98. Editorial Note
On December 3, the first meeting of the Operations Coordinating Board Ad Hoc Working Group on Publicity in Connection With the Launching of Ballistic Missiles took place. This group had been formed when the Department of Defense decided to seek the advice of the OCB with respect to publicity in connection with the test launching of the ICBM and IRBM. According to a memorandum of this meeting by Richard Hirsch, OCB Staff Representative, the Defense Department sought OCB advice because it would have been difficult to maintain complete secrecy in this matter, due to the fact that the missiles, when placed on their launching stands at Patrick Air Force Base in Florida, would have been visible from the open sea and the noise of the test firings would have been markedly greater than anything previously noticed in that area. Furthermore, even though the Defense Department would have preferred not to make any announcement on the missiles until they had achieved full flight, it recognized that in view of the recent Soviet statement regarding rockets during the Suez crisis, the United States might find it desirable to have ready a stand-by press packet designed primarily for psychological purposes, as well as for disclosure to the press, in the event that knowledge of the firings became widespread, or in case there was a misfire or accidental air burst. (Memorandum of meeting, December 4; Department of State, OCB Files: Lot 61 D 385, Ballistic Missiles)
The Ad Hoc Working Group held several meetings during December, and on December 12 the Operations Coordinating Board agreed, among other things, that the Working Group “should be continued indefinitely with the responsibility of keeping the situation continually under review so that the information plan can be adjusted accordingly.” (Memorandum from Alvin G. Waggoner, Executive Assistant to the Secretary of Defense’s Special Assistant for Guided Missiles, dated December 19; Ibid. )