Office of the Historian

37. Letter From the Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs (Gray) to the Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Far Eastern Affairs (Sebald)1

Washington, April 26, 1956.

Dear Mr. Sebald: Reference is made to your letter of April 4th in which you requested the views of the Joint Chiefs of Staff with respect to furnishing U.S. military assistance to Burma.

The attached memorandum2 for the Secretary of Defense3 sets forth the views and recommendations of the Joint Chiefs of Staff with respect to furnishing grant military assistance to Burma. The JCS object to furnishing grant military assistance to Burma on the basis that Burma probably will attempt to remain neutral and that [Page 60] therefore current U.S. military plans do not provide for employment of Burmese forces. Secondly, the JCS maintain that extending military assistance to an avowed neutralist nation without the mutual safeguards of a bilateral agreement could generate damaging dissension within our useful alliances.

If, nevertheless, it is determined that military assistance will be furnished to Burma, as envisioned by the March 20, 1956 OCB Working Group recommendation,4 the Department of Defense considers that the U.S. should seek from the Burmese Government some form of assurance that the equipment would be used for the purposes set forth in the Mutual Security Act of 1954 as amended. Additionally, in order that maximum benefit may be derived from U.S. military equipment, the Burmese should agree to accept U.S. supervision or guidance on the use and maintenance of such equipment. In this connection the views of the Department of Defense furnished to the Secretary of State in a letter of January 28, 1955 from the Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs5 remain valid.

Sincerely yours,

Gordon Gray6
  1. Source: Department of State, OCB Files: Lot 61 D 385, Burma, Documents. Top Secret.↩
  2. Dated April 20, not printed.↩
  3. Charles E. Wilson.↩
  4. Reference is to a paper entitled “U.S. Assistance to Strengthen Burma’s Internal Security”, in which the OCB Working Group on Southeast Asia recommended implementation of the recommendations in the OCB papers of October 27, 1954, and November 16, 1955 (see footnotes 4 and 5, Document 24). A copy is filed as an attachment to a memorandum of March 23, from Sebald to Hoover. (Department of State,OCB Files: Lot 62 D 430, Southeast Asia)↩
  5. In this letter Assistant Secretary of Defense H. Struve Hensel conveyed the Defense Department’s agreement that arms could be provided to Burma without requiring U.S. technical supervision, but recommended close supervision through Embassy channels by whatever means were feasible and appropriate. (Ibid., Central Files, 790B.5–MSP/1–2855)↩
  6. Printed from a copy that bears this typed signature.↩