Office of the Historian

148. Diary Entry by the Chief of Naval Operations (Anderson)1

October 9, 1961.

1400. The Joint Chiefs of Staff met… .2 Relative to Southeast Asia, Mr. Bundy stated the proposal to put forces along the border was made for political reasons. Chiefs accepted this provided when actually in Viet-Nam they NOT be put on border. SecDef wanted a positive recommendation on South Viet-Nam which CNO provided: if we cannot go into Laos, we should go into South Vietnam, we should include SEATO. SecDef agreed, requested an estimate bv Wednesdavy3 of forces needed to eliminate Viet Cong… .

  1. Source: Naval Historical Center, Anderson Papers, Diary. Top Secret.↩
  2. The omitted portion indicates that the Secretary of Defense joined the meeting at 2:30 p.m.↩
  3. October 11.↩