98. Memorandum From Michael V. Forrestal of the National Security Council Staff to the President 1
CHEMICAL DEFOLIATION AND CROP DESTRUCTION
I attach a memorandum prepared by the Department of State and a paper prepared by the Joint Chiefs of Staff2 on the subject of chemical defoliation and crop destruction in South Vietnam. Both papers come essentially to the same conclusions and recommendations, which are best summarized on page 8 of the attached State paper. If you accept these recommendations, you will, in effect, be continuing present policy with one important exception: both State and the JCS wish to give blanket authority to Saigon to decide when and where crop destruction operations will be carried out. At present such blanket authority has only been given for defoliation (weed killing operations). Permission to destroy crops by chemical means still must come from Washington.
[Page 246]It seems to me that, having started on this type of operation, we have already reaped the propaganda whirlwind. If we stop now the propaganda will probably continue, and we would be denying ourselves whatever military effect the use of herbicides have. Both Roger Hilsman and I felt, when we were in South Vietnam, that under certain special conditions which will occur more and more frequently as the Viet Cong are driven into more remote base areas, the use of chemicals to destroy crops from the air has a definite military value in denying food for the fighting cadres of the Viet Cong. Under these circumstances it would seem to me unwise to cancel this program at this time; but I do think you should not grant blanket authorization to Saigon for crop destruction activity. It is hard to conceive of a situation where there would not be time to explain a project to Washington and obtain authorization from here.