UCL
Prompted by Mr. Cutler, the President inquired with respect
to the concentration of SAC bombers on certain airfields. He had
heard earlier that morning a report that all our B-52 bombers were
concentrated on a single field. Colonel Rosson replied that this was
not a statement of fact. Secretary Douglas added the information
that there were three wings of B-52's on three bases,
Our 1958 pro-
gram permitted only five additional basen, although our goal for FY
1958 would have been 11.
The Vice President inquired as to the meaning of the tern
"nuclear capable".
Colonel Rosson explained that this term defined
a delivery capability for nuclear weapons. The Vice President went
on to say that the reason that he had asked his question was that
the term "operational capability" was now so much talked of in the
press, especially in relation to Soviet missiles. Could Colonel
Rosson also explain this term? Did this refer only to an initial
capability?
Colonel Rosson replied that the term "operational capa-
bility" was a term with progressive meaning, running all the way
from an initial capability to a full capability in all units.
Governor Stassen expressed concern that the charts which
had been displayed seemed to indicate that our aircraft capabilities
were diminishing without indicating a concurrent increase in our missiles capability. After all, the basis on which we were cutting down
on our aircraft capability was that we should have an increasing capability in miasiles.
The President pointed out that no one could quarrel with
the fact of the increased effectiveness of our combat wings, even
though the number of these wings was fewer.
The National Security Council:
Noted and discussed an oral presentation by the Department
of Defense on the status of the U. S. Military Program on
June 30, 1957, based on Part 1 of NSC 5720.
REPRODUCED AT THE DWIGHT, D. RISENHOWER LIBRARY
~
2.
CIA ANNUAL REPORT
(NSC Actions Nos. 1379 and 1546)
The National Security Council:
Noted the major portion of the annual report by the Director of Central Intelligence on the actions taken by the
Central Intelligence Agency under NSC 5412/2, with the un-
derstanding that the remainder of this report will be presented at the next Council meeting.
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