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

79. Memorandum From Michael V. Forrestal of the National Security Council Staff to President Johnson¹

Washington, June 7, 1964.

I have spoken with Mac Bundy on the telephone. He has the following thoughts about the Laos problem:

1. He feels we have not been figuring the odds of accidents over the Plain of Jars very carefully.

2. We should not feel rushed into counter-action by the strong desire to hit back. We should instead calculate very carefully and very professionally just when and how to make a strike that will really take out one of the offending anti-aircraft batteries. If that takes a day or two—O.K. We know we have the will to do it, so we don’t have to prove our determination to ourselves. The enemy will be more impressed by an effective strike than by one that is not reasonably sure of success.

3. We ought not to push this into a faster escalation than we have planned at this stage. In other words we ought to confine our actions to the places where the incidents occurred.

4. Mac will be standing by to come down from Boston whenever you feel his presence here would help you. I plan to call him after the meeting this afternoon.²

5. The name of the first missing pilot is:

Lt. C.F. Krusmann
of San Diego, California

Mike

1. Source: Johnson Library, National Security File, Country File, Vietnam, Southeast Asia, Vol. II, Memos (A), 5/64–6/64. No classification marking. There is an indication on the source text that Johnson saw it.
2. See Documents 80 and 81.