oJ COVINGTON & BURLING Theodore R. Mitchell, Esquire January 27, 1979 Page Two Congressional side, the people of Bikini have numerous friends in Congress who have proved helpful in the past and who, I expect, will continue to view sympathetically their needs and requests in the future. As for the ne- gotiating group, Ambassador Rosenblatt has offered to provide for the future needs of the Bikinians in the draft Compact of Free Association. My own reading of the current situation leads me to conclude that the interests of the people of Bikini can best be served by pursuing the above goals through Congressional legislation, and I made these views known to the Office of Micronesian Status Negotiations before the recent Saipan round of negotiations. If your thinking differs from mine on this matter, I would like to know as soon as possible, because I do feel that a unified approach would make some sense, although the people of the four different atolls do have clearly different interests and needs. Similarly, if you feel that Congressional legislation is the best route to follow, I agree that we should meet to determine whether it will be possible to coordinate our efforts. I have no current plans to be in the Trust Territory in the next few months, but your December 21 letter indicates that you expect to be in Washington in late February. Assuming that you are still planning to be here at that time, I would hope that we could meet to discuss these matters. I look forward to hearing from you soon. Sincerely, ncbhlating ( 20094899 /Jonathan M. Weisgall