364. Memorandum From the Counselor of the Department of State (MacArthur) to the Secretary of State1
Mr. Secretary: Admiral Radford called me this morning regarding “Operation Stockpile”. He said that while the Department of Defense was moving ahead to implement this operation, he felt you should know that he and all the other Chiefs have the gravest doubts about the convinced that it could not be held secret and that the convinced that it could not be held secret and that the story, or at least parts of it, would get out in the next several weeks. He said it was impossible to load and send a ship with Army equipment to the Sixth Fleet without the story leaking.
With this in mind, he felt that it was important that we talk with Jerry Persons or someone in the White House and assess the domestic political effect of a leak on this operation and then decide how it would be handled. Admiral Radford concluded by saying that Defense would move ahead on this operation but implied that the political results of a leak would be on our heads here in State.
I told Admiral Radford that I would bring his views to your attention this morning since you would be seeing the President2 [Page 671] before your departure tomorrow3 and might wish to mention it to him.
I am convinced that Admiral Radford is correct in that the Military cannot hold the operation secret. I was shocked to learn yesterday that some of the Military students in the National War College are aware of the plan through apparently injudicious comments by friends who are working on it in the Pentagon. I think the real point is the extent to which a partial leakage about the plan would create domestic and/or international difficulties for us.
For example, if the story about the AKA and arms leaked, could it be handled without causing political difficulties simply by saying that the President had said on April 9 that we would help the victim of aggression4 and that we accordingly had made plans to make available some military equipment to assist the victim of aggression whomever it might be.
I believe a leak on the F–86 side of the project might be more damaging both in the Arab World and domestically in that it might lead to pressures for the immediate supply of some F–86s by us for training purposes.
- Source: Department of State, S/S–NEA Files: Lot 61 D 417, Omega #5. Top Secret; Omega. A note on the source text indicates that Dulles saw this memorandum.↩
- Secretary Dulles met with the President at 2:15 p.m. Concerning “leakage” regarding Operation Stockpile, the President said “he did not assume that any leakage would be fatal and indeed he thought that probably some public statement would be wise.” Dulles agreed. “The President asked where the vessel would be. I said somewhere in the Mediterranean. The President said he assumed perhaps Malta.” (Memorandum of conversation by Dulles, May 26; Eisenhower Library, Dulles Papers, Meetings with the President)↩
- On the afternoon of May 25, Secretary Dulles departed for Duck Island on Lake Ontario and did not return to Washington until June 5.↩
- See footnote 2, Document 258.↩