Eisenhower: rapers, (Ann Whitman file) 1755701 to the United States and the Free World. He accordingly said he strongly supported the figures just presented by Mr. Cutler for the Mutual Security Program for FYs 1957, 1958 and 1959. Beyond this, Mr. Smith recommended that the United States call for the establishment of a long-term international economic corps for peace, whose function would be to assist the less-developed nations. The Na- tional Security Council must respond to the challenge offered by Khrushchev. When Mr. Smith had finished his statement, Mr. Cutler reverted to the question he had posed at the end of his presentation ~-namely, the desirability of asking the Department of Defense and the Joint Chiefs of Staff to undertake a study with respect to our military assistance programs in the period 1960-65. He first esked Secretary Querles to comment on the desirability of such a study. Secretary Quarles replied that the United States must cer- tainly lcok ahead, but that there were very great uncertainties in so doing. For example, we do not !mow what the Soviet will be doing in the period 1960-65, although whetever they did would obviously af- fect what we do. Another factor ies the progressive improvement in the economies of our allies and, accordingly, of the vortion of the burden which these allies could take over from the United States. Ferhaps the best wey to approach such a study as that vrorosed by Mr. Cutler would be to do it in terms of a probable range. In any event, the Department of Defense would do its best in what would certeinly be a very complicated tesk. Mr. Cutler pointed out thet of course he did not expect con- plete accurecy in a study covering future years, but wes seeking only general orders of magnitude. He then asked Admiral Burke, as Acting Chairzan of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, for his views on the feasibility of the preposed study. fdmirel Burke pointed out that it would be very hard for the Joint Chiefs of Staff to produce anything very meaningful. The assumptions chosen for such a study vould almost certzsinly provide the ansver to the problem. In order to make e meaningful study we would have to know more then we possibly could know about a great many Tectors. tm view of Admiral Burke's comments, Mr. Cutler wondered whether, instead of calling for the study he proposed, the Council could ask the Department of Defense and the Joint Chiefs of Staff REPRODUCED AT THE DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER LIBRARY to tell the Council what might be accomplished in the wey of a useful study. The Vice President expressed doubts that anything usefal could be enticipated from the study proposed, and went on to state that it hed occurred to him, in looking at the charts and the deta -6- : a TOP SEI y ~~ tishaenchant a ena ODTO ee