Foreign Relations of the United States, 1961–1963, American Republics; Cuba 1961–1962; Cuban Missile Crisis and Aftermath, Volumes X/XI/XII, Microfiche Supplement

380. Notes from transcripts of JCS meeting, October 24¹

October 24, 1962

NOTES TAKEN FROM TRANSCRIPTS OF MEETINGS OF JOINT CHIEFS OF STAFF, OCTOBER–NOVEMBER 1962, DEALING WITH THE CUBAN MISSILE CRISIS(Handwritten notes were made in 1976 and typed in 1993.)

CJCS: Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff. General Maxwell D. Taylor, USA.

CSA: Chief of Staff, Army. General Earle G. Wheeler.

CSAF: Chief of Staff, Air Force. General Curtis E. LeMay.

CNO: Chief of Naval Operations. Admiral George W. Anderson, Jr.

CMC: Commandant, Marine Corps. General David M. Shoup.

CONAD: Continental Air Defense

DIA: Defense Intelligence Agency

DJS: Director, Joint Staff

LANT: Atlantic

NORAD: North American Air Defense

OAS: Organization of American States

RCT: Regimental Combat Team

SAM: Surface-to-Air Missile

TAC: Tactical Air Command

Wednesday, 24 October

JCS meeting at 0900:

CJCS debriefs on ExComm meeting at 1800 last night: President was concerned about the problem of stopping a ship that did not want to be boarded. Will the Navy fight its way on board? The President always wants to be ready to send a battalion-size probe up the Berlin autobahn within two hours. The SecDef doesn’t think we know enough about ship movements: where they are, what each is doing, and the pattern. He wants a recommendation on this.

CJCS says SecDef has photos of crowded Florida airfields.

Should the planes disperse?

CSAF: Let’s stay on concrete and not go to the dirt. There are 450 planes, 150 per field.

JCS agreed to send the SecDef a memo saying that the tactical advantages of having units positioned forward far offset the risks of loss in a surprise attack.

CJCS: Are you going to announce a quarantine line and pick up ships as they cross it?

CNO: We will pick them all up, and not announce a line.

CNO: President and SecDef believe we are generating forces to be ready for invasion seven days from yesterday, but we have never sent the message out. JCS agree that the message should now be sent.

Around 1030, a report came in that three Soviet ships were turning back from the intercept line.

1. Debrief on ExComm meeting; ship movements; advantages of planes ready at airfields in Florida. Secret. 3 pp. DOD, Office of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Office of Joint History.