Office of the Historian

173. Memorandum From the Director of Central Intelligence (Dulles) to the Executive Secretary of the National Security Council (Lay)1

Washington, December 24, 1957.
1.
I have carefully reviewed the Gaither report from the point of view of consistency between the statements with respect to Soviet capabilities contained therein and the statements which my associates and I made on the same subject before the Senate Preparedness Subcommittee on 26 and 27 November 1957.2
2.
Except as noted below, the Gaither report contains no significant statement with respect to Soviet capabilities that was not contained in my presentation to the Subcommittee.
a.
[remainder of paragraph (8 lines of source text) not declassified]
b.
The Gaither report also contains a reference to the estimated number of radars currently deployed in the Soviet Union [number not declassified] and certain long-range predictions as to the Soviets availability [capability?] to develop defenses against ICBM attack which were not included in the testimony given to the Subcommittee.
3.
The Gaither report differs from my presentation in that it contains numerous net estimates of U.S. military strengths relative to those of the USSR and, in an annex, a Time Table of relative capabilities, whereas I limited myself to Soviet gross capabilities in various military fields with estimates as to the time when certain significant weapons would be available. [1 sentence (28 words) not declassified]
4.
The intelligence presented to the Subcommittee was far more detailed than that contained in the Gaither report itself, [26 words not declassified].
Allen W. Dulles3
  1. Source: Eisenhower Library, Project Clean Up. Top Secret. Attached to a memorandum from Lay to Killian, dated December 26, which reads in part: “In accordance with the understanding in the meeting last Monday [December 23] in General Persons’ office, I requested the Defense Department and CIA to advise as to the extent to which the factual information contained in the so-called Gaither Report (as distinguished from opinions and conclusions, etc. which constitute advice to the President) had been provided to the Senate Preparedness Committee in the course of testimony before that Committee.” The Department of Defense reply, unsigned and undated, is also attached to Lay’s memorandum.↩
  2. Allen Dulles’ closed session testimony on these days has not been published. The Gaither report was circulated as NSC 5724, Document 158.↩
  3. Printed from a copy that bears this typed signature.↩