With the death of President Jimmy Carter on Dec. 29, the National Security Archives at George Washington University released a sampling of documents it has compiled on his administration, under the heading, “Jimmy Carter: A Classified Obituary.” Among the documents posted were some which provide insights into the relationship Carter had with his National Security Adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski. One of the documents was the National Security Council Weekly Report prepared by Brzezinski on April 21, 1978. It sheds light on the disastrous results of present day “diplomacy,” as current Secretary of State Antony Blinken and many of his allies were mentored by Madeleine Albright, who was a protégée of Brzezinski’s.
Polish oligarch Brzezinski writes of the need to “toughen policy,” of not just “negotiating agreements and devising formulas.” He calls for adoption of a hard-nosed effort “to influence attitudes and to shape political events.” Among the proposed tactics was to use “demonstrations of force … to infuse fear.” He advocated “saying publicly one thing and quietly negotiating something else.” Carter comments on this in a hand-written note that says “Lying?”
Brzezinski’s duplicitous approach has been applied often, for example, in President Clinton’s negotiations with Soviet President Boris Yeltsin on NATO expansion. Clinton promised Yeltsin to eventually admit Russia into NATO, while documents show that the intention was to expand NATO to Russia’s borders, but not to include Russia.
Brzezinski went on to call for “using black propaganda to stimulate difficulties” for opponents. His conclusion to the memo stated, “The world is just too complicated and turbulent to be handled effectively by negotiating ‘contracts’ while neglecting the need also to manipulate, to influence and to compel.”
A comment from Carter on Brzezinski’s predecessor as National Security Adviser Henry Kissinger is noteworthy. Carter wrote, “H.K. is a liar and also irresponsible. We must prepare to tell the truth about him.” Unfortunately, Carter never did. Perhaps this explains the fear among the “old boys” in intelligence over the prospect that Tulsi Gabbard will be confirmed as Director of National Intelligence. Imagine a DNI who tells the truth about present covert plans, while at the same time exposes past dirty operations!
