The Cabinet committee appointed by President Nixon Sept. 25 to consider effective means of combating the problem of international terrorism held its first meeting today under the chairmanship of Secretary of State William P. Rogers. State Department spokesman Charles Bray reported afterwards that Rogers instructed Ambassador George Bush, the US representative to the United Nations, “to keep the heat on” at the UN with respect to the terrorist issue.
Bush was instructed to move in the General Assembly’s Sixth (Legal) Committee for a draft convention to combat terrorism and another to safeguard diplomats and government officials abroad, Bray said.
In addition to Bush, today’s meeting was attended by Secretary of Defense Melvin Laird, Attorney General Richard Kleindienst, Transportation Secretary John Volpe, CIA Director Richard Helms, Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs, Joseph J. Sisco, L. Patrick Gray, the acting director of the FBI, and John D. Ehrlich-man, White House assistant.
Rogers named a specialist on the Middle East, Ambassador Armin Meyer, to serve as special assistant to the committee. Meyer, a former Ambassador to Tokyo, spent most of his career in the Middle East and is presently serving as a special assistant to Sisco.
Bray said that in keeping with the administration’s view that “any nation that is a haven for outlaws should be outlawed by the civilized community,” the US is seeking to have the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) convene a plenary meeting to consider sanctions against nations aiding aerial hijackers.
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