313. Memorandum From Gordon Chase of the National Security Council Staff to the President’s Special Assistant for National Security Affairs (Bundy)0
SUBJECT
- Cuba—Covert Actions
The Cottrell Committee met Wednesday afternoon1 to discuss a number of items which are to come up at the Special Group meeting. Secretary Vance, Sterling Cottrell, Dez FitzGerald, Bob Hurwitch and Joe Califano attended. Here are some of the points.
- 1.
- Black Operations—A number of new intelligence operations were approved with little comment.
- 2.
- Sabotage Targets for April/May—Dez FitzGerald presented three targets
for approval—a railway bridge, some petroleum storage facilities and a
molasses storage vessel. During the Committee’s discussion and approval
of the three targets, a number of points were made.
- a.
- This will meet the President’s desire for some noise level and for some action in the immediate future.
- b.
- These are relatively soft targets. They will not hurt the Cubans terribly much. (Unfortunately, this is usually the case with soft targets—the ones that really hurt are hard and require extensive planning.)
- c.
- These targets will not be attacked before April 22, if it looks as if the American prisoners will be released on that date.
- d.
- The Special Group should be aware of the consequences of these raids. For example, raids from the outside may prompt Cuban firings near or at American ships.
- 3.
- Sabotage of Cuban Shipping—The Committee split on the question of limpets. Secretary Vance was against limpets because of the possibility of sinkings. While Cott went along with limpets, Bob Hurwitch pointed out that there are dangers in attaching them in Free World ports. It could prove very embarrassing to U.S. relations with other governments; this aspect should be considered on a port-by-port basis. Dez pointed out that operating in Havana harbor was difficult.
- 4.
-
Attacks from the Inside—Dez pointed out that, as a general rule, it was difficult to control sabotage from the inside. So far, sabotage has been taboo; our people inside Cuba have been restrained. Once the taboo is lifted, it will be difficult to restrict them to certain targets; they may hit [Page 762] targets we never dreamed of. Also, we will not have control over the exact timing of the raids.
Dez said that probably one of the best targets inside Cuba is the [less than 1 line of source text not declassified]. It would really hurt the Cubans but would be a complicated and difficult job and would take about eight months to accomplish. He urged getting started on the planning.
- 5.
- Attacks from the Outside—The Committee agreed that these attacks could and should be approved on a project-by-project basis.
- 6.
- General—Dez feels that the President wants some action. Dez is working on a program which will show continuous motion. The soft targets, which are generally unimportant, will be first because they require the least preparation. As time goes on, however, we will be hitting some harder and more important targets.