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Declassified per Executive Order 13526, Section 3.3
NND Project Number: NND 63316. By: NWD Date: 2011

 

19 October 1954

MEMORANDUM FOR THE SECRETARY OF DEFENSE

Subject: Development and Training of Indigenous Forces in Indochina

1. This memorandum is in response to a memorandum by the Assistant Secretary of Defense (ISA), dated 14 October 1954, subject as above.

2. The Joint Chiefs of Staff have reconsidered the recommended in their memorandum for you, dated 22 September 1954, on the4 subjects, "Retention and Development of Forces in Indochina" and "U.S. Assumption of Training Responsibilities in Indochina" in the light of the most recent comments of the Secretary of State.

3. The justification for forces in excess of those necessary for internal security is as follows:

a. The Southeast Asia Collective Defense Treaty does not provide for specific military force commitments. It does provide for consultation and military planning and for action in accordance with the constitutional processes of each party in the case of armed attack against any party to the Treaty. It also provides for consultation among the parties in the case of a threat to the inviolability or integrity of the territory or to the sovereignty or political independence of any party to the Treaty By a special protocol the parties to the Treaty unanimously made these terms applicable to Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam.

b. NSC 152/2 envisages reliance on indigenous ground forces to the maximum extent possible. Considerable numbers of Viet Minh guerrillas and sympathizers are known to be or suspected of being within the territory of free Vietnam and the government of Vietnam has

 

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