Foreign Relations of the United States, 1958–1960, Volume III, Microfiche Supplement, National Security Policy; Arms Control and Disarmament

205. Memorandum of Discussion at the 421st NSC Meeting¹

Washington, October 15, 1959

SUBJECT

• Discussion at the 421st Meeting (Special) of the National Security Council, Thursday, October 15, 1959

Present at the 421st (Special) Meeting of the National Security Council were the President of the United States, presiding; the Vice President of the United States; the Secretary of State; the Acting Secretary of Defense (Gates); and the Acting Director, Office of Civil and Defense Mobilization (Patterson). Also attending the meeting and participating in the Council actions below were the Secretary of the Treasury and the Acting Director, Bureau of the Budget (Staats). Also attending the meeting were the Members of the Comparative Evaluation Group (Mr. Gerard C. Smith for the Under Secretary of State; the Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff; the Director of Central Intelligence; the Chairman, President’s Board of Consultants on Foreign Intelligence Activities (Hull); the Special Assistant to the President for Science and Technology; and the Special Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs); Vice Admiral John H. Sides, USN, Director, Weapons Systems Evaluation Group; Lt. General Earl W. Barnes, USAF (Ret.), Central Intelligence Agency; J. Patrick Coyne, Secretary, Comparative Evaluations Group; Brig. General Andrew J. Goodpaster, White House Staff Secretary; Mr. Richard Dubois, Weapons Systems Evaluation Group; Colonel Earle MacFarland, Jr., Central Intelligence Agency; Major John Eisenhower, Assistant White House Staff Secretary; and Mr. James S. Lay, Jr., Executive Secretary, NSC.

For a summary and discussion of the main points taken at the meeting see the File on COMPARATIVE EVALUATION GROUP in Mr. Lay’s Safe (3rd Report) and the following Record of Actions.

1. COMPARATIVE EVALUATIONS GROUP

(NSC Action No. 2004; Note following the Record of Actions for the 404th NSC Meeting; NSC 5908)

Noted and discussed the third report of the Comparative Evaluations Group, pursuant to NSC 5908, as presented orally at the meeting by the Director, Weapons Systems Evaluation Group.

2. OUTER SPACE SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

Noted the President’s request that the Special Assistant to the President for Science and Technology, with the participation of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the Department of Defense, the Central Intelligence Agency, and other interested departments and agencies, arrange for the preparation of a study, to be presented to a joint meeting of the National Security Council and the National Aeronautics and Space Council, appraising the relative capabilities of the United States and the USSR in the field of outer space science and technology.

NOTE: The above action, as approved by the President as of October 26, 1959, transmitted to the Special Assistant to the President for Science and Technology, the Administrator, NASA, the Secretary of Defense, and the Director of Central Intelligence for appropriate implementation.

3. HISTORY OF THE DEVELOPMENT OF LONG-RANGE GUIDED MISSILES WEAPONS SYSTEMS

a. Noted the President’s request that the Secretary of Defense arrange for the preparation for the President during the next three months of a factual history of the development by the United States of long-range guided missiles weapons systems (including ICBMs, IRBMs, fleet ballistic missiles, and aerodynamic long-range missiles).

b. Noted the President‘s request that the Director of Central Intelligence arrange for the preparation for the President of a history of the development by the USSR of long-range guided missiles weapons systems, complementary to the study referred to in a above.

NOTE: The action in a above, as approved by the President, subsequently transmitted to the Secretary of Defense for appropriate implementation.

The action in b above, as approved by the President, subsequently transmitted to the Director of Central Intelligence for appropriate implementation.

[Omitted here is the remainder of the memorandum.]

Marion W. Boggs

1. Source: Agenda item 1: Comparative Evaluations Group; Agenda item 2: Outer Space Science and Technology; Agenda item 3: History of the Development of Long-Range Guided Missiles Weapons Systems. Top Secret. Extracts—3 pp. Eisenhower Library, Whitman File, NSC Records.