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August 10, 1977

Letter, Warren Christopher to William Hyland, 'Response to Soviet Message on South Africa'

This draft reply to Leonid Brezhnev's August 1977 message to Jimmy Carter on the suspicious site in the Kalahari Desert includes a number of interesting points, among them a request for the "geographic coordinates, size, configuration, and exact nature of the facility." Presumably this information would be used by the US to better target its reconnaissance satellites on the site.

July 1978

Interagency Intelligence Memorandum, US Director of Central Intelligence, 'South Africa’s Nuclear Options and Decisionmaking Structure'

Memo reports that during the period the Carter administration was putting pressure on South Africa to avoid the nuclear weapons route, but the analysts suggested that even if the South Africans signed the NPT and accepted IEAE safeguards they would continue to pursue a “covert program.”

August 18, 1981

Letter from South African Foreign Minister R. F. Botha on Relations with the Reagan Administration

Letter from South African Foreign Minister "Pik" Botha to South African Member of Parliament J.W.K. Wiley on relations with the United States. He notes that there has been a considerable change in policy since the Reagan administration took over from Carter, summarizing that "the Americans are not at present trying to make trouble for us," although that may change if progress is not made on South West Africa, i.e. Namibia.

August 18, 1977

Letter, US Ambassador Bowlder to South African Foreign Minister Botha

Message from U.S. Ambassador Bowdler to the South African Minister of Foreign Affairs Botha in which President Carter’s warning that the detonation of a South African nuclear device would have “most serious consequences” for U.S.-South African relations was conveyed.