one author observes: "It is difficult to
overemphasize the importance to the United States of the
present international process of forming a future regime
of the oceans. The regime will be a very important factor
in molding the future world order, in international stability,
and in the capability of the United States to enhance its
own prosperity . . . . "
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b. In recognition of the implications of this situation
for basic intelligence, the Geography Division in 1969
began discussions with The Geographer, Department of
State, looking to the joint establishment and interagency
development of a comprehensive data bank on national
interests in the sea. I subsequently approved the
initiation of a pilot effort on five countries according to
a draft outline (Attachment 2) that would be coordinated
with OCS, OSI, and DDI offices. A tentative query as
to NAVOCEANO cooperation brought a strong affirmative
response.
c. The Law of the Sea Task Force was formed in
January 1970 in response to a White House directive to
State to prepare for anticipated bilateral and multilateral
negotiations in 1971 and beyond. The purpose of the
Task Force, in general, is to prepare and coordinate
U. S. negotiating positions for Executive Branch approval;
to facilitate necessary consultations with the Congress,
industry, and the scientific community; to prepare and
coordinate the negotiations themselves; and to create a
supporting data bank (Attachment 3). A paralleling activity
was the convening of an Under Secretaries Committee
meeting to consider the U. S. position on the seabed
boundary, the results of which were announced by
President Nixon on 24 May. A DDI briefing paper was
prepared by OBGI for General Cushman's use in this
activity (Attachment 4).
d. We became involved in Task Force affairs when
State's Office of the Geographer made the Task Force
aware of our proposed data bank outline. The outline,
slightly expanded, was subsequently adopted by the Task
Force. A trial compilation of data on selected countries
has been initiated, essentially as we had envisioned it,
with all participant agencies contributing. The formal
request for CIA aid followed.
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3. Benefits and Costs of CIA Involvement
a. The Task Force deals with global matters of
political, economic, and military geography that are
long-standing concerns of OBGI. Representative
capabilities and interests of other offices that might
be involved are:
(1) Military use of the seabed (OSI, OSR)
(2) Commercial exploitation of deep sea
areas (OER)
(3) Foreign attitudes, positions, and conflicts
on law of the sea issues (OCI, ONE)
(4) Ocean-related R&D (OSI)
The Agency has a general interest, also, in the encouragement
of negotiations that seek maximum freedom for scientific
research and thus for intelligence collection operations.
The terms of the Geneva Convention currently in effect
have acted to curtail such freedom.
b. The function of the Task Force as an apparatus
facilitating interagency action on the data bank will save
us much effort and time. We will be able to concentrate
more freely on subject areas in which we have special
expertise, on the compilation of code-word sub-files
to be retained (presumably) in the Agency, and in
coordination with OCS on the development of computerized
modes.
c. Participation by CIA at the working stages will
better assure that intelligence is considered by the Task
Force, and is reflected in the policy recommendations
reviewed and approved by the Under Secretaries Committee.
d. Outlays by OBGI in support of the Task Force
would probably not exceed the equivalent of one full-time
analyst. This support would extend over the life of the
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Task Force, perhaps 18 months. A large part of the
support would do double duty, in that it would also
support our own data base effort and our involvement
in the tasks of other interagency activities, such as
the Working Group for Formulation of U. S. Policy
on the Arctic. Outlays by other CIA offices would
normally consist in aiding the preparation of Agency
responses to draft Task Force papers and in attending
incidental specialists' meetings.
4. If you agree, I would propose to approve Mr. Stevenson's
request for our assistance in the work of the Task Force. I
would, however, broaden the terms of the assistance to include
25X1A support of the Task Force overall, not merely support of the
Information and Research Working Group (IRWG) as mentioned
in the memorandum of request. As CIA Representative to the
Task Force at large.. I would designate
and as Representative to the IRWG, because of his expertise
25X1A in this field, I would designate
Briefings of the concerned offices in the DDI and DDS&T
would be undertaken immediately.
25X1A
(J JAMES A. BRAMMELL
Director
Basic and Geographic Intelligence
4 Attachments:
as stated
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