◆ SpookStack

~ SEtR"E'T Special Operations, Office of the Secretary of Defense, also ,had some suggestions which he made to Mr. Bissell about the conduct of the Agency's anti-Castro program. For whatever reason, in late December 1960 Lansdale forwarded to Bissell'a number of suggestions which had been presented to him by an Army reservist,who had put in two weeks of active duty with OSO at Lans~ dale's direction researching Cuban political objectives. Inasmuch as the Agency had devoted many months to the study of this subject, and all other aspects of the anti-Castro effort, it appears a rather gratuitous insult that Lansdale would have forwarded this kind of paper to Bissell. 19/ What response, if any, Bissell made to this memorandum is not known. The Special Group held its last meeting of 1960 on 29 December, and there were, jn addition to the standing problem of the use of US air bases to sup- port the operation against Cuba, the questions of the use of a Nicaraguan air base, the political organ- ization of the Cuban exiles, and considerable discus- sion about the possibility of initiating action against C CD J I I '.,). It was emphasized that Mr. Pawley was strongly in favor of intervention - 185 - ,