380. Editorial Note
On August 23, representatives of the Departments of State and Defense, including members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, met at the Pentagon to discuss Laos. The meeting was called because of a belief by Under Secretary of State Dillon and Secretary of Defense Gates that their two agencies had different conceptions of what should be done in Laos.
Assistant Secretary of State Parsons began by briefing the group on the results of a meeting on August 23 at Savannakhet by the leaders of the Lao factions, Souvanna Phouma and Phoumi Nosavan on the one hand and Ouan Ratikon and an unnamed representative of Kong Le on the other, in which “both sides had reached an agreement which they felt would help restore complete order in the country. One of the reports further added that Phoumi was impressed with the courage shown by Souvanna Phouma, that Phoumi thought this was the first step toward resolution of the whole situation and that both sides agreed that neither government was legal. Phoumi was quoted as saying that the first priority was the reuniting of the military commands, followed by a national assembly meeting in Luang Prabang. Souvanna Phouma had said he did not want to be Prime Minister and General Ouan said he would try to influence the military to accept the arrangement. The Kong Le representative observed that Kong Le had given arms to some 3,000 Pathet Lao. On hearing this Phoumi requested [Page 823] the Kong Le forces to get the arms back from the Pathet Lao and this was agreed to. The meeting was reported to have ended on very friendly terms.”
Parsons then explained that Phoumi’s forces would receive from the United States 100 tons of rice and 8 million kip for troop payments. The Joint Chiefs of Staff expressed their concern that the United States was not supporting Phoumi as fully or as aggressively as it should. Merchant responded that the rice and the kip payments were examples of support, but he asked for suggestions of other possible tactical steps. Parsons added that Phoumi was not popular with the Lao people. The Joint Chiefs of Staff and Gates answered that they wanted to give Phoumi clear and tangible evidence of U.S. support. As Gates put it: “the $64 question was, does he know he is our boy? If he goes into his negotiations or goes into his war knowing that, that is what we want.” Merchant agreed that a message to this effect could be sent to Phoumi, but reminded the group that the “underlying philosophy” of U.S. policy in Laos was to obtain a strong and broadly-based anti-Communist Lao government by negotiation. Gates doubted that this policy could work without direct U.S. intervention, given that the Pathet Lao were better led and probably better motivated. (Department of State, State–JCS Meetings: Lot 70 D 328; included in the microfiche supplement)