118. Memorandum From the Joint Chiefs of Staff to Secretary of Defense McNamara0
Washington,
July 13,
1961.
SUBJECT
- Bases in Morocco
JCSM-471-61
- 1.
- The United States has no formal base rights agreement with Morocco. The Joint Communique of 22 December 19591 by President Eisenhower and the late King Mohammed V commits us to withdraw all our military forces by the end of CY 1963. This commitment necessarily required that the Strategic Air Command bases in Morocco be included in the recent US Air Force submission of overseas base closures to the Secretary of Defense for evaluation within the scope of the Department of Defense, Project 71. Despite the foregoing, significant military requirements still exist for bases in Morocco through 1963 and beyond. A detailed statement of these requirements is attached. The requirement for the retention of US communications and supporting facilities in Morocco, post-1963, has been previously stated by the Joint Chiefs of Staff in JCSM-317-60 and JCSM-409-61.2
- 2.
- Military requirements existed in December 1959 for retention of bases in Morocco beyond 1963 but were subordinated to overriding political considerations in arriving at the Joint Communique. These military needs have become more urgent in light of significant changes since December 1959 in the political and military considerations concerning our Moroccan Bases. In his Defense Budget Message to Congress on 28 March 1961,3 the President expressed two of these changes: (1) the need for an increased alert posture to deter general war, and (2) the need for a ready capability to wage limited warfare with conventional weapons. Since the Joint Communique on Moroccan bases, these bases have become increasingly important for possible contingency operations in Africa or the Middle East. Too, our military force structure has not changed from manned aircraft to missiles at a sufficient rate to eliminate [Page 181] the need for bases in Morocco and it appears that such a change will not occur at least through 1966.
- 3.
- At the request of the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense (ISA), certain State Department officials, including the new US Ambassador to Morocco, were provided information by Air Force and Navy representatives regarding the military factors affecting our bases in Morocco. This meeting afforded State Department representatives a better understanding of military problems in Morocco. Subsequent to this meeting, a State Department instruction4 was forwarded to the US Ambassador requesting that he make a fresh appraisal of the situation and recommend courses of action which might fulfill military requirements in Morocco. The Ambassador’s recommendations are expected in a few weeks at which time the Department of State is expected to consult further with Defense representatives on this matter.
- 4.
- In anticipation of further action by the Department of Defense on this subject, the Joint Chiefs of Staff desire to reiterate their view, which was previously expressed in June 1959 to representatives of the Departments of Defense and State5 that the bases in Morocco should be retained until the need for them no longer exists and that all feasible means should be taken to achieve this goal. In this connection, there are attached for your information, in addition to a statement of military requirements, suggestions regarding possible courses of action and possible bargaining positions that might be employed to achieve our military objectives in Morocco.
For the Joint Chiefs of Staff:
- Source: Washington National Records Center, RG 330, OSD/ISA Files: FRC 64 A 2382, 680.1 Morocco. Top Secret. Attached to the source text but not printed are: Appendix A, “State of Post-1963 Military Requirements for Bases in Morocco”; Appendix B, “Possible Courses of Action To Achieve Military Objectives in Morocco”; and Appendix C, “Suggested Bargaining Positions in Possible Negotiations With Morocco.”↩
- For a record of the December 22 conference between President Eisenhower and King Mohammed V, see Foreign Relations, 1958–1960, vol. XIII, pp. 796–800.↩
- JCSM-317-60 is not printed. Regarding JCSM-409-61, see Document 117.↩
- For text, see Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: John F. Kennedy, 1961, pp. 229-240.↩
- Document 116.↩
- See Foreign Relations, 1958–1960, vol. XIII, pp. 779–785.↩
- Printed from a copy that indicates Lemnitzer signed the original.↩