EMBARGOED FOR RELEASE UNTIL

6:00 P.M. EDT, MAY 3, 1973

MAY 3, 1973

OFFICE OF THE WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY

THE WHITE HOUSE

PRESS CONFERENCE

OF

DR. HENRY A. KISSINGER, ASSISTANT TO THE PRESIDENT

FOR NATIONAL SECURITY AFFAIRS

THE BRIEFING ROOM

10:40 A.M. EDT

MR. WARREN: Just a note that the information in this briefing is embargoed until 6:00 p.m., along with the report which you have now read and which Henry will discuss with you.

Q: There will be a transcript, will there not?

MR. WARREN: There will be.

Q: In Florida, too?

MR. WARREN: Yes.

DR. KISSINGER: Gentlemen, you presumably have read the report and I summarized its basic thrust yesterday. Perhaps one word about the process, which by now should be fairly familiar to you, by which this is produced.

We ask each of the departments and agencies that deal with international affairs to submit their recommendations as to what the report should say, and then the report is written by my staff, and the tortured parts by me. After we have discussed with the President what the major direction should be, it is then reviewed by the various departments and submitted to the Congress. So it is a joint effort that is gone over by all of the responsible agencies.

Let me now answer any questions that you may have
about the report.

Q Dr. Kissinger, would you elaborate on the
passage on page 8 in which you explicitly apply the Nixon
Doctrine to the Atlantic Alliance?

DR. KISSINGER: The Nixon Doctrine has many aspects. One of the essential aspects of the Nixon Doctrine is that other countries should assume a greater responsibility politically, where appropriate militarily, and economically, and that we are trying to create a new, peaceful structure which is maintained by the commitment to it of all of the countries involved, rather than through unilateral actions and declarations by the United States.

In this sense, the Nixon Doctrine applies, as well,
to the Atlantic Alliance. However, detailed views with
respect to the Atlantic Alliance are stated in the chapter on
the Atlantic Alliance and has been also stated in the speech
that I gave at the President's direction on April 23rd to the
AP newspaper publishers.

Our view with respect to the Atlantic Alliance is
that the relationship between the United States and its
European allies is as essential to the new phase of American
foreign policy as it was to the last phase of American foreign
policy.

The President has affirmed, and the Secretary of
State has repeated, that there will be no unilateral Ameri-
can cuts in the commitment of our forces to Europe, and,
therefore, the reference of the Nixon Doctrine in this
paper cannot be interpreted in that sense.

Q Doctor, in the conclusion, is that --

DR. KISSINGER: When he calls me "Doctor", I know
I am going to get it. (Laughter)

Q Is the conclusion a step away from the concept
of five centers of power in the world that the President
and you have enunciated from time to time?