No. 843
Editorial Note

On March 4 the Mutual Assistance Advisory Committee convened to consider the report of the MAAC Working Group on Spain (supra). The minutes, which were designated MAAC M–16 and dated March 13, revealed sharp disagreements over the amount and use of counterpart funds to be put up by the Spanish [Page 1815] in return for United States aid and a tendency to discount the view of the American Embassy in Spain that the Spanish would never accept the first alternative proposed in MAAC D–3/2. (Madrid Embassy files, lot 58 F 57, “440—U.S. Negotiations”) The result of this tendency was that the negotiating position proposed by the MAAC was somewhat less flexible than that proposed in MAAC D–3/2 by the Working Group. Accordingly, the Working Group issued a revised report, MAAC D–3/3, dated March 11 (Madrid Embassy files, lot 58 F 57, “440—U.S. Negotiations”) which was in turn subjected to revisions during a Mutual Assistance Advisory Committee meeting on March 14, recorded in MAAC M–17 of March 18. (ECAMSAFOA files, lot W–13, “MAAC Minutes”) After having been circulated to the interested agencies for approval and further revisions, MAAC D–3/3 was issued as DMS D–7 on March 20 (Document 846). This last document served as the official instructions for the MSA negotiating team during the first several months of negotiations.