TALKING POINTS FROM THE NIE ON LAW OF THE SEA FOR THE 21 JANUARY NSC MEETING

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP84B00049R000200360024-0
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: C
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 20, 2016
• Document Release Date: July 23, 2007
• Sequence Number: 24
• Content Type: REPORT

Approved For Release 2007/08/04: CIA-RDP84B00049R000200360024-0
TALKING POINTS FROM THE NIE ON LAW OF THE SEA
FOR THE 21 January NSC MEETING
--If a Comprehensive Treaty on the terms of the present Draft
Convention were to enter into force for the United States, its
effects on private seabed mining would be:
? Provisions for the manditory transfer of technology to
the Enterprise, the mining subsidiary of the proposed
International Seabed Authority (ISA), would deter
investments by some US seabed miners and their suppliers.
? Corporate access to seabed mine sites could be based on
political decisions reached by the ISA's Legal and Technical
Commission which would be dominated by developing countries.
? Production control on the output of nickel and other
seabed metals are not likely to curb production, but these
limitations could create a scrambling for available
production quotas in the early years of seabed mining.
? Revenue sharing with the ISA probably would not prove
too burdensome to the miners if they could convince their
governments to treat such payments as tax credits. Failing
this, some firms might be deterred from entering the
industry.
? Armed with prospected minesites, state-of-the-art
technology, and other financial advantages, the Enterprise
could become a formidable competitor for private seabed
interests.
? Provisions for a future Review Conference and the entry
into force of amendments for all parties, upon approval and
ratification by two-thirds of the states, could drastically
alter the mining system and freeze out private enterprise.
? A cumbersome, and perhaps ineffective, system of
governance for the Seabed Authority would deprive the United
States and other industrial democracies of a meaningful
voice in the establishment of policies and a taking of some
decisions within the ISA.
CON H DENTIAI
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-- A treaty's effect on coastal state claims over navigation
would be:
To inhibit, for some time, the large-scale expansion
of geographic claims--a development viewed as highly
beneficial by all the maritime powers.
? The provisions for a 12-mile limit for the territorial
sea and a 200-mile limit for the Exclusive Economic Zone
(EEZ) would satisfy the present needs of most coastal
states.
All or most states would comply with the. treaty
provisions for unimpeded navigation and overflight in
straits and archipelaqoes.
? The expansion of all coastal state functional claims
within the 200-mile EEZ might not be stemmed because the
treaty language on the juridical status of the zone is
somewhat cloudy.
G Coastal states will not be allowed to require prior
notification and authorization for warship transit of their
territorial seas or to exercise control over military
devices placed on their continental shelves
-- A US walkout of the Law of the Sea Conference before the next
session would:
? Not be joined by the other major industrial countries.
? Likely move the Conference to adopt the Draft Convention
as is, but ultimate ratification by the other major
industrial states would not be certain.
Allow the USSR to milk the event for its propaganda
value, but Moscow would not gain any real political capital
as a result.
? Enable the developing countries to raise the issue again
and again as proof of the United States unresponsiveness to
the Third Worlds' "just an equitable" demands for a "new
international economic order."
Q After the rhetoric, not impact on the continuing vital
economic and political ties between the developing countries
and the United States.
0 Ripple relations with certain defense allies and
industrial partners, but long term relations would not be
impaired.
CONFIDENTIAL
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