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Barnes, the A/DDP/A, mentioned among other things "Although we failed to complete these arrangements with Ydigoras [e.g., the signing of the Status of Forces Agreement] we have since been successful in making identical arrangements with the Guatemalan Ambassador to Washington who acted as the Government of Guatemala representative in place of Ydigoras." 71/" Esterline continued as the principal in the negotiations that led to the signing of the agreement (21 December 1960) with the Guatemalan Ambassador. This, however, was not the end of the story. In a meeting on 22 December with representatives of the Department of Defense, John M. Irwin, Assistant Secretary for Defense and a newcomer to the negotia- tions, raised a question about the utility of the secret agreement that had been signed; and he indi- cated that the agreement showing that the CIA was \ providing US military forces to another government to train personnel of that government would not serve the primary purpose of providing a secure cover for the SF trainers. As a result of Irwin's objections it was decided that an attempt would be made to get