Ernest Graves
signal in the relations with these foreign governments. They felt that if the U.S. declined
to help conduct this business, it would be seen as a hostile act by the foreign
government, which in some cases it was. But that letter remained on the books. It
remained on the books until it was removed by the Reagan administration.
Q:
Did the arms suppliers make any efforts to get around this? I mean, did it essentially
stop their efforts?
A:
Let me mention one other provision that was in effect. That was that they required
either a license or an advisory opinion from the Office of Munitions Control in the
Department of State before they could undertake marketing of any weapon that was on
the munitions list. The Carter administration manipulated that requirement to try to
constrain the contractors.
So the combination of the "leprosy letter" and the strictures under the munitions list
caused the contractors a lot of grief and, I think, did have some restraint.
The attitude of the Department of Defense on this varied. There were two schools of
thought in the Defense Department. There were some areas in the Defense Department
where the foreign sales of a particular weapons system were viewed positively.
Q:
To keep an assembly line moving, for example.
A:
To maintain a hot or warm production line because relations with foreign governments
were important. I think the Air Force, in particular, is in that role because they have to
operate worldwide, and their relations with the air forces of allied and friendly
governments are critical to their operations. So they are of a frame of mind and they are
structured to conduct the matter of military aid and sales of arms--Air Force weapons
systems. It's a part of their main mission almost.
The Navy is the exact opposite, for the most part. Although they are interested in
cooperation with other navies, it doesn't dominate the scene. And the Army's kind of
halfway between.
The two positions of the services on this would be quite different. There were some
who didn't like the idea of the contractors being restricted. I think there were just as
many that were delighted because they thought that these marketing activities by the
contractors were often the source of a lot of trouble.
Q:
They would skew the process, wouldn't they?
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