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The question of the use of Special Forces per- sonnel was brought before the Special Group in its meeting on 30 November, 5 December, and 8 December of 1960. From the 8 December meeting came the unique suggestion which Thomas Parrot, Executive Secretary for the Special Group, noted in the minutes of that meeting: Mr. Douglas [James H. Douglas, Deputy Secretary of Defense] went on to say that he is anxious to make the 38 trainers available but that L~e Army wants to have them as fully protected as possible. He, therefore, asked that CIA explore the sit- uation further to see if the Government of Guatemala could not make a formal request for trainers from the DOD. Mr. Esterline said that he thought a secret agreement could be negotiated with President Ydigoras, but that it would not be feasible to have an open agreement of any kind. Mr. Mann expressed some fears about having anything in writing with Ydigoras because of his somewhat unsure tenure. He asked that this be taken up with him later. '(At the later meeting referred to above, Mr. Mann agreed to a plan suggested by CIA whereby a secret agreement would be negotiated,. but no signed copy would be in the hands of the GOG.) 65/ Following the suggestion that a secret agreement be negotiated with the government of Guatemala, plans were made for Jake Esterline to fly black into Guate- mala to undertake negotiations with Ydigoras. The - 62 -