Office of the Historian

286. Memorandum for the Record0

Washington, January 11, 1962.

SUBJECT

  • Minutes of Special Group Meeting, 11 January 1962

PRESENT

  • General Taylor; Mr. Johnson; Mr. Gilpatric, General Lemnitzer (Items 2-5); Mr. McCone (Items 1-3) and Mr. Bissell
  • The Attorney General (Item 1 and part of 2)
  • Mr. Richard Helms (Item 1)
  • General E.G. Lansdale (Item 1)

1. Progress Report on Cuba

General Lansdale summarized progress to date, identifying four major broad programs. He emphasized that the current bottleneck is the procurement of suitable Cubans to accomplish the initial task of infiltration. [Page 702] He also touched on other activities which are being undertaken while this problem is being solved, including such things as covert prop-aganda actions in connection with the OAS meeting of 22 January and selective harassment of the Cuban Government in the form of limited sabotage, etc.

Several members of the Group noted the difficulty of the task ahead, with Mr. McCone calling attention to the fact that the prevailing spirit within Cuba appears to be one of apathy rather than resistance, and that a fanatical pro-Castro minority exists along with an efficient police mechanism.

It was noted that the prevailing policy on sabotage is still in effect, i.e., that no actions which would be dangerous to the population will be undertaken, nor will major demolitions be done at this stage. It was agreed that whenever this policy appears to require change, the matter will be discussed with the Special Group.

It was noted that CIA is proceeding to set up an interrogation center for Cuban refugees in the Miami area and that this will be carefully examined to insure that it will be adequately staffed to produce the optimum amount of intelligence on conditions inside Cuba.

The Group agreed that maritime capabilities for infiltration should be clearly sufficient for any foreseeable tasks of this nature. The need for isolated and uncontaminated real estate was also brought out.

General Lansdale was asked to produce for next weekʼs meeting a consolidated summary of progress to date and an overall plan showing departmental tasks and responsibilities, along with timing of implementation. This plan would then be shown to higher authority.

[Here follows discussion unrelated to Cuba.]

Thomas A. Parrott1
  1. Source: Department of State, INR/IL Historical Files. Secret; Eyes Only. Prepared by Parrott.↩
  2. Printed from a copy that indicates Parrott signed the original.↩