Editorial Note
In response to the British proposal of March 8 concerning the reconvening of the Tripartite Committee on Military Assistance to Yugoslavia (see the memorandum by Perkins, Document 875), a proposal subsequently accepted by the United States and French Governments, tripartite discussions were begun at the Department of State on April 9. The United States delegation, led by Brigadier General George H. Olmsted, who was later selected as chairman of these meetings, was comprised of five additional representatives from the Department of Defense and five officials from the Department of State. Although all three delegations changed in size and in personnel during the sessions, the French delegation, headed by Gontran de Juniac, usually had three members while the British delegation, led by Brigadier General F. W. Gordon-Hall, usually numbered five representatives.
The Tripartite Committee, which had met during 1950 and had issued a final report in October of that year summarizing its findings, was not commissioned this time to issue a study but rather to serve as a forum for the exchange of information on the efforts of [Page 1776] the three countries to assist Yugoslavia through the supply of military equipment. The committee quickly agreed during its first meeting on April 9 that the need to assist Yugoslavia was greater now than it was last fall, that the West should make some military equipment available to Yugoslavia as soon as possible after joint consultations, and that direct military talks with Yugoslavia were necessary in order to clarify many of the items which they had requested. Subcommittees were appointed to compile a master list of Yugoslav needs and to estimate Western availabilities; the three subcommittees (Army, Navy, and Air) had one member from each of the three delegations. They were instructed to consider only immediate Yugoslav needs, not long-term needs, and they were not to concern themselves with the question of whether or not the Yugoslav requests were justified.
The meetings of the Tripartite Committee on Military Assistance to Yugoslavia paralleled the Tripartite Official Conversations on Economic Aid to Yugoslavia which were held in London (see Document 870); both groups began their official sessions on April 9. The meetings in Washington, hampered somewhat by numerous press leaks concerning their activities, were much less frequent than the London meetings; in fact only five sessions were held during 1951 (April 9 and 12, May 3, June 28, and November 29). None of the minutes or action summaries of these meetings is printed here; these records are in file 768.5.