PX-2023 — Memorandum for the Secretary of Defense, 13 March 1962, with annex

Memorandum for the Secretary of Defense, 13 March 1962, with annex

Origin

Joint Chiefs of Staff

Dated

13 March 1962

Extent

15 pages

Status

accepted

Redactions

None in the released copy.

Chain of custody

An ordinary public record at the National Archives, College Park. Declassified in 1997 through a records review board established by statute — not a leak, not a whistleblower, not a hack. Free. Any member of the public may order it up. We read the original because circulating transcriptions drop paragraphs in both directions.

Held by: National Archives; copy held by They Buried

Excerpt

SUBJECT: Justification for US Military Intervention in Cuba

  [annex, numbered proposals, paraphrased in our story]
  — sink a US vessel in Cuban waters
  — destroy a drone aircraft configured as a civil airliner
  — conduct terror operations in US cities
  — aircraft in Cuban markings violating US airspace

  STATUS: presented to SecDef 13 Mar 1962. Rejected.
          No element carried out. Chairman reassigned within the year.

Transcribed by the data desk. Line breaks follow the original. Bracketed matter is ours.

Editor's note

Cited in our postbag as proof of four separate modern events. It is proof of none of them. It is a 1962 document about 1962, and any story using it must print the rejection at the same size as the proposal.