197. Editorial Note
On May 19, 1962, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, in a memorandum to Secretary of Defense McNamara, expressed their views on seven issues relating to the draft treaty outline on disarmament. The Joint Chiefs were “convinced that disarmament without full verification of retained armament would jeopardize our national security.” They pointed out that “since late 1961 there has been continuing pressure to negotiate the reduction of US nuclear capabilities in isolation of other proposed disarmament measures. Success in this effort would seriously reduce the major military advantage we now enjoy and drastically alter our military posture. Further there is a danger of US positions being weakened by proposals which have been submitted in attempts to make them more ‘negotiable’ by approaching the Soviet positions.” For text, see Foreign Relations, 1961–1963, volume VII, pages 456–457.