763.5/7–1850
Memorandum by the Deputy Director of Military Defense Assistance in the Department of State (Ohly) to the Assistant Secretary of State for European Affairs (Perkins)
As you know, this office has approved and arranged the funding for a materiel program designed to furnish essential equipment for an Austrian security force if and when a peace treaty is consummated. This has resulted in the use of nearly 1/10 of our FY 1950 funds, which would otherwise have been used for North Atlantic Treaty programs. Moreover, it will result, as and when this program is carried out, in the immobilizing in EUCOM of about $100,000,000 worth of equipment, much of which is urgently required for other MDA [Page 481] programs, including primarily those of the North Atlantic Treaty countries.
I would appreciate your review of the question of whether, in the light of Far Eastern developments,1 the present status of Austrian Treaty negotiations and the general deterioration of relations between the East and the West, there should be a revision in our present plans for the equipping of an Austrian security force. It seems to me we are engaged in fantasy when we talk about the possibility of an Austrian Peace Treaty before we settle things generally with the Soviet Union or are at least in a position where the Soviet Union feels compelled by hard facts to enter into such a Treaty. I therefore believe that there should be an immediate examination of this subject with a view to determining (a) whether or not the equipment and the funds tied up in this Austrian stockpiling program should be redistributed to the NATO countries, or (b) whether or not the composition, and possibly the location, of this stockpile should be changed so that it would be immediately available for, and adapted to, meeting possible emergency requirements of Yugoslavia and Greece. If the second course were followed, we would obviously want to increase the amount of small arms, artillery and ammunition, and to cut down on such things as uniforms and general items of maintenance and equipment like tool kits, mess kits, shovels, etc. Any major revision of policy would, in the light of outstanding NSC directives, probably require NSC action.
In view of the impending negotiations with the British and French on this subject, I believe that if there is to be any possible change in our thinking, this fact should be known before these negotiations commence.
- For documentation on the North Korean invasion of South Korea, see volume vii, pp. 125 ff.↩