711.00/7–2649
The Deputy Under Secretary of State (Rusk) to the Chargé in the Philippines (Lockett)
My Dear Mr. Lockett: There is enclosed for your information copy number 46 of a Report to the National Security Council on United States Policy toward Southeast Asia, dated July 1, 1949 prepared by the Department of State.1 Copies of the report are being [Page 1176] transmitted to the chiefs of all United States Missions in the region covered in the report, in certain nearby countries, and in countries with territorial possessions or affiliations in the region.
The desirability of a clarification and synopsis of United States policy toward Southeast Asia, such as this report represents, constituting a strategic concept upon which tactical decisions will be based, will be well understood and is abundantly attested by the material contained in the report.
It is expected that the matters presented in the report will at an early date be discussed by representatives of the United States and those of the United Kingdom and France. The report is, however, transmitted to you with the intention that for the present it will serve only as a source of information and not as the basis for any action on your part.
Sincerely yours,