Correspondence, E. Finley Carter (President, Stanford Research Institute) and DCI Allen W. Dulles, on the Asilomar National Strategy Seminar

“STANFORD RESEARCH INSTITUTE MENLO PARK, CALIFORNIA OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT February 25, 1960 Mr. Allen Dulles, Director Central Intelligence Agency 2430 E Street, N.W. Washington 25, D.C. Dear Mr. Dulles: For the past several weeks, Stanford Research Institute has been assisting the commanders of the western U.S. military forces in preparing the program for an unclassified seminar on national strategy. The enclosed announcement outlines the preliminary program together with the background purposes of the seminar.”

This is the earliest document in the file but it sits at pdf page 3. The letterhead gives SRI's address as Menlo Park, California - the same Menlo Park that recurs throughout the psychoenergetics files in this batch, eighteen years earlier and in an entirely different context. No connection is proposed; the coincidence of address is recorded because a later reader will notice it.

“You will note that the background includes a reference to the seminar held at the National War College in July 1959 at which you were a speaker. The purpose of this letter is to invite you to Asilomar to give the evening address on Tuesday, April 26, on ‘Strategic Objectives and Power of the Communist Bloc.’ I know your position entails very heavy commitments and that it is difficult for you to undertake engagements at a distance from Washington. We would, however, be highly honored if you would consider our request. Lt. Gen. Cannon, Commanding General of the Sixth U.S. Army, joins me in extending this invitation.”

Lt. Gen. Cannon is given here by rank and surname only; the enclosure at pdf page 7 gives him as 'LT. GENERAL R. M. CANNON, Commanding General, Sixth U.S. Army'.

“Those speakers who have already accepted include Dr. Bernard Brodie, Herman Kahn, and Albert Wohlstetter of The RAND Corporation; Henry A. Kissinger of Harvard; Robert Strausz-Hupe and William R. Kintner of the Foreign Policy Research Institute of the University of Pennsylvania; Walter Rostow of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology; and others who are professionally competent in the various fields that contribute to the formulation of national strategy. General Alfred M. Gruenther, USA (Ret.), has agreed to give the keynote address on April 25.”

'Strausz-Hupe' appears without the diacritic on Hupe, as printed. This paragraph is the substantive content of the document for cataloguing purposes: it is a dated, named list of who agreed to speak at a 1960 national strategy seminar prepared by SRI.

“The Institute recently published an issue of the Stanford Research Institute Journal entitled ‘The Spectrum of Conflict, 1960-70.’ We are enclosing a copy. This issue of the Journal will be used in part for background reading for the participants in the course. I will be in Washington the latter part of the week of March 7. Should you desire further information, I would be happy to call at your office and explain further the background of the Seminar. Very truly yours, E. Finley Carter President”

This second leaf is numbered -2- at top right - the only printed page number anywhere in this file. The word Journal is underlined in both places on the page. The enclosed Journal issue is NOT part of this file; only the seminar announcement is. Someone hunting 'The Spectrum of Conflict, 1960-70' will not find it here. The typist's mark 'EFC:ds' and the line 'Enclosures' appear at the foot.

“3 March 1960 MEMORANDUM FOR MR. [REDACTED] This is an excellent organization, as the DCI knows. It is doubtful, however, if he would wish to take on this West Coast speech on 26 April with almost the same group that conducted a similar seminar here in 1959. The title of the talk that they wish Mr. Dulles to deliver is ‘Strategic Objectives and Power of the Communist Bloc.’ This would appear to include not only political, but economic, social, military objectives; and ‘power of the Communist bloc’ would have to include its military hardware, its land, sea, and air forces, etc. I doubt, in this highly charged political year, that the Director should take on a public discussion of this nature. My recommendation is that he decline. STANLEY J. GROGAN Assistant to the Director”

The addressee's name is withheld - a white box marked STAT in the left margin. A second STAT marking appears at right, level with the recommendation line, apparently marking the signature area. The stated reason for declining is political timing, not any objection to SRI or to the seminar; Grogan opens by calling it 'an excellent organization'. This memorandum is the reason the reply on pdf page 1 says what it says.

“Mr. E. Finley Carter, President Stanford Research Institute Menlo Park, California Dear Mr. Carter: Thank you very much for your letter of 25 February inviting me to address the Asilomar National Strategy Seminar on 26 April. I have been studying my schedule of commitments to see if I might be able to join you on that date. Unfortunately, I find that there just does not seem to be any possibility of my getting out to the West Coast, much as I would like to do so. However, your courtesy in asking me to be with you on this occasion is indeed appreciated and I would like to take this opportunity to wish you every success in your Seminar. With kindest regards. Sincerely, Allen W. Dulles Director”

THE STATED REASON DIFFERS FROM THE INTERNAL ONE. The outgoing letter gives schedule; the internal memorandum of the previous day (pdf page 2) recommends declining because of the political sensitivity of the topic in an election year. Both are on the record in the same file. This page is a retained carbon or file copy - the typescript is faint and the signature area shows only a light smudge, not an ink signature, so the page evidences the text sent, not that Dulles personally signed. The date stamp reads '4 MAR 1960' with the day struck lightly. The routing block reads 'O/DCI/[withheld]ak(4 Mar. 60)' with a STAT-marked white box, and the distribution list is 'Orig. - Addressee / 1 - DCI / 1 - Col. Grogan / 1 - AAB / 1 - ER w/basic', the last entry struck through by hand. A handwritten '410094' appears at the foot and the stamp '(EXECUTIVE REGISTRY FILE ...)' carries a manuscript annotation. NOTE: the distribution list styles Grogan as 'Col. Grogan' while his own memorandum signs 'STANLEY J. GROGAN / Assistant to the Director'.

“Announcing ASILOMAR NATIONAL STRATEGY SEMINAR Sponsored by Sixth U.S. Army with the participation of the Western Sea Frontier (USN) and Fourth Air Force Course prepared by Stanford Research Institute April 24-30, 1960 ASILOMAR CONFERENCE GROUNDS MONTEREY PENINSULA CALIFORNIA”

The left half of this page is a map of the California coast reproduced through heavy scan degradation - the halftone has broken up into moire and the surrounding area is near-black. No text is lost; the map labels San Francisco, Asilomar, Monterey and Carmel remain legible. Recorded so a later reader does not think the page is defective.

“BACKGROUND In 1959 the National War College conducted a National Strategy Seminar for Reserve Officers. The seminar, authorized by the Joint Chiefs of Staff, was sponsored by the Institute for American Strategy and the Reserve Officers Association of the United States. The course was prepared by the Foreign Policy Research Institute, University of Pennsylvania. This year, because of the interest aroused by the 1959 seminar, Commanding General, Sixth U.S. Army, in cooperation with the Commander of the Western Sea Frontier and the Commanding General, Fourth U.S. Air Force, is sponsoring a National Strategy Seminar to be held from April 24 to 30. Stanford Research Institute, in cooperation with other professional organizations, is preparing the course material.”

The banner across the head of this page states the seminar's aim. Its first line is overprinted by the 'Approved For Release 2002/08/21' declassification stamp and I will not transcribe the obscured words. What is legible reads: '... appropriate to the spectrum of conflict between the free world and the communist bloc during the 1960's, with emphasis on military and economic factors.' The obscured opening appears to run 'To study and discuss elements of a national strategy' but the stamp sits directly over it and I am not certain enough to record it as read.

“ADVISORY COMMITTEE LT. GENERAL R. M. CANNON, Commanding General, Sixth U.S. Army VICE ADMIRAL M. E. CURTS, Commander, Western Sea Frontier MAJ. GENERAL S. SMITH, Commanding General, Fourth Air Force E. FINLEY CARTER, President, Stanford Research Institute SEMINAR COURSE COMMITTEE RICHARD B. FOSTER (Chairman), Stanford Research Institute WILLIAM R. KINTNER, Foreign Policy Research Institute, Univ. of Pennsylvania F. G. A. KRAEMER, Consultant From Stanford Research Institute: WILLIAM J. PLATT ROGERS S. CANNELL DAVID C. FULTON RICHARD H. RAYMOND MARIA N. KINGSTON (Secretary)”

NAME TRAP. 'MAJ. GENERAL S. SMITH, Commanding General, Fourth Air Force' is not BG John A. Smith, Jr., Deputy Commander for Security, INSCOM, who approves the GONDOLA WISH contingency funds eighteen years later in CIA-RDP96-00788R002000160004-0. Different service, different decade, surname only here. The page also lists a PROGRAM COORDINATING COMMITTEE of COL. Ernest von Pawel (Chairman), LT. CDR. Dorothy J. Joyce and Captain Emmet D. Fenton, and a list of participating organizations including the Institute for American Strategy, the Foreign Policy Research Institute, the Richardson Foundation, the World Affairs Council of Northern California, the Reserve Officers Association, the American Ordnance Association, the Association of the United States Army, the Navy League and the Air Force Association. The left column of this page is degraded by the scan but remains legible.

“Tuesday, April 26 SOME BASIC STRATEGIC PROBLEMS PAPERS FOR DISCUSSION: Comparative Economic Potential of U.S. and U.S.S.R. Implications of the Explosion of Technology U.S. Organization for National Security Roles of the Scientist and of the Policy Maker in Formulating National Strategy Evening Address: Strategic Objectives and Power of the Communist Bloc”

The programme is headed PRELIMINARY PROGRAM and the note in the top left states 'All sessions will be unclassified and off-the-record.' - that phrase is worth recording because it is the stated basis on which a sitting DCI was asked to speak. The block containing it is partly degraded by the scan; the words quoted in this note are legible, but I have not included them in the quote field because the surrounding sentence runs into a damaged area.