790.5 MAP/4–1450
The Acting Secretary of State to the Secretary of Defense (Johnson)
My Dear Mr. Secretary: Thank you for your letter of April 14 which embodied an estimate by the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the strategic importance from the military point of view of Southeast Asia as well as certain recommendations for action which the Joint Chiefs believe would further our purposes in that area. I am gratified to observe that the estimate of the Joint Chiefs of the strategic importance of the area coincides with that of the Department of State.
[Page 817]The Department concurs in the recommendation in paragraph 10 looking toward the establishment of a Southeast Asian Aid Committee and will designate Mr. Dean Rusk, Assistant Secretary of State for Far Eastern Affairs,1 as the State member of this Committee.
We note that the request that military representatives participate in the tripartite discussions in London has been handled through the arrangements by which Admiral Conolly has served as an adviser to the United States Delegation.
The Department of State agrees with the Joint Chiefs, as pointed out in paragraph 18, that conversations between the “French and American General Staffs” on the subject of Indochina should not be held, but that the desired ends will best be served through conferences in Indochina among the United States Military Aid Group and military representatives of France, Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia.
The Department of State concurs in the proposal contained in paragraph 12 that a small military aid group be established in Thailand to supervise the extension of military assistance to that country. The Department also agrees that arrangements for military aid should he made directly to the Thai Government.
The Department of State concurs in the proposal that there be immediately established “a small United States military aid group in Indochina” to supervise the extension of military assistance to that country. The Department of State assumes, of course, that such a Mission would be instructed to act in accordance with the advice of the Chief of the United States Diplomatic Mission in Saigon.
Other points raised by the Joint Chiefs’ recommendations will be dealt with subsequently.
Sincerely yours,
- Mr. Rusk became Assistant Secretary of State for Far Eastern Affairs on March 28.↩