Office of the Historian
No. 612

Secretary’s Daily Meetings, lot 58D609

[Extract]

Memorandum of Conversation, by the Chief of the Policy Reports Staff Executive Secretariat (Barnes)

secret
[Washington,] February 15, 1951.

Subject: Summary of Meeting With the Secretary1

Participants:

Mr. Acheson Mr. Cabot
Mr. Webb Mr. Humelsine
Mr. Matthews Mr. Armstrong
Mr. Nitze Mr. Reinhardt
Mr. Harriman Mr. Battle

Mr. Barnes

. . . . . . .

Item 3. Eastern European Missions

The Secretary indicated his concern over the position of our Eastern European Missions in the light of reports such as the recent one from Ambassador Briggs that local employees might be subject to arrest or intimidation.2 He wanted to be sure that we were keeping our missions at the lowest possible personnel level to minimize this risk.

Mr. Reinhardt indicated that this was largely true in Czechoslovakia and Rumania, where the governments have forced us to reduce our missions, but was not true in Hungary and Poland.

It was agreed that EE would continue to study this problem on an urgent basis.

. . . . . . .

R. G. Barnes
  1. This is the record of the Secretary of State’s daily meeting with top Department of State officers.↩
  2. See telegram 321 to Praha, Document 662.↩