This is a summary of the SIOP briefing attended by Commander Josephson and Colonel Connell from your office Permission could not be obtained for Colonel Cook and Major Smith to attend The briefing began at approximately 6 15 p m on 20 August It was attended by the five members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff After very brief introductory remarks by General Wheeler the briefing was conducted by Major General McPherson USAF Vice Director J-3 Flip chart training aids were used throughout and all significant points were depicted thereon After briefly setting the stage General McPherson discussed three broad areas of the SIOP 1 The five decisions which the President must make together j with the advice he might expect from the Joint Chiefs for each decision fr 3 in fa 2 The implementations of the Joint Chiefs following these Inf-'1 decisions and 3 Consequences of SIOP execution in terms of human casualties Aside for interruptions for coffee questions etc the presentation required about fifteen minutes The President interrupted just two or three times to ask for a repeat of a particular point He seemed to be absorbed with the briefing throughout With all due respect General McPherson was not as polished in delivery as one might desire I was told by Captain Anderson USN who accompanied General McPherson that the General had only one or 1 two days advance notification that he was to give the briefing thus '31 his delivery was the result of a rather quick study Zn-'1 121' The President expressed particular interest in the number of casualties which would result from a nuclear exchange His other said questions were only for a repeat of language used At the conclusion of the briefing General LeMay talked on the major problem which has occured with each practice execution of the SIOP This he stated has been the slowness in arriving at 50 13292 Sec 35 1 Ace 43% M9 1 1 u NARA Date a 4 11-95 'l'i'ui as Win- 2 7 31 1177 'r 7 m 1 171 er 3 '11 iwif ag-3 mar its In nit-1W rfl 33b of11 14 3 kiln Hf - necessary decisions He qquated this to Russia's response and stated they were much more familiar with their version of the SIOP and could certainly arrive at a point of action more rapidly than we Both he and General Wheeler urged the President to participate in a SIOP practice in the future -- that they would be happy to conduct this at any of the JCS relocation sites which General Wheeler briefly described with him or would come to the White House for such an exercise General Wheeler amplified this comment to Colonel Connell after the briefing and explained in the future meant after the November elections The conference was interrupted briefly when the President asked How would you advise me if I were flying General Wheeler then explained that they would contact him by radio and intimated that you or one of your assistants would assist in the interpretation of the '04 problem at hand 15 1 '1 All members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff seemed pleased with the results of the briefing They felt it was well received and that the President's interest was generated in his SIOP responsibilities LBJ LlElr l1-wa'rilThis document is from the holdings of The National Security Archive Suite 701 Gelman Library The George Washington University 2130 H Street NW Washington D C 20037 Phone 202 994-7000 Fax 202 994-7005 nsarchiv@gwu edu