413. Editorial Note
On October 1, at an airport interview with the press in Saigon, General Williston B. Palmer, Director of Military Assistance, Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs, announced that the United States had suspended aid to Laos. The following paraphrase of Palmer’s statement as reported in telegram 731 from Saigon, October 2, is based upon what the Embassy in Saigon described as a “somewhat unclear tape:”
“Military assistance Laos suspended because ‘situation unclear, and until there is a stabilization I might say it is very difficult send anything anywhere and know what is going to happen to it.’ US has stopped making deliveries for time being (because) ‘we have not been sure who was responsible for anything.’ Might be resumed, even could be. (New) decision must be made to start something once suspended.” (Department of State, Central Files, 751J.5–MSP/10–260)
In telegram 368 to Vientiane, the Department informed Brown that Palmer’s statement to the press was “much broader and more categorical than the position we had visualized you taking with the King.” The idea of informing the King that no further troop payments or other aid would be made was to pressure him and Lao politicians immediately to form a government. At the time Palmer made his statement, the Department noted that aid to Laos had not yet been suspended. The Department anticipated that when the King convened a meeting of Lao political leaders who took a position promising decisive action, normal U.S. aid releases could be resumed. In any event, the United States was still prepared to fund Lao troops “ready and willing to fight” the Pathet Lao, including Phoumi’s forces at Savannakhet. (ibid., 751J.00/10–260; included in the microfiche supplement)