624             FOREIGN RELATIONS, 19 5 0, VOLUME I

710.5/4-2550
The Assistant Secretary of State for Far Eastern Affairs:(Rusk)'1 to
         the Assistant to the Secretary of Defense (Burns)

TOP SECRET                                WASHINGTON, April 25, 1950.
   DEAR GENERAL BURNS:        In the light of your assurances this morn-
ing that the roles which we shall seek to have the governments of Latin
America accept for their armed forces tin the collective defense of the
hemisphere will be fully coordinated with the Department of State
before and during the process of discussion with Latin American mili-
tary representatives, we can agree to your suggestion to delete the
latter half of paragraph 17 of the NSC Staff draft dated March 21,
1950.2 The paragraph would then end with the following sentence:
"Beyond these roles applicable to each Latin American armed force,

certain countries should be capable of performing additional tasks
as appropriate".3

   Mr. Rusk participated in the drafting of NSC 56/2 in his capacity as the
 Department's Consultant to the National Security Council.
   'Draft not printed. (710.5/3-2050)
   'Reference is to a deletion from a section that became paragraph 17a of
NSC
 56/2; for the final text, see p. 634. The deleted portion read:
   "Argentina: forces for protection of the sea lines of communication
to the
 River Plate and the Straits of Magellan, defense of contiguous waters against
 air, submarine and surface raiders, and operations outside her own territory.
   Brazil: forces for extra-hemisphere operations as well as forces for complete
 protection of contiguous waters and sea lines of communication against air,
 submarine and surface raiders.
   Chile and Peru: forces for assistance in protecting west coast sea lines
of
 communication.
    Colombia: forces for assistance in protecting contiguous waters against
air,
  submarine and surface raiders.
    Cuba: forces to assist in protecting Caribbean communication lines.
    Ecuador and Uruguay: forces to assist in convoying in waters adjacent
to
  the coast.
  Mexico: forces capable of action anywhere in the hemisphere and of com-
  pletely defending Mexican waters against air, submarine and surface raiders.
    Venezuela: forces for protection of contiguous waters (including the
oil instal-
  lations) against air, submarine and surface raiders." (710.5/3-2050)
    In a memorandum of April 13, Max W. Bishop, a Special Assistant to Mr.
Rusk,
  summarized differences between the Departments of State and Defense over
  paragraph 17 of the March 21 draft as follows:
    "The problem hinges around Defense's desire to delete paragraph
17 which
  deals in general terms with the roles of the Latin American Armed FoTces
for
  collective Hemisphere defense. It is Defense's contention that this paragraph
  deals with "implementation" and not with "military policy".
They feel the para-
  graph therefore has no place in the paper. It seems to me that the question
of the
  roles which we wish the armed forces of any foreign country to accept is
a matter
  of important military policy in which there is an obvious political implication
and
  need for coordination of politico-military policies.
    ARA feels strongly the substance of this paragraph should be included."
(S/P-
  NSC Files: Lot 60D167: Folder "Inter-American Treaty of Reciprocal
Assistance,
  NSC 56 Series")