790.5/12–654: Circular telegram
The Secretary of State to Certain Diplomatic Offices1
secret
Washington, December 6, 1954—5:28
p.m.
288. Quoted below US informal working paper on military advisers to Manila Pact Council given Manila Pact Reps Washington today for discussion working group:2
Begin verbatim text.
Military Advisers to the Council: [Page 1032]
- 1.
- Each member of the Council should be assisted by a Military Adviser. (At Chief of Staff or Theatre Commander level.)
- 2.
- The Military Advisers should:
- a.
- be prepared to attend meetings of the Council.
- b.
- meet periodically as required after consultations among the member governments.
- c.
- formulate their own rules of procedure and any necessary organizational arrangements.
- d.
- designate, as necessary, planning assistants to meet as required to work on agreed projects.
- 3.
- The activities of the Military Advisers might include:
- a.
- Advising the Council on problems of military cooperation that may arise in connection with the implementation of the Treaty.
- b.
- Review of the military situation in the area (essentially an intelligence estimate to be used in planning procedures).
- c.
- Development of a strategic estimate on Southeast Asia.
- d.
- Determination of possible courses of action to meet the current Communist threat in Southeast Asia and in the event of further Communist aggression in the area short of a general emergency.
- e.
- Exchange of planning information.
- f.
- Exploration of ways and means of increasing the mutual effectiveness of the defensive effort of the member countries in the Treaty area.
- g.
- Consideration of measures to be taken in each country to increase the security of classified information with a view to augmenting the effectiveness of an exchange of intelligence data. End verbatim text.
Dulles