Office of the Historian

335. Memorandum for the Record0

Washington, October 8, 1963.

SUBJECT

  • Meeting with President and Secretary of Defense, 8 October 1963
1.
At a meeting between the President and the Secretary of Defense which I attended at the White House at 082030Z, the President decided:
a.
To adopt an aggressive and positive policy to localize and terminate the situation in the Middle East at the earliest possible time. He indicated that he was willing to accept the risks inherent in such a policy. The overt movement of forces will unequivocally spell out US intentions and assure other friendly nations of our firm intention to honor our commitments. He stated that he wanted to disrupt the obvious time schedule which was controlled by other nations, and to seize the initiative in order to put an early end to the situation.
b.
To augment CINCNELM’s air capability by the deployment of two tactical fighter squadrons from CINCEUR and also a second carrier [Page 727] strike force from the Sixth Fleet. The President was concerned about the obvious imbalance of US air power vis-?is the air power of the UAR in the eastern Mediterranean and Red Sea area, i.e., 201 US vs 339 UAR aircraft.
c.
To preposition in Spain those B-47’s included in the Middle East portion of CINCSAC’s OPLAN 52–63 in support of operations in the Middle East. He wants assurance that they will be reconfigured for non-nuclear weapons. The express purpose of such a prepositioning is to assist in the stabilization of the situation in Saudi Arabia and to reduce the reaction time should the use of such forces be required. This would provide the final augmentation necessary to give CINCNELM air parity with the UAR.
d.
To contact Premier Khrushchev on the Moscow Link and inform him in advance that some elements of SAC were being deployed to Spain in conjunction with our attempts to stabilize the situation in Saudi Arabia. He is going to give Mr. Khrushchev assurances that these forces would be armed with conventional warheads only and are to be used as a last resort. He will emphasize that the US will honor its commitments to Saudi Arabia under any circumstances. The presence of US forces in the Middle East is for the sole purpose of stabilizing the over-all situation there and in particular to sustain the Government of Saudi Arabia. Our forces must not be construed as posing a threat to any established government unless such government overtly attacks Saudi Arabia. Above all the US desires to confine the conflict to the area of the Middle East.
e.
To issue a pronouncement that the US will stand by its treaty commitments in the Middle East.
2.
The Secretary of Defense directed that the Joint Chiefs of Staff take immediate action to implement the President’s decisions.
F. T. Unger
Major General, USA
Director for Operations
  1. Source: Washington National Records Center, RG 330, OSD Files: FRC 69 A 3131, 353 Key Chain, 18 Feb 63. Top Secret; Exercise Key Chain. A memorandum entitled “Master Check List for Exercise Key Chain,” prepared for the Joint Chiefs of Staff, dated October 7, is attached to the source text but not printed.↩