Editorial Note
The Joint Chiefs of Staff, in a memorandum dated August 5, 1948, to the Secretary of Defense which the latter circulated to the National Security Council (NSC 19/3; Foreign Relations, 1918, volume III, page 933) on the subject “Disposition of the Former Italian Colonies in Africa”, stated that, in formulating a statement of the requirements of the United States with regard to the former Italian Colonies, they found it necessary to appraise the position and security interests of the United States not only with respect to those territories, but to the entire area of the Middle East and Eastern Mediterranean. The appraisal by the Joint Chiefs of Staff of United States security interests in the entire area indicated the following strategic requirements:
- a.
- Denial to any potentially hostile power of any foothold in this area.
- b.
- Maintenance of friendly relationships which could be promoted by social and economic assistance, together with such military assistance as might be practicable in order to insure collaboration by the peoples of the region in the common defense of the area.
- c.
- Development of the oil resources in the area by the United States and such other countries as had or could be expected to have a friendly attitude toward the United States.
- d.
- Assurance of the right of military forces of the United States to enter militarily essential areas upon a threat of war.
- e.
- Assurance of the right to develop and maintain those facilities which were required to implement d (Memorandum by Secretary of Defense Forrestal for the Executive Secretary, National Security Council, 2 August, 1948, S/P–NSC Files: Lot 61 D 167: “Eastern Mediterranean and Middle East”).
A memorandum for the files, August 5, 1948, by Max Bishop of S/P, indicates that the Forrestal memorandum was circulated in the NSC, then placed in National Security Council custody without any further action being taken (S/P–NSC Files: Lot 61 D 167: “Eastern Mediterranean and Middle East”). The National Security Council produced no papers dealing with the Eastern Mediterranean and Middle East regions as a strategic entity prior to the close of 1950.
On November 29, 1950, however, Assistant Secretary of State McGhee sent a memorandum to Ambassador at Large Philip Jessup informing him of the “strong belief in NEA that an NSC paper on the Eastern Mediterranean and Middle East would be very useful in helping to coordinate State and Defense and U.S. and U.K. planning in relation to that area and possibly to reorient somewhat our political, economic, and military programs in the countries of the area.” McGhee described the Eastern Mediterranean and Middle East area as embracing the following countries: Greece, Turkey, Iran, Israel, and the Arab States, including Egypt and Libya. He added that the country-by-country approach to the problems of the area which, by implication, had superseded any regional planning of importance, had “repeatedly proved inadequate as a basis for the formulation or expression of our policies”. McGhee concluded by offering a brief, rough outline of the contents of a possible National Security Council paper on the Eastern Mediterranean and Middle East (S/P–NSC Files: Lot 61 D 167: “Eastern Mediterranean and Middle East”).
On December 11, Jessup incorporated McGhee’s memorandum in a draft memorandum to James S. Lay, Jr., the Executive Secretary of the National Security Council, and the following day Lay submitted the Jessup memorandum to the Senior Staff of the National Security Council for consideration (S/P–NSC Files: Lot 61 D 167: “Eastern Mediterranean and Middle East”). There is no record in the Department of State files as to the action taken by the Senior Staff of the National Security Council, but presumably they directed the Department of State to draft a paper along the lines initially outlined by McGhee on November 29; and on December 27, 1950, McGhee submitted to the Secretary of State the memorandum on “Proposed US Political and Military Actions Required to Assist the Countries of the Middle East in the Defense of the Area Against Aggression”, printed infra.
The subject of the Eastern Mediterranean and the Middle East was considered at the Senior National Security Council Staff meeting on December 29, 1950; and in a memorandum of January 3, 1951, Walter N. Walmsley, Jr., Special Assistant to Ambassador at Large Jessup, informed McGhee that the Senior Staff had agreed that (a) the Central Intelligence Agency should prepare an intelligence estimate on local attitudes and conditions in the region which affected [Page 3] the protection of United States interests and the realization of United States objectives, and (b) the Department of State should prepare the initial draft of a policy paper on the Eastern Mediterranean and Middle East for consideration by the Senior Staff (S/P–NSC Files: Lot 61 D 167: “Eastern Mediterranean and Middle East”).
On April 5, 1951, George H. Haselton of the Bureau of Near Eastern, South Asian, and African Affairs, submitted to Max Bishop, then serving as National Security Council Staff Member under Ambassador at Large Jessup, the first draft of a paper entitled “Statement of Policy With Respect to the Eastern Mediterranean–Iran Area.” A copy of this draft paper along with an enclosed military analysis for the Eastern Mediterranean and Middle East is in S/P–NSC Files: Lot 61 D 167: “Eastern Mediterranean and Middle East”. On May 2, 1951, Intelligence Estimate Number 17, “Estimate of Reactions to Varying Degrees of U.S. Military Commitment and Activity in the Near East,” prepared by the Intelligence Estimates Group, Department of State, was circulated to various interested Bureaus and Agencies within the Department. A copy of this estimate is in S/P–NSC Files: Lot 61 D 167: “Eastern Mediterranean and Middle East”. On May 25, the first draft of a National Security Council Staff Study on “The Position of the United States With Respect to the General Area of the Eastern Mediterranean, Red Sea and Persian Gulf” (which for National Security Council Staff Study planning purposes included Greece, Turkey, Iran, Israel, the Arab States, Aden, Ethiopia, Eritrea, the Sudan, Libya, and the waters and islands of the area) was circulated to various interested Bureaus and Agencies in the Department of State by Haselton. A copy of this draft study is in S/P–NSC Files: Lot 61 D 167: “Eastern Mediterranean and Middle East”.
Throughout the remainder of 1951 and well into 1952, the Departments of State and Defense as well as the Central Intelligence Agency worked on a series of draft papers dealing with this problem (in S/P–NSC Files: Lot 61 D 167: “Eastern Mediterranean and Middle East”), with a number of other executive agencies, including the Office of Defense Management, the Psychological Strategy Board, and the National Security Council, submitting or receiving draft comments. No final agreed paper on the Eastern Mediterranean and Middle East emerged during 1951, and indeed the scope and scale of the study was steadily reduced to focus upon Iran, Israel, and the Arab States, particularly in light of the admission of Greece and Turkey to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. The final Department of State paper submitted to the National Security Council Staff in 1951, “The Position of the United States With Respect to the General Area of the Eastern Mediterranean and Middle East”, December 27, is printed on page 257.