◆ SpookStack

~Ofi SELRE I governments would recognize that the force lodged in Cuba and its nominal leadership was the Provisional Government of Cuba. ~/ One strange and contradictory note which appeared during WH/4's staff meeting on 15 November to plan the briefing for the DDP prior to his participation with the DCI in bri~fing the President elect was the following item stating: Our [CIA IS] original concept is now seen to be unachievable in the face of the controls Castro has instituted. There will not be the internal unrest earlier believed possible, nor will the defenses permit the type strike first planned. Our second concept (1,500- 3,000 man force to secure a beach with airstrip) is also now seen to be unachiev- able, except as a joint Agency/DOD action. Our Guatemala experience demonstrates we cannot staff nor otherwise timely create the base and lift needed. 9/ How, if in mid-November 1960 the concept of the 1,500-3,000 man force to secure a beachhead with an 'airstrip was envisioned by the senior personnel in WH/4 as "unachievable" except as a joint CIA/DOD ef- fort, did it become "achievable" in March 1961 with only 1,200 men and as an Agency operation? What was being denied in confidence in mid-November 1960 be- came the fact of the Zapata Plan and the Bay of Pigs - 149 - TOfl 3EC~T , ./