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{
    "localId": "193362",
    "label": "Summary Record of NSC Executive Committee Meeting No. 5, October 25, 1962, 5:00 PM",
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    "id": "193362",
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    "contentType": "document",
    "title": "Summary Record of NSC Executive Committee Meeting No. 5, October 25, 1962, 5:00 PM",
    "citationUrl": "https://catalog.archives.gov/id/193362",
    "collections": [
        "Papers of John F. Kennedy: Presidential Papers: National Security Files",
        "Meeting Records and Memoranda"
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    "subjects": [
        "Bundy, McGeorge, 1919-1996",
        "Summaries"
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    "ocrText": "15\nTOP SECRET - SENSITIVE\n- 3 -\nSecretary Dillon noted that the urgency of the situation was considerably\nreduced if the Russians do not try to break the quarantine.\nSecretary McNamara expressed his concern that if the New York talks\ngo along very long, a kind of plateau will have been reached which would\nmake the decision to take new actions very difficult.\nSecretary Rusk summarized the political track as follows. We might get\na unanimous vote in the OAS for our actions. We could expect a veto\nfrom the Russians in the Security Countil. If the U Thant proposals were\nrejected, we could go to the General Assembly where as many as eighty\nStates might support a Latin American denuclearization proposal. He\nwas not ready to knock out the possibility of a political solution.\nSecretary McNamara said there were many ways of increasing pressure\non the Russians by military measures, i.e. quarantine, inspection at sea,\nsurveillance, the addition of jet fuel to the list of products embargoes,\nand the holding of all petroleum tankers.\nThe Attorney General noted that if all Bloc cargo ships turn back rather\nthan cross the quarantine barrier, we might let Soviet tankers through\nin order to avoid an incident at sea during the discussions in New York.\nHe said we might decide that it was better to knock out themissiles by\nair attack than to stop a Soviet ship on the high seas.\nSecretary Rusk suggested that we might buy the charter and cargo of\ntramp steamers going to Cuba. We could pay either the captain or the\nowner of the ship whatever he asks to defect with his ship. Such action\nwould step up pressure on the Cubans ithout further use of military\nforce.\nDirector McCone agreed that such action would be effective because it\nwould greatly reduce imports into Cuba and also take away from the\nCubans their outgoing cargoes.\nSecretary McNamara suggested that we might consider harrassing all\nships heading for Cuba by requiring that they go into U.S. ports for\ninspection, which could take up to several weeks. The purpose would\nbe to throttle imports by Cuba.\nIn a discussion of other military measures, Mr. Rostow said any recon-\nnaissance flights would have a beneficial effect on developments in New York.\nTOP SECRET - SENSITIVE"
}