36. Memorandum From the Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs (McNaughton) to the Administrator of the Agency for International Development (Bell)1
Dear Dave:
Secretary McNamara asked me to report a problem of ours to you. I tried to telephone you this afternoon but was unable to reach you. The problem is that our South Vietnam-Laos overrun in FY ’66 is going to exceed the $300 million limit of Section 510. The overrun may or may not be large, depending on such things as whether the Koreans contribute a division, whether the Thais provide some forces, etc.
For reasons with which you are familiar, we are not prepared to solve this problem by going to the Congress for more money. The implication seems to be that the overrun will have to be met by cuts of [Page 101] one kind or another elsewhere. The two possibilities are: (1) A transfer to MAP from AID (which, since the contingency fund will probably not be large enough, would have to come from someone’s program), and/or (2) a reduction in certain MAP programs (a la FY ’65).
Secretary McNamara would like for you to think about this problem and consider the possibility of finding a way to transfer some funds to us.
(Also, I am reminded that, before I realized the possibility that we would overrun the Section 510 limit, I agreed with Bill Gaud to pick up certain Korean costs in Vietnam which AID might otherwise properly have covered. I think the amount was $18 million or $43 million, depending on the interpretation. I ask you to reopen this issue. If we could relieve ourselves of that obligation, we would to that extent have reduced our overrun problem.)
Sincerely,
- Source: Washington National Records Center, RG 286, AID Administrator Files: FRC 69 G 1866, DEF 19 Military Assistance, FY 1966. Confidential.↩