349. Memorandum for the Record by the Special Assistant to the Joint Chiefs of Staff for Mutual Defense Assistance Affairs (Cannon)1
SUBJECT
- Weapons for Auto-Defense Operations, Laos
- 1.
- The following information was furnished Admiral Radford this date, and a suggested
draft of a radio to Ambassador Yost was prepared and also furnished the Admiral:
- a.
- Representatives of CNO and CIA have stated that auto-defense forces in Laos have all the equipment they need for operations; that this equipment was borrowed from the Laos Army to be replaced by equipment to be furnished by the U.S.
- b.
- They further stated that neither auto-defense nor Laos Army efforts and operations should have been adversely affected because of lack of equipment.
- c.
- The CIA representative stated that in his opinion Ambassador Yost’s views reflected in the radios was an effort to bring in U.S. equipment to replace Laos army stocks and to assure the Crown Prince of U.S. intentions to furnish this equipment.
- 2.
- A memo to the Secretary of Defense from CIA, dated 3 March 1956,2 which was shown to me, stated:
“Top officials of the Laos government have been informed regarding intentions of the U.S. government to support Laos resistance operations”.
I was informed that as far as is known this was the only promise made to the Laos government.
The memo further stated:
“It is contemplated that the weapons will be given directly to the Laos Army with the understanding that the Laos National Army would release corresponding numbers of older, heterogeneous, weapons to resistance elements. This would have the added attraction of commencing standardization of weapons within the regular forces of the Laos National Army.”
Major General, USA