On 22 March 1979, the Secretary-General of Western European Union (WEU) circulates the final reply by the WEU Council to question 192 put by a member of the Assembly on the consequences of the SALT II Agreement. Since the agreement has not yet been signed, the Council explains that many of the details remain confidential, but it refers to a US publication dating from 1978 on cruise missiles which confirms that the United States Government has been careful to preserve the most important options for its defence needs. On the matter of consequences for the European governments, the Council notes that SALT II is a bilateral agreement between the United States and the Soviet Union and will therefore not be legally binding on third countries when it comes to the development of military techniques. The Council also points out that NATO’s deterrent strategy of flexible response is based on keeping open a series of options to tackle possible aggression, but that this does not mean that NATO must match the arms systems used by the Warsaw Pact with specific systems of its own.