◆ SpookStack

the Secretary of Defense became very much involved in the operation--after the invasion was launched--some explanation of the mishandling of ,the Joint Chiefs memorandum would seem to have been in order. Perhaps more understandable considering that all of the loose ends had not yet been tied up at the time of the second meeting was Mr. Bissell's failure to have pursued the matter of the destruction of Castro's microwave facilities. Bissell noted that if the beachhead could have been held for a period of several weeks, Castro's microwave links could have been destroyed and the Cubans forced into open voice communications-- thus giving considerable advantage to the invading troops. The point that Bissell failed to make was that the original plan for the D-Day air strike had included Castro's microwave facilities as primary targets, but with the cancellation of the D-Day strike, ~t was reported that the first word of the in- vasion at Playa Giron had come to Castro's headquarters through 27/ microwave channels.-- On 25 April 1961, the CSG held its third meeting. Unlike the first two ~eetings--and presumable by direction--the official record from this point forward identifies the specific witness appearing before the committee, but usually does not identify the member of the Cuban Study Group asking a question. 43