Foreign Relations of the United States, 1955–1957, East Asian Security; Cambodia; Laos, Volume XXI

305. Letter From the Acting Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs (Davis) to the Assistant Secretary of State for Far Eastern Affairs (Robertson¹

Washington, July 21, 1955.

Dear Walter: I refer to the attached copy of a letter pertaining to the supervision of the U.S. military aid program for Laos which was signed by the Secretary of Defense and forwarded to the Secretary of State on 16 February 1955.²

The problem in this case has been to determine how, in accordance with the responsibilities of the Secretary of Defense for the supervision of military aid programs as outlined in Section 524 of the Mutual Security Act of 1954,³ the U.S. could provide supervisory personnel for this purpose without being accused of violating the Geneva Accords.

In considering this problem the following factors were deemed pertinent:

(a) For reasons of political expediency the U.S. agreed to continue with a military aid program for Laos subsequent to the Geneva Conference.

(b) The Geneva Accords prohibit the introduction of military personnel into Laos.

(c) The use of civilian personnel, with military backgrounds, is considered as the only possible means of providing the required supervision.

(d) The number of supervisory and supporting personnel will have to be kept to a minimum to avoid the possibility of the U.S. being accused of violating the Geneva Accords and due to the extremely limited facilities in Laos.

On the basis of the above factors, the Department of Defense informed the Department of State by the reference letter that it would furnish the necessary civilian supervisory personnel provided the Department of State or the then Foreign Operations Administration would assume responsibility for the administrative support of these personnel. This was considered logical as it was visualized that a civilian MAAG, in effect, would not be established; the supervisory personnel would be attached to either the Legation or the USOM in order to avoid duplication of administrative facilities and personnel; and that personnel selected by the military should not be sent to Laos until adequate facilities were guaranteed for them.

Several meetings have been held by representatives of the Department of Defense with representatives of the Department of State and the FOA on this matter with indefinite results. Further, the Department of State has not replied to the Defense letter of 16 February—thus no official acceptance or rebuttal of the Defense proposal has been received as of this date.

In the interim period, agency representatives in the field have provided recommendations as to the types of personnel required for this mission. The Department of Defense has indicated tentative acceptance of responsibility for recruiting all of these personnel except the clerical help as it was considered that the clerical help should be provided by the Department of State or the FOA as administrative support.

During the interim period, the Department of Defense has alerted the Department of the Navy as Executive Agency and the Department of the Army as action agency of the probable requirement for civilian personnel with military backgrounds. The Department of the Army has initiated a preliminary survey to determine the availability of personnel but has not established contact with these people to date as it is deemed necessary to have a firm position on the required administrative support before such contact is made.

In conclusion, it is considered that the Department of Defense has taken appropriate action in this matter and cannot proceed further until an acceptance or rebuttal of its proposal is forthcoming from the Department of State. An early reply would be appreciated.⁴

Sincerely yours,

A.C. Davis
Vice Admiral, USN

1. Source: Department of State, Central Files, 751J.5/7–2155. Top Secret.
2. Document 275.
3. For text of the Mutual Security Act of 1954, see 68 Stat. 832.
4. On August 8, Robertson replied that the Department of State had accepted the proposal that the Department of Defense would furnish a civilian supervisory group at Vientiane and it had proceeded with discussions with ICA (which replaced FOA on July 1, 1955) on that basis. ICA had agreed to attach the group to the U.S. Operations Mission at Vientiane “for political coloration purposes” on the understanding that its chief would be directly responsible to the head of the Country Team. The remaining problem to be settled was the unwillingness of either Defense or State to pay for administrative support services for the group. Robertson noted that the Department of State did not budget for support of other-agency personnel in the field and he trusted that Defense would reconsider its position “in order that large-scale United States military assistance to this outpost of the free world may be adequately supervised.” (Department of State, Central Files, 51J.5/7–2155)

   According to a letter from Gray to Dulles, October 3, the Department of Defense accepted responsibility for all expenses, administrative or otherwise, of the supervisory group. (Ibid., 751J.5/7–355)