312. Telegram From the Department of State to the Mission at the United Nations1
Tedul 3. Following text second message also dated September 26 . . .:
“Nasr personally confirmed to me that he has concluded agreement whereby Soviets will provide him with Jet fighters, medium Jet bombers, tanks, artillery, PT boats and other heavy equipment. Did not mention submarines. He either did not wish to be or could not be precise about types or quantities. Did say that first shipment would arrive late October. Except for this statement, and very general ones made . . . by Ahmad Husayn to Byroade, all our reports have been from clandestine sources, which give more detail but which may not be reliable on every point. I credit them with [Page 522] reporting accurately what they have been able to learn, but am by no means convinced that the sources of our sources could tell one Jet from another.Nasr was puzzled by my interest in the medium Jet bombers (offered to sell us one if we interested) and unable to tell us the caliber of the artillery he is getting.
“Perhaps we should have emphasized in the first message that Nasr made great point of his success in keeping arms negotiations secret to date. Explained that he had conscientiously been keeping U.S. Govt informed, i.e., first through Byroade, later . . .(when Nasr became angry at Byroade for having discussed matter with British Ambassador) . . . through Ahmad Husayn. We were able to convince Nasr, although not without difficulty, that secret of this sort is impossible to keep and that he would do well to take steps to insure that its eventual release is accomplished in manner least harmful to him. It is possible that his realizing this was principal factor in moving him to make statement we suggested (See Tedul 22) and otherwise cooperate with us.
“AP story giving accurate account of what we have reported on Soviet deal3 is most disturbing and dangerous to our intelligence capabilities here.”
- Source: Department of State, Central Files, 774.56/9–2755. Secret; Priority. Drafted and approved by Barnes who signed for Hoover.↩
- Supra.↩
- See footnote 3, supra.↩