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At this point the following acidulous exchange between General Shoup and a member of the Cuban Study Group was reported: Statement: Let's go back to this question of military responsibility. Certainly you, as Commandant of the Marine Corps, had no responsibility for it, but as a member of the Joint Chiefs you did have responsibility for this operation. General Shoup: That's not my understanding. statement: At least the JCS as a corporate body had responsibility for this operation. General Shoup: That's not my under- understanding, only insofar as the Commander-in-Chief might want to know something about the adequacy of the plan, or the probability of success. Otherwise I don't feel that I, or any of the other Joint Chiefs, had any re- sponsibility for the success of this plan. Question: The Joint Chiefs are by law the advisors to the Secretary of Defense, National Security Council, and the President. Consequently, would you say that you should volunteer any advice on this SUbject? General Shoup: As a member of the Joint Chiefs I don't know what the Chairman did. I don't know what happened at a lot of the meetin~$ at the White House or the State Department, but I do know this, that within the corporate body I for one emphasized time after time that we had to have air superiority and we had to help this outfit fend off the force they were going to have opposi~9 them down there. 111/ 116