97. Editorial Note

At the 501st and 502d meetings of the National Security Council on July 9 and 10, 1962, the Council considered NIE 11-8-62 (Document 96). [Page 343] At the July 9 meeting, the Council was briefed on the NIE by John McCone and Howard Stoertz of the Office of National Estimates, Central Intelligence Agency. Summary non-substantive minutes of the meeting are in the Kennedy Library, National Security Files, Meetings and Memoranda Series, NSC 7/19/63. In NSC Action No. 2452, the Council noted the briefing and agreed to discuss the implications of NIE 11-8-62 the next day. (Department of State, S/S-NSC (Miscellaneous) Files: Lot 66 D 95, Records of Action by the National Security Council)

No full minutes of the July 10 meeting have been found, but NSC Action No. 2453 states that the Council discussed the conclusion of the NIE and noted the President’s request that “a study be made of the effect on the conduct of Soviet foreign policy of the Soviet military posture summarized” in the NIE, to include military implications of the estimate for the United States. The study was to be made by a special committee chaired by the Department of State representative and including representatives of the Department of Defense, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the Central Intelligence Agency, and the White House. The committee’s report was to be ready by August 15. (Ibid.) For the report, see Document 103. McCone’s partial description of the July 10 meeting is Document 98.