322. Letter From Acting Secretary of State Katzenbach to Secretary of Defense McNamara1
Dear Bob:
Our African experts are concerned about the expansion over the past three years of our military communications center at Kagnew Station in northern Ethiopia.
Their concern is that by increasing the size of this facility and the numbers of U.S. personnel involved we are giving the Ethiopians a bigger hostage to fortune and a greater leverage on us than they would otherwise have.
Since January 1963 the number of U.S. personnel and dependents at Kagnew has gone from about 2,500 to 3,500 and we have recently been asked to acquire considerably more land for the facility. To the Ethiopians such growth is an index of the importance we attach to Kagnew. [Page 555] The price of our tenure could involve us more deeply in the Horn of Africa than our vital interests warrant.
I wonder if you might have someone take a look at the military requirements of Kagnew with a view to determining whether we can avoid visible expansion, or even in fact reduce some personnel if possible. Obviously, such a determination depends on a number of facts and upon military requirements that we are not in a position to assess.2
Sincerely yours,
- Source: Washington National Records Center, RG 330, OSD Files: FRC 70 A 4443, 091.3 MAAG Ethiopia. Secret.↩
- On November 14, Secretary McNamara responded that the Department of Defense would study the recent growth of operations at Kagnew Station and the prospects for stabilization or personnel reduction at the facility. (Ibid.)↩