124. Memorandum of a Conversation Between Secretary of State Dulles and Foreign Secretary Lloyd, London, August 23, 19561
Following the Tripartite Meeting, Lloyd said he wanted to speak to me alone. He then said that the British Chiefs of Staff had received a request from the Pentagon to be informed as to what were the British “war plans” in the Middle East. He said this was an embarrassing request which seemed to him to have serious political implications, and he wanted to know whether the request came from the United States Government or was merely from the Joint Chiefs.
I said that my impression was that there was some anxiety on the part of our military people that the UK-French plans might unexpectedly throw heavy responsibilities upon our naval and aircraft in the area for evacuation and like purposes, and I thought that was doubtless the motivation of the request. I said I recognized it had political implications and suggested he withhold a reply until he heard from me further.