Office of the Historian

159. Memorandum of Conversation1

SecDel/MC/46
New York, September 27, 1965, noon.

SECRETARY’S DELEGATION TO THE TWENTIETH SESSION OF UNITED NATIONS GENERAL ASSEMBLY

New York, September–October 1965

SUBJECT

  • Military Assistance to Tunisia

PARTICIPANTS

  • U.S.:
    • The Secretary
    • William Witman, Ambassador to Togo
    • W. Paul O’Neill, Jr., AFE
  • Tunisia:
    • Habib Bourguiba, Jr.—Foreign Minister
    • Taieb Slim—Permanent Representative to the U.N.
    • Rachid Driss—Ambassador to the U.S.

The Secretary said he had three or four things to say on military assistance to Tunisia, but he must warn the Foreign Minister in advance that they did not represent a complete answer. They were, however, a beginning.

1.
Secretary of Defense McNamara was prepared to send a survey team to Tunisia to assess Tunisia’s military needs.2
2.

The U.S. is interested in the area of civic action, which is a constructive one. The Foreign Minister said Tunisia has seen civic action on a small scale and that the people were now accustomed to the idea. The Secretary further noted the contributions of U.S. military forces to the development of the United States, of which there had been a surprising amount west of the Mississippi in earlier days, and not just by the Army Corps of Engineers. He promised to send some material on this subject to the Foreign Minister.

The Foreign Minister observed that the Tunisian army had been trained in a different way, largely as a technical corps. The Secretary observed that the military traditionally look on themselves as warriors and often do not like to perform civilian projects.

3.
The U.S. would be glad to arrange with the Tunisian Government fairly regular visits of units of the 6th Fleet. These would be noted [Page 241] where they should be and, in addition, would bring some tangible economic benefits.
4.
The U.S. Government is looking into the possibility of increasing the number of training slots in the U.S. for members of the Tunisian military forces.

In general, the Secretary added, the two countries should arrange to keep in close touch with developments which could affect Tunisian security. For example, problems might arise when UAR troops returned home from the Yemen.

The Foreign Minister thanked the Secretary for the USG response and agreed on the utility of maintaining close cooperation. He said the survey team was probably the best way to reach agreement on the amounts Tunisia needed in the military field.

The Secretary said the problem of figures was probably a bit tricky and that the U.S. would have to have freedom to arrange this. We needed to consider what were the highest priorities. In view of what might develop in North Africa, the Secretary thought that communications’ equipment, including radar, seemed very important.

The Foreign Minister agreed on the need for communications’ equipment and mentioned the problem created for Tunisia when it sees its neighbors getting jets, tanks and training from eastern countries.

The Secretary referred to the experience of the recent Indo-Pakistani conflict and the fact that new anti-tank weapons might be better for some countries than supplying tanks to oppose enemy tanks.

  1. Source: Johnson Library, National Security File, Files of Robert W. Komer, Tunisia, December 1963–March 1966. Secret. Drafted by O’Neill and approved in S on October 25. The meeting was held at USUN. The source text is labeled “Part 1 of 4.”↩
  2. Telegram 146 to Tunis, November 12, informed the Embassy that the U.S. Military Survey Team formed to study Tunisia’s security requirements would arrive in Tunis on November 29 to begin the survey, which would take about 3 weeks. (Department of State, Central Files, DEF 19 US–TUN) The Report of the U.S. Military Survey Team (Tunisia) dated February 16, 1966, is in the National Archives and Records Administration, RG 218, JCS Files, 9118.4 (16 Feb 66) IR 5630 Sec. 1A.↩