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Declassified per Executive Order 13526, Section 3.3
NND Project Number: NND 63316. By: NWD Date: 2011
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than that of the Americans. Lansdale Memorandum for Deputy Secretary Gilpatric, 12 July 1961 |
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| 22. | Mr. William P. Bundy forwards the joint action program proposed by the GVN-US Special Financial Group to the Assistant Secretary of Defense. The report prepared by Dr. Eugene Staley, Chairman of the Group, has been submitted to President Ngo Diem and President John F. Kennedy, and includes the fiscal and economic implications of increasing the Vietnamese armed forces to 200,000 strength. The military portions, in addition to the requirements already planned, would require approximately $42 million during the 18-month period, July 61-December 62. Bundy Memorandum to Gilpatric, 25 July 1961, (Staley Report attached) | 177 |
| 23. | General Lionel C. McGarr, Chief, MAAG-Vietnam, reviews the military situation and offers recommendations for continued improvement of the situation in SVN to President Diem. Among the recommendations made by McGarr are: (1) that a national internal security council be established to prepare and execute the Vietnamese National Counter Insurgency Plan; (2) that effective border and coastal surveillance capabilities be initiated; (3) that U.S. advisers be more effectively utilized by accompanying ARVN units on combat operations; and (4) finally, that the reorganization of the military command structure and establishment of a single chain of command be implemented as recommended in the Counter Insurgency Plan. Aide-Memoire for President Diem, received Secretary of Defense, 2 August 1961 | 227 |
| 24. | The JCS do not believe that an alternate force of 270,000 would be required to enable the RVNAF to conduct counter-insurgency operations and, concurrently, be prepared to meet overt aggression. They recommend that the strategic force objectives for VN remain at the 9 division level (200,000) subject to further assessment. JCS Memorandum for Secretary of Defense, JCSM 518-61, 3 August 1961 | 239 |
| 25. | The President approves the Staley recommendations and decides that the U.S. will provide equipment and training assistance for an increased RVNAF from 170,000 to 200,000. It is hoped that President Diem will get the maximum mileage in terms of internal political support from this new commitment, and that he will involve more elements of the non-communist political opposition in the civic action program. NSAM 65, 11 August 1961 | 241 |
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