Editorial Note
In a memorandum of April 17, NSC Executive Secretary James S. Lay, Jr., informed the National Security Council that the President had returned NSC 65/1 (see footnote 6, page 135) for reconsideration and that with the concurrence of the Secretaries of State and Defense “NSC 65/1 is accordingly being referred to the NSC Consultants for the preparation of a revised report for Council consideration” (S/S–NSC Files, Lot 63 D 351, NSC 65 Series). Pursuant to the President’s action, the Report on United States Policy Toward Arms Shipments to the Near East was revised by representatives of the Secretaries of State and Defense and of the Chairman of the National Security Resources Board and was transmitted to the National Security Council for reconsideration on May 10 as NSC 65/2 (Draft Note by the Executive Secretary to the National Security Council, May 10, S/S–NSC Files, Lot 63 D 351, NSC 65 Series). Substantial alterations had been made in the conclusions of NSC 65/1; the conclusions as they appeared in NSC 65/2 remained unchanged in the final report, NSC 65/3, submitted to the President on May 17 (infra), except for a sentence at the end of paragraph 12e added at the request of the Secretary of Defense. A copy of NSC 65/2 is in S/S–NSC Files, Lot 63 D 351, NSC 65 Series.