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

5. Memorandum From the Chief of the Far East Division, Directorate of Plans (Colby) to Director of Central Intelligence McCone¹

Washington, February 25, 1964.

SUBJECT

• The Attached Draft Memorandum for the President from the Secretary of State and the Secretary of Defense, Subject: Stabilizing the Situation in Southeast Asia

REFERENCE

• NSAM 256, 31 July 1963²

1. This memorandum presents for the DCI’s approval a draft Memorandum for the President³ proposing a new series of actions intended to stabilize the situation in Southeast Asia. It follows up on reference NSAM 256 (attached) which authorized certain actions in Phase II of the Laos Action Program.

2. The memorandum, which we understand is planned to be submitted to the Standing Group or Executive Committee of the National Security Council on 26 February 1964, first points out that recent events in Southeast Asia have given the Communists what may appear to them to be an opportunity for “broad, forward movement.” The paper sets forth a series of actions intended to disabuse the Communists of this impression, discourage them from attempting further advance in Laos, and give them reason to believe the U.S. is prepared to escalate the conflict in order to defend its positions in Southeast Asia and reverse the recent course of developments.

3. The paper essentially recommends that the President authorize the Secretaries of State and Defense to carry out parts of Phase II of the program of graduated actions contained in the reference NSAM 256. It is made clear that a delegation of authority only is requested for implementation when the Secretaries of State and Defense agree such action to be appropriate and that it is not intended to implement the actions at this time.

4. With regard to Laos the proposed actions are largely intensifications of activities currently underway. Three of the proposed actions would be the responsibility of the Agency to implement if requested to do so by the Secretaries of State and Defense. The actions involve considerable expansion of covert operations in Laos and will certainly call for increased expenditure of funds and the assignment of some additional personnel. It is impossible to give a specific estimate of such increases at this time because of the generality of the memorandum.

5. During the drafting of this memorandum, Agency representatives urged upon the drafting group the inclusion of a course of action calling for an expansion of the Defended Village Program in Laos, already undertaken under Phase I. The other members of the drafting group felt that this being merely an expansion of a program currently authorized it need not be mentioned as a specific course of action for which additional Presidential authority was required. We recommend that the DCI call the Standing Group’s attention to this matter when the memorandum is submitted to it, as the earlier approved action has actually not been fully implemented due in part to an emphasis on avoiding violations of the Geneva Agreements.

6. With respect to actions to be undertaken outside of Laos, the most significant are the deployment of additional U.S. combat forces to Thailand and the movement of an aircraft carrier group to the coast of South Vietnam. In addition certain diplomatic actions are proposed which in effect consist of bringing our friends into our confidence and gaining their support for these actions and warning our opponents of the seriousness of our purpose.

WE Colby

1. Source: Central Intelligence Agency, DCI (McCone) Files, Job 80–B01285A, Vietnam, 1 Feb-27 Feb, 1964. Secret. Submitted with Helms’ concurrence.
2. Not printed. (Department of State, S/S Files: Lot 62 D 317, NSAM 256, Laos Planning) For discussion of this planning document, see Foreign Relations, 1961–1963, vol. XXIV, pp. 1036–1040. The recommended actions in conjunction with NSAM 256 as it applies to Laos are in Document 6.
3. See attachment 1 to Document 6.