Office of the Historian

500. Memorandum for the Record1

Washington, June 16, 1967.

SUBJECT

  • Minutes of the Meeting of the 303 Committee, 16 June 1967

PRESENT

  • Mr. Rostow, Ambassador Kohler, Mr. Vance, and Admiral Taylor
  • Mr. Archibald Roosevelt was present for Item 4
  • Mr. Boris Ilyin was present for Item 5

[Omitted here is discussion of other subjects.]

4. Congo—Progress Report on Phaseout of Air Program

a. On the question of the progress report on the phaseout of the air program in the Congo (Kinshasa)2, the committee stonewalled on any further support to Mobutu and asked that a cable be sent instructing [Page 730] [cryptonym not declassified] to give its 30-day notice to employees. Only a tough approach would galvanize the Congolese into action.3

b. Ambassador Kohler took a put-your-money-where-your-mouth-is attitude toward the flibbertigibbet behavior of the Congolese and asked for no further deadlines. Mr. Rostow particularly disliked the alleged Mobutu sense of humor (Mobutu said on 9 June that he believed the USG would be able to cough up the annual cost of the contract for the coming year).

[Omitted here is discussion of other subjects.]

Peter Jessup
  1. Source: National Security Council, Intelligence Files, 303 Committee, Minutes 1967. Secret; Eyes Only.↩
  2. The June 14 progress report summarized action taken in phasing out U.S. Government covert support of the Congolese air force since the report of May 10, and alerted the Committee to the problems arising from the Congolese Government’s continued failure to make the initial deposit of [text not declassified] to the [cryptonym not declassified] account as stipulated by the contract. (Central Intelligence Agency Files, Job 82–00450R, Box 6, 40 Committee, Congo (K), 1965–)↩
  3. A July 24 CIA memorandum to the Director of Central Intelligence stated that the Department’s Bureau of African Affairs had informed the Africa Division on July 21 that it was recommending a further postponement of the date on which [cryptonym not declassified] would send out dismissal notices to its employees if it had not by that time received from the Congolese Government the [text not declassified] stipulated in the contract. Under the terms of its contract with [cryptonym not declassified], the GDRC had agreed to fund [cryptonym not declassified] operations as of July 1, but the initial deposit had not yet been made. (Ibid., Job 81–00966R, Box 1, Folder 12, Congo, 1967–68)↩