Foreign Relations of the United States, 1961–1963, Volume VIII, National Security Policy

100. Memorandum From the Deputy Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs (Johnson) to the President’s Military Representative (Taylor)⁰

Washington, July 28, 1962.

SUBJECT

• Draft Report of Special Inter-departmental Committee on the Implications of NIE 11-8-62 and Related Intelligence

Attached is the draft Report of our Committee, as prepared by the Bohlen and Nitze working groups.¹

It is my understanding that there is full agreement except for the question of the inclusion or non-inclusion of paragraph 8 of section II on “Implications for US Defense Policy” (p. 8), and the corresponding paragraphs 5.f. and g. of Annex A (p. 10 of the Annex).² Mr. Nitze, as the representative of the Secretary of Defense, does not wish to include those paragraphs, and proposes an alternative concluding sentence to paragraph 5. e. of the Annex to use in place of them. The sentence which he proposes follows:

“In addition to our penetration aids program, two other current US programs have an important bearing on this problem: first, a vigorous continuation of our own efforts to overcome the technical obstacles and develop militarily useful ABM defenses; second, an information program designed to counter Soviet political and propaganda exploitation of the ABM issue.”³

I propose that we meet in my office at 3:30 P.M. on Wednesday, August 1, to discuss the difference noted above and to approve a final draft of the Report for submission to our Principals.⁴

I want to thank and to commend the chairmen and members of the working groups who have drafted the Report.

U. Alexis Johnson

⁵

0. Source: Department of State, S/S-NSC Files: Lot 70 D 265, NSC Meeting 7/9/62. Top Secret; Limited Distribution. Also addressed to General Lemnitzer, Nitze, and Sherman Kent, Assistant Director for National Estimates, Central Intelligence Agency. Copies were sent to Bohlen, Kohler, Hilsman, General Holtoner, and Garthoff.
1. Not printed. For text of the final report, see Document 103. Johnson was Chairman of the Special Inter-Agency Committee that prepared the draft report pursuant to NSC Action No. 2453 (see Document 97). The Committee was made up of three working groups. Nitze headed the group that reviewed U.S. defense programs; Charles E. Bohlen, Special Assistant to Secretary Rusk, headed a group that analyzed Soviet political and military policy; and Kent directed an intelligence group.
2. These paragraphs were reworded in the final report; see Document 103.
3. Paragraph 5e was unchanged in the Annex to the final report, but part of this language was incorporated in the revised paragraph 5g.
4. No record of this meeting has been found. In the second of three attachments to an August 1 memorandum to Taylor, Smith wrote: “Mr. Nitze’s argument rests principally on his implicit assumption that the Nike Zeus has not solved the technical problems inherent in an anti-missile defense system. He should be asked to detail his reasoning. Then the Committee can better decide whether these technical disadvantages outweigh the political advantages of early deployment.” (National Defense University, Taylor Papers, WYS Chronological File, July-September 1962 (4))
5. Printed from a copy that bears Johnson’s signature in an unidentified hand.