Germany: Security, 1962: October-December
This file contains material collected by the office of President John F. Kennedy's secretary, Evelyn Lincoln, concerning Germany. Materials pertain to the situation in Berlin, German defense expenditures, and the Cuban Missile Crisis. Of note is a memorandum from Canadian Amba...
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OCR Page 1 of 104October 3, 1962
SECRET
Dear Chancellor Adenauer:
As you know, Secretary McNamara has just returned
from a short visit to Germany. He has informed me of his
excellent impressions of the Bundeswehr units that he visited
and the outstanding working relationships existing between
German and American armed forces.
As I indicated to Minister Erhard during our discussions
on September 14, we have re-examined our views on the German
defense budget. In lieu of the figure of DM 17.4 billion which
Minister Erhard mentioned to me, I now understand that the
German defense budget for 1963 will probably be reduced to
DM 17 billion. This figure would clearly require the postpone-
ment or reduction of German defense programs to reach agreed
NATO goals. Even though it represents an appreciable increase
over the DM 15 billion provided in 1962. this level of defense
would approximate only about 5.7% of the projected gross
national product of the Federal Republic. We would hope that
it might be possible for Germany to provide during 1963 the
approximately DM 18 billion which we understand is necessary
to meet German defense requirements. We would also hope
that Germany, in light of its continuing economic progress,
could approach the 7.3% and .7% of gross national product
devoted to defense in 1961 by the United Kingdom and France,
computed on the same basis. We believe such a figure will
eventually be necessary for Germany to meet its full NATO
commitments.
Minister Erhard also spoke to me about French forces
in Germany. 1 fully share his concern over the readiness
posture of French ground forces committed to NATO, and
believe that we should take every opportunity to encourage
France to improve the combat capability of these divisions,
and to provide the additional units needed to meet NATO re-
quirements in order to implement a forward strategy.
As
SECRET
DECLASSIFIED
E.O. 12356, Sec. 3.4
NLK-95-41
By MMK NARA Da.o 3/29/96
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