Foreign Relations of the United States, 1952–1954, East Asia and the Pacific, Volume XII, Part 2

711.55356D/8–1754

No. 290
The Under Secretary of State (Smith) to the Secretary of Defense (Wilson)

top secret

Washington, August 17, 1954.

Dear Mr. Secretary: I refer to the Deputy Under Secretary’s letter to you dated April 19, 1954¹ concerning Indonesian interest in employing U.S. Army officers as instructors on an individual contract basis. I understand that this matter is being carefully studied by the Department of Defense.

We continue to believe that an arrangement under which U.S. Army officers would be assigned as instructors to the Indonesian Army would, if in response to a specific request, be helpful to the achievement of U.S. objectives in Indonesia even though it might not be in conformity with arrangements we have with other countries on military training. We have had no further discussion with the Indonesian Government about their desire for military instructors, however, and we would not be able to implement any plan in this field in the absence of a firm Indonesian request.

I also refer to the Deputy Under Secretary’s letter to you of the same date² concerning the Indonesian Government’s difficulties with regard to furnishing dollar cost of transportation for Indonesian officer trainees assigned to U.S. military schools and requesting that you explore the feasibility of using MATS transportation for this purpose. In reply, Mr. Hensel’s letter of May 14³ stated that while Defense was wholly in accord on the desirability of providing U.S. training for Indonesian Army officers, MATS transportation was precluded by lack of legally expendable Defense funds for this purpose.

On July 7, 1954 the Operations Coordinating Board took note of the fact that Indonesia had requested an increase in the number of places in U.S. military schools from 45 in FY 1954 to 137 in FY 1955. The Board agreed on the importance to the U.S. of insuring uninterrupted training of Indonesian Army officers in this country and cited to the NSC the problem of providing transportation to them as one of the major emerging problems with which the Departments were concerned. The minutes of the OCB meeting (agenda item 2, paragraph C) show that the Board “agreed on the importance to national security of bringing Indonesian officer trainees to the U.S., requested Defense to explore ways and means of financing the travel of the trainees to and from the U.S., and requested the other interested agencies to study what assistance they can offer in this connection.” It was my understanding that Defense would finance the travel of Indonesian officer trainees by issuing them “invitational orders”.

Officers in the Department in touch with those in Defense working on this problem learned, on August 10 from a representative in Mr. Godel’s office,⁴ that no legal way has been found to use any funds, available to the Department of Defense, for this purpose.

I believe it urgent that renewed efforts be made to find the necessary funds to finance invitational orders for Indonesian officer trainees assigned to U.S. military training schools in FY 1955, some of whom I assume must depart shortly to enter classes beginning this fall. I would appreciate your assistance in finding some means of providing them transportation so that the beneficial influence of U.S. training may be secured to the maximum possible under the circumstances.

Sincerely,

Walter B. Smith

1. See footnote 3, Document 268.
2. Not printed.
3. Not printed. H. Struve Hensel was Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs.
4. William H. Godel, Deputy Director, Office of Special Operations, Office of the Secretary of Defense.