227. Editorial Note
On July 30, the Secretaries of State, Defense, Commerce, the Interior, the Treasury, the Directors of the Office of Defense Mobilization, [Page 617] the Central Intelligence Agency, and the International Cooperation Administration met to discuss the economic aspects of the Suez situation. They agreed that the Office of Defense Mobilization and the Department of the Interior should ask a few selected oil companies to meet with government representatives to initiate planning of emergency measures to assure continued supply of oil to Western Europe in event the Suez Canal was closed. Flemming and Seaton said they would request Brownell’s clearance for this action and a waiver of the requirement that 10 days’ notice be given prior to initiation of such planning. They agreed that this group would give urgent attention to the desired procedure for coordinating planning with the United Kingdom but that no publicity would be given to this planning for the present. On July 31, Hoover approved the July 30 memorandum of conversation summarizing this meeting. (Department of State, Central Files, 974.7301/7–3056)