Office of the Historian

236. Telegram From the Department of State to the Embassy in the United Kingdom0

Washington, January 11, 1963, 12:52 p.m.

3623. There follows for your information message dated January 9 which President has sent to Prime Minister Macmillan on Joint US/UK Air Defense Team:

“Dear Friend:

Now that the Indians have let us know that they would welcome the visit of a Joint UK/US Air Defense Team, we are ready to move ahead and get our experts on the ground. In his last letter to me1 Prime Minister Nehru said, ‘the earlier it comes, the better.’

The small group of officers which we are selecting for the Team can come over to London around January 15th if this is convenient. After several days work with your officers, the Joint Team could then go to India.2

[Page 466]

I understand that our people are in general agreement about the exact composition of the Joint Team and its terms of reference.

While the odds that the Indians and Chinese will get engaged again on a scale which might involve us seem to be declining, I still believe that an air defense plan of the sort we discussed at Nassau would be a desirable gesture at moderate cost, if satisfactory arrangements can be worked out in detail.

Sincerely,

John F. Kennedy”

Rusk
  1. Source: Department of State, Central Files, 791.5/1-1163. Secret; Priority. Drafted by Cameron, cleared with BNA and by Komer, and approved by Cameron. Repeated to New Delhi and Karachi.↩
  2. The reference is to a letter sent by Nehru to Kennedy on December 29 in response to the letter sent by Kennedy to Nehru on December 22 (see Document 233). (Kennedy Library, National Security Files, Countries Series, India, Nehru Correspondence, 12/15/62-2/10/63)↩
  3. Macmillan responded on January 13 with a letter to Kennedy in which he suggested delaying the dispatch of the air defense team to India until after the conclusion of the round of Ministerial talks on Kashmir scheduled to begin in New Delhi on January 16. He felt that the Ayub government would be upset if the mission arrived in New Delhi while the talks were in progress. (The letter was repeated to London in telegram 3655, January 13; Department of State, S/S Files: Lot 66 D 204, Macmillan Correspondence with Kennedy, 1963)↩