◆ SpookStack

the Eisenhower government was increasingly zombie. You know, you would go over there to talk to James Douglas Smith [sic], Under- secretary of Defense, and, "well, Mr. Smith probably won't be in much any more, he is in New York looking for a job. Mr. Irwin is in charge," and so on. I guess this is one of the maddest any- body ever saw Eisenhower because three times the President of the United States had to be involved in this weighty matter -- should Special Forces troops be made available to the Agency for this matter? Doubly stupid because, as I said earlier, Colonel Yarborough and Dick Drain were entirely in accord on this. Yarborough wanted these guys to get some Latin American experience on the ground, and we desperately needed them. Three times the cock crew be- fore the President of the United States had his order carried out. The first time it was discussed the President of the United States authorized it; and the Undersecretary of Defense went back and told the Secretary of the Army -- that goddamned fool Brucker, or whatever his name was ... from Michigan "You are authorized to do this." I went over to see Yarborough, and expec- ted to see him jump for joy; and he hadn't gotten the message. So I "take this problem to Tracy Barnes and he says, "I think this is something that we will negotiate." I said, "Well, you do what you want with it, but the President of the United States has ordered it, and nothing is happening." He said, "well, I will go see Jack Irwin." Well, he came back with the word that the President had not "directed" it, he had . only "authorized" it; and the Secretary of the Army did not feel that "authorized" to do something ... he was "required" to do it. O.K., we take it back to the NSC,