825.24/3–2747

Memorandum by the Chief of the Division of Special Inter-American Affairs (Dreier) to the Director of the Office of American Republic Affairs (Briggs)

restricted

The Chilean Military Attaché35 is pressing very hard for permission to buy military equipment for one more regiment of infantry (the interim ground program for Chile included one regiment of infantry arid some artillery).

Colonel Ordway is very anxious to have this approved because it has been indicated to him that, if we make this equipment available, the Chileans will ask for a ground mission from the United States Army.

I recommend that we do not approve this sale because it will amount to getting us considerably more involved than we already are in providing arms to the Chilean Army when we still do not know what the top policy decision will be in regard to future arms transfers. We have a military air mission in Chile, so a ground mission is not quite so urgent as if we had none. Furthermore, I do not like the idea of a deal whereby we would make equipment available just to get an invitation to a mission.36

John C. Dreier
  1. Col. Ernesto Medina.
  2. In the margin beside the final paragraph appears the following: “Agree B[riggs], Ditto S B[raden]”.