cfl J X i O OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY OF DEFENSE WASHINGTON 2 5 D C f O _ __ I '1 7 January I96E 'o o MOKANDUM FOR BRIGADIER GENERAL W H CRAIG ' USA CHIEF SUBSIDIARY ACTIVITIES DIVISION J -5 WiUKCT Special P ro je ct i Confirming your appointment as Defense rcp rcs e ntative_of_thQ_ C tribbean Survey Group and in furtherance of my memorandum fo r I j uty Secretary G ilpatric dated 26 D ecem ber 1961 and my undated tlrpartmcntal tasking memorandum both of which w ere shown to you fallowing is a cla rifica tion of the ro le o f the Department of Defense with respect to the Caribbean Survey Group ' 7 i o if jl IfI S5 a JThe first task o f the Defense Representative w ill be to construct a firm Defense position with respect to the Defense Depart ment's stake and role in the rem oval of the Communist regim e in Cuba In this connection it is n ecessary that the Defense role be p r e cise ly _ defined with respect to what actions would be undertaken by the Depart ment of Defense or any of its agencies if a popular movement inside Cuba made headway in overthrowing the Communist regim e and requested U S assistance The Defense position and policy on this subject needs to be definitive at the earliest possible stage as a matter of its political and psychological im pact to a greater degree than as a possible future m ili tary action H o b Department o f Defense must be prepared to a ssist fully CIA and Department of State in Cuban operations as Defense commitments of men money and m ateriel are requ ired c Department o f Defense must prepare fo r the sound and _ rapid implementation of plans for accom plishing those tasks accepted as a Defense responsibility c i4 as Q F o r your in fo rm a tio n t h e GBP e r a ll plan en visa ges e sse n tia lly in d i genous initiation o f a ctiv itie s on the ground in Cuba and e lse w h e re to be developed and a cco m p lish e d by CIA and the Departm ent o f State A t such time as CIA and the D epartm ent o f State p resen t their d eta iled p la n s o r any requests fo r D efense support these w ill be p rov id ed to you as the Department oGBP D efense R ep resen ta tiv e A s the D efense R ep resen ta tiv e EXCLUDED fROM CDS o rccom m cn da tion s and p e rson a l suggestion s co n ce rn in g ific-nr c role and con tribu tion s a re in vited 2 KaaVi I Sec D eGBP D e p S e c D e f EDWARD G LAN SD ALE B rig a d ie r G en era l USAF A ssista n t to the S e cre ta ry o f D efense S pecia l O perations This 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