Editorial Note
In the Council Deputies meeting of January 17, Wilgress introduced a re-draft of the North Atlantic Council terms of reference (D–l/1; see footnote 4, page 18) which he had worked out with Alphand to meet the latter’s point that the Foreign Minister was the only official who could engage the French government. Spofford supplied the substance of the re-draft in his telegram Depto 422 of January 18, not printed, and added that the other Deputies showed a preference for the original Canadian proposal. He reported that, when asked for American ideas on the language of the drafts, he had informed the Deputies that he could only reiterate the United States view that the NAC was in fact a council of governments and that foreign ministers represented governments and not merely foreign offices. (740.5/1–1851)