67. Letter From the Acting Director of Central Intelligence (Cabell) to the Secretary of State1
Dear Mr. Secretary: The individual who supplied the information which follows, with the obvious desire that it be passed on to the policy levels of the United States Government, is a responsible and patriotic Philippine … personality who has requested that his identity not be revealed. Because of the content and the policy character of the information, I have felt it advisable to bring it to your personal attention, rather than distributing it through the usual governmental channels.
The observations are presented in the context of what the source describes as the rapidly deteriorating morale of the Asiatic members of “SEATO”, due to an utter lack of accomplishment of the organization and the highhanded manner in which the U.S. military are running it. The source stated that they represent the consensus of opinion of the Philippine delegation, and implied that the Pakistanian and other Asian delegations shared this feeling:
- a.
- CINCPAC in its military planning was patently unprepared for the creation of a collective security organization in the nature of “SEATO”. Admiral Stump, following its inception, found himself confronted with representatives of Asian countries in which he had little or no confidence and of whose military capabilities he was not sure. This has resulted in the United States postponing as long as possible participation of Asian members in the serious planning necessary to carry out “SEATO” military objectives. This is exemplified by the complete lack of accomplishment of the April Staff Planners’ Conference at Baguio and the July Military Advisors’ Conference at [Page 127] Bangkok. These conferences, although highly publicized, were a waste of time and resulted in nothing except making plans for future conferences. This lends credibility to the premise that the United States is using the conferences for nothing but propaganda purposes.
- b.
- Since the United States and the United Kingdom, in the light of their suspicion and distrust of Asian members, were not prepared for the establishment of “SEATO”, they intend to run the real show without allowing Asian members any substantial say in matters of command and direction.
- c.
- Since the Asian members have no say in major political and military decisions, they are rapidly losing interest in the entire organization, and the spirit of collective security on which “SEATO” was predicated is being rapidly defeated. When the representative of a member nation made a tentative suggestion at the recent military planning conference that a Chairman for a military planning committee be elected, the U.S. representative (unnamed) stated that he was not going to take orders from anybody except the U.S., which statement defied the principles under which “SEATO” was founded and caused a great deal of hard feeling toward the United States.
- d.
- The organizational structure of “SEATO” makes it seem that the Philippines have a treaty with CINCPAC rather than with the United States. It was originally decided that the Military Advisors would submit their proposals directly through the Council Representative (previously Ambassador Peurifoy for the United States) to the Ministers. Admiral Stump, in July at an informal gathering of several military advisors in Bangkok, said he would not subordinate himself to the Council Representative and would use his own channels for transmitting his proposals; i.e. a proposal would go from Admiral Stump to Navy to Defense to State. This confirmed in the minds of the Philippine delegation that their treaty was largely with CINCPAC.
- e.
- If the situation outlined above continues to exist, “SEATO” is not really necessary. There have hitherto been no accomplishments which could not have been made without “SEATO”.
The source expressed himself as feeling that remedial action could and should be taken to correct the defects described above, and to make out of “SEATO” the kind of collective security organization vitally needed in the area. He said that the Asian members of “SEATO” want to follow the lead of the United States, but that the United States must show confidence in its followers and allow them at least some voice in major “SEATO” decisions.
I am also sending this to Admiral Arthur W. Radford, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; Honorable Reuben B. Robertson, Jr., Acting Secretary of Defense; and Honorable Douglas MacArthur II, Counselor of the State Department.
Sincerely,