Page:Pentagon-Papers-Part IV. C. 2. a.djvu/21

 Declassified per Executive Order 13526, Section 3.3 NND Project Number: NND 63316. By: NWD Date: 201 1 TOP SECRET - Sensitive DATE EVENT OR DOCWIEKT DESCRIPTION TT 17 Mar 64 Lod^e Message to -CD o SecState (State 1767) 18 Mar 6k JCS Message 5390 to CINCPAC n 20 Mar 6k President's Message to Lodge (state 148^+) 31 Mar 6k State/lSA Draft Scenarios President felt such action might have only limited military effect and could trigger wider Communist action in Laos." Reported GW-RLG agreement on po- litical and military issues. Dip- lomatic relations had been reestab- lished. Laos granted free passage into southern Laos to GVTT forces^ the right to bomb infiltration areas with unmarked T-28s and to conduct hot pursuit, comraando raids ■ and sabotage operations "without limit" into Laotian territory to combined RLG-GVN units. A combined Laotian-Vietnamese staff was to be created. The JCS directed CINCPAC to begin . "Planning Actions, Vietnam" in line with Recommendations 11 and 12 of USA}-! 288. The program was to"permit sequential iraplementation" of three actions (border controls, retaliatory cross-border operations with 72-hour responsiveness, gradu- ated overt military press-ores against JN¥^ with 30-days responsive- ness) . Confirmed that actions with North Vietnam as the target m.entioned in NSAI-i 288 were regarded strictly as contingency planning and that interagency study was so oriented. State/lSA planners presented three papers. The first was a scenario for current actions (political steps to increase Congressional and international understanding of U.S. aim-S plus continued military action by GVR with U.S. advisory assistance) . The second scenario called for overt GVN/covert U.S. action against ITVN (characterized by the GVN-USAP FARI-IGATE operation) ; it emphasized political initiatives XV TOP SECRET - Sensitive