106. Editorial Note
At the 310th meeting of the National Security Council on January 24, Allen Dulles began his briefing on “Significant World Developments Affecting U.S. Security” with the following comments:
“The Director of Central Intelligence informed the Council that on the [remainder of paragraph (8 lines of source text) not declassified].
[Page 410]“Mr. Dulles then provided certain statistics regarding the Soviet guided missile program. He stated that as of [25 words not declassified]. Mr. Dulles added his estimate of what the Soviet Union might have now and might be estimated to have in the future in the way of missile capability.
“Secretary Wilson commented that as of the present time the Defense Department was not attempting to produce any missiles in the range of 300 to 700 miles, for the very good reason that we did not know what we could do with a missile of this ranee if we succeeded in producing one. Nevertheless, this matter should be kept under study. Moreover, as for the 1500-mile intermediate range ballistic missile, even this missile did not look very valuable to the Defense Department unless we were sure of getting the cooperation of our allies in the matter of providing launching sites for ballistic missiles of this approximate range.” (Memorandum of discussion; Eisenhower Library, Whitman File, NSC Records)
Regarding Soviet nuclear tests and missile program, see Document 115.