Conversation 828-006

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You'll keep my schedule as free as possible between now and January 20th.

Go ahead.

You'll keep my schedule as free as possible between now and January 20th.

I think he lowered the cover, but I'm happy to do that because I want to know

foreign leaders of any kind before the 20th, unless it has to do with Vietnam.

I think I may have told George Shultz that we could get together around the 5th or 6th on tax and trade policy.

I think I also have excessive genre of possibility of getting together for a long meeting on our domestic initiatives shortly after the first year period.

To the extent possible, I want to put these meetings off until after January 20th period.

In order to handle the situation, I would set a cabinet meeting now for the 22nd and invite to that meeting only members of the cabinet.

I would set a leaders meeting also for the 22nd.

And by the full complement of the Republican leaders, period.

As far as bipartisan leadership is concerned, I shall have the pleasure of my year.

I have no questions, so I proceed now.

Otherwise, I would like to study bipartisan meeting

for the 24th, in other words, the day after the full Republican leadership meeting.

I want a recommendation from the tenants who are to be included in such a bipartisan meeting.

And I think it is well, very, I think it is well, too, for him to discuss what he feels we should set up with regard to bipartisan meetings on government reorganization plans.

Which we, of course, must explain to the Congress at a relatively early date.

exceptions to my rule in regard to appointments before January 20, of course will have to be made beforehand by the decisions, or decisions on messages, which must be made before that date.

On the other hand, you will never find that I can put off those decisions until after the time.

With further reference to our, to my schedule, I think we should do some planning for a natural schedule coverage versus here.

Let's see if I can get another answer.

I think it's a good reference.

If you'd like, that's your last about a moment in California.

Yeah, and these are just mail, regular mail.

Subsequent to your instruction this morning, we're going to point to you.

You might want to see it later this week.

No, no.

Yeah, all, all plans will have to be accurate.

But, I'm just writing this down right now.

And all the plans, in an urgent manner, have to be scheduled after the inauguration.

Now we just put it on that basis.

Okay.

Uh, planning for a master schedule covered for six months of the year.

Here you will have to include, for the purpose of the decision, the state visits that will be made here and trips that I will have to make abroad, possibly one to Europe in that period.

The static entrance that Maury Stanton has requested, the evenings of the White House,

I'm glad to see that's valid, and I'm inclined to think that with the enormous pressures we have to bring in people to help us with the campaign, the evening at the White House will serve us as a catch-all, and that we should save these state dinner invitations for all the very top contributors going back.

a state-of-the-art dinner would be considered almost a variety.

Great.

In a day, church services, press conferences, any trips that we make might go on and on.

We know a lot of people within the United States.

Very good.

In making plans for the next reschedule,

I would like to have these trips abroad, where possible, planned at a time that will have me out of the country when the finals correspond to Gridiron and other very safe places where I want to be there as my representative this year as well as next.

I think it's important for you to get a hold of this schedule now before I am inundated from all sides by the political people, by the Henry, John Lippman, Shultz, Hunters, Shultz, Hunters, Hunters,

with their requests for setting up breakfasts, lunches, dinners, briefings, etc.

Great.

I expect the schedule to be particularly heavy during the first six months of this year, with the fact that we have to catch up on some of our political people.

On the other hand, the responsibilities that I have to get the new term started off in the right direction must be my overriding concern.

Consequently, we must not let this schedule run away with us, or I will find that I will be so busy seeing people and going through the motions

all the special interest groups that I will be unable to do the job I was elected to do, period.

I think you should have a hard-nosed talk with Erdogan, Kimmel, Schultz, and Kissinger on this matter.

And I think also you should have, when he is in place, talk to George Bush and Marty Sands so that they will not put the pressure on him.

So that they will understand that we will not be able to do every event they want us to do.

Very very nice.

Also, it is important to have a talk with Chuck Colson regarding the Colson economy request that will be pouring in.

for meetings with later groups, et cetera.

As I add it all up, it is a pretty frightening pile on the plate.

We have demands to meet with the national contributors, for political people who supported us in the campaign, our committee to re-elect the president, over the nation, from the Colson Common Groups, from the Congress, from governors, mayors, et al., where early on we passed a press release, for people within the administration, for celebrities, and of course for

and media, presidential commissions, et cetera, likely where I will have to put in some appearances.

To refer to such meetings, I have changed my mind regarding the use of the chapter unless I am scheduled

Definitely at the end of the meeting, the cabinet room should not be used for a meeting.

I could sense my one product of the commission meeting that the later leaders really halfway expected me to be there.

And I have this habit that will be the case even though you swear in blood when the president is not going to be present.

Let's just observe that our cabinet room for meetings for the president is present.

There are plenty of other ad lib rooms which we use for meetings with administration personnel where I'm not present.

That's the end of this tape and I will follow.

This is the second portion of a memorandum of all of it.

I have created one tape, which is attached to this.

Uh, paragraph.

In making your money over the next six months, I would like to get our total call operation in a more orderly shape, grade.

What has happened over the past four years is that the wheels that sweep the motions have been getting greased.

Um, Colson.

Uh, Demons, et al.

Uh, Demons and earlier, Denton.

Uh, Demons, we also screened the most that have been getting the briefs.

Uh, Colson and Denton, for example, always got their names in.

Several others who should have had calls.

We're not covered due to the fact that the people who should have recommended this weren't as aggressive in getting their names in.

The use of call-in calls can be enormously effective.

However, it must not be done on a hit-or-miss basis and not on the basis of who happens to be the aggressive person who is pushing the calls.

It is somewhat similar to the way we give invitations to dinners, etc.

If we listed only morning stands, we would only have financial contributors as guests at dinners, except for the government officials who have to be invited.

That is why it is essential to go out and ask the integrator and others for their recommendations so that we are sure we don't get any imbalance in this respect.

I want to use a telephone call to evacuate.

But there's not a lot of waste calls on individuals who might enjoy receiving them, but simply don't rate with others who have on a higher priority period.

My present inclination is to make a habit of calls per day.

However, unless I have the thorough confidence

the recommendations as to what calls should be made, I am not going to make.

One point I have already covered is that we are going to knock off calls on birthdays, anniversaries, etc.

unless they happen to be very special occasions where a party is being given and a call has been requested from a very special friend.

The same is valid for the ownership of letters to people on their birthdays.

Only where it's a very special birthday or anniversary to a very special friend should letters go.

I don't want to get into the routine of signing a letter or making the call any more than to follow the routine of giving a gift to everybody that comes in the office.

On another subject, I want you to be sure to follow up with Henry at the earliest possible time with regard to cutting the NSC staff.

He is going to drag along here and not make these cuts unless you push him hard.

I think what you need to do is just sit down with him.

and go over his list name by name.

And come to see these people who, where he thinks they are loyalists, out into the departments and retain only what he needs on the NFC staff to do the work that reserves the highest priority in the White House period.

I think Henry and his top people are so burned down with problems in so many countries that they sometimes are unable to put their major effort against the big problems that we've been having.

Inevitably, of course, that means that some of the smaller problems come into my office.

The only way to cut down the number of problems that have reached my desk, and I'm sure the chamber's desk, is to cut down the number of staff.

I would like for you to be able to report what success you have in this direction.

I am attached to this memorandum.

A very good number I received earlier on the intelligence community.

Schlesinger's report is big enough and must be implemented in a number of directions.

Very good.

Hereover, you have a very delicate responsibility.

What you must do is to convince Henry of the necessity of my appointing Schlesinger as the top White House man responsible for reorganizing the intelligence community and in charge of intelligence activities.

This, of course, can be done in your shop.

But Schlesinger must be the man in charge.

Very well.

I say this for a number of reasons, of which the following are the most important.

One, the Congress is particularly jealous of its priorities in the intelligence field.

If they get the impression that the President has turned all intelligence activities over to Kissinger, all help will break loose.

If, on the other hand, I need a new director of CIA in Kissinger as my top assistant for intelligence activities, we can get it by the conference, too.

Henry simply doesn't have the time to spend

The fact that I have been bugging him and Hayden for over three years to get the college reorganized with no success whatever proves that point period.

For example, two years ago, and it's not been implemented in any respect.

And you can see the problem is free.

Henry cannot move in this field effectively.

due to his very close contact with Haig.

Haig, with all of his superior qualities, is, after all, a part of the present system, and well-designed.

Four.

And hanging over this whole intelligence question is FIA.

It's capital F, capital I, capital A, capital B.

It's a prestigious group.

But instead of really being independent, being an independent advisory group, it really represents various segments of the status quo in the intelligence community.

Great.

beyond will vigorously oppose any attempt to reorganize its audience.

Great.

Paragraph.

With all of these problems, you can see that it is going to take some pretty skillful management.

I am now suggesting that you sit down at a time

Everybody was in a very genuine frame of mind with Kissinger and with Ervin.

And also with Fletcher.

The four of you then should have an out with regard to how this intelligence problem should be handled.

In the meeting, I heard the recommendation that Ash conduct an independent study with regard to the management side of intelligence.

It's right on the mark.

Let's get that going immediately.

Once Ash has his teeth dug into this thing, he should also sit in with the rest of you in developing a recommendation for me on the intelligence matter.

I'm very prepared.

There is one weakness in the Schlesinger memorandum, which I want you to have corrected in your discussions, period.

He very clearly points out that we have to get rid of the overlapping, etc., and particularly to cut down on the enormous expenditures of the Defense Department for intelligence, period.

On the other hand, he does not emphasize as much as I would like the need to improve quality, underline the word quality, as well as reduce quantity, underline the word quantity,

of common politics people in the CIA itself.

The CIA, like the State Department, is basically a liberal establishment bureaucracy.

I want the personnel there cut at least in half.

at least by 35 to 40 percent.

And I want a definite and proven so far as attitudes of those in CIA with regard to our foreign policy.

There are some very good men there, but the great majority