Foreign Relations of the United States, 1964–1968, Volume XXVIII, Laos

245. Memorandum From the President’s Special Assistant (Rostow) to President Johnson¹

Washington, August 8, 1966.

You will be meeting with Ambassador William H. Sullivan, our Ambassador to Laos, at noon today.² The meeting was proposed by Secretary Rusk who thought you would be interested in getting Sullivan’s report on current political and military developments in Laos and his views on our future course there, particularly as they relate to Viet-Nam.

Sullivan is one of the brighter young (43) foreign service officers. He has been in Laos since December 1964.

You may want to ask him:

(1) How things are going in Laos;

(2) How is Prime Minister Souvanna Phouma holding up; is the internal political situation relatively stable;

(3) How does he read the significant North Vietnamese military buildup in Laos over the last year (one NVN Battalion believed in Laos on July 1965, 13 NVN Battalions in Laos on July 1, 1966);

(4) How much pressure is Souvanna under from the Soviets as a result of our involvement in Laos;

(5) His estimate of the effectiveness of our aerial support in Laos;

(6) Are there things we should be doing that we are not doing in Laos?

A biographic note is attached.³

Walt

1. Source: Johnson Library, National Security File, Country File, Laos, Vol. XVI, Memos, 2/66–1/67. Confidential.
2. No substantive record of the Sullivan-Johnson conversation has been found. Sullivan mentioned that during his consultations in Washington he discussed interdicting infiltration by bombing the southern portion of North Vietnam. (Telegram 1299 from Vientiane, September 2; Department of State, Central Files, POL 27 LAOS)
3. Attached, but not printed.