FULBRIGHT WARNS ON CUBA

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP72-00337R000200260012-6
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 15, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 10, 2001
• Sequence Number: 12
• Publication Date: September 28, 1970
• Content Type: NSPR

Approved For Release 2003/03/25 : CIA-RDP72-00337R000200260012-6
Fulbright Warns on Cuba
DATE PAGE
Sen. J. William Fulbright
(D-Ark.) cautioned the U.S.
government yesterday against
nuclear brinkmanship in
trying to prevent the Soviet
Union from establishing a
major submarine base in
Cuba.
The chairman of the Senate
Foreign Relations Committee
said that to assume the Sovi-
ets have no right to establish a
base in Cuba is a very ques-
tionable proposition. y
The Pentagon announced
Friday it had evidence that
the Soviet Union was building
a submarine base in Cuba, and
the White House said it would
regard with the utmost seri.
ousness the positioning of So-
viet strategic missiles there.
Fulbright, interviewed on
the television program "Issues
and Answers" (ABC, WMAL),
said he did not believe the
U.S. could successfully engage
in brinkmanship in nuclear
weapons.
Fulbright said the situation
in Cuba calls for diplomacy,
not bluff, and urged a redou-
bling of efforts to reach a stra-
tegic arms limitation agree-
ment with the Soviet Union.
Without such an agreement,
he said, "They will build bases
and we will build bases until
there will probably be a con-
frontation."
Approved For Release 2003/03/25 : CIA-RDP72-00337R000200260012-6
 NEW
Approved For Release 2003/03/25 : CIA-RDP72-00337F O00Z 260012,
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YORK TIM
U.S WARNS SOVIET
'.NOm TO BUILD BASE
FORSUBSINCUBA
intelligence Indicates It May
Be Constructing Facility
--'62 Warning Recalled
BATA REMAIN UNCLEAR
efforts at Cienfuegos Being
Watched Closely, Perhaps
With U-2 Spy Planes
By ROBERT M. SMITH
Sp, Iar to Tho Naw York Times
WASHINGTON, Sept. 25--
The White House, recalling the
Moscow-Washington under-
standing that ended the Cuban
missile crisis of 1962, warned
the Soviet Union today -against
building a strategic submarine
base in Cuba.
The White House warning
'following a disclosuer that the
United States had intelligence
data.. indicating. that the Rus-
sians might be building facili-
ties at Cienfuegos, on Cuba's
south coast, to support the op-
erations of their submarines.
The Administration official,
who asked reporters to identify
him as a White House source
without using his name, said
that the Government was
watching developments in Cuba
piece of paper he had brought
with him to the briefing-a
briefing that had been arranged
to provide reporters with back-
ground on President Nixon's
forthcoming trip to Europe.
The quotation was from a
speech by President Kennedy
on Nov. 2, 1962, at the conclu-
sion, of the crisis created by
the Soviet attempt to introduce
medium- and intermediate-range
missiles into Cuba. The Presi-
dent said:
Policy Still the Same
"If all offensive weapons are
removed from Cuba and kept
,out of the Hemisphere in the
future, under adequate verifica-
tion and safeguards, and if
Cuba is not used for the export
of aggressive Communist pur-
poses, there will be peace in
the Caribbean."
After reading that sentence,
the official said: "The operative
part, of course is 'If all offen-
sive weapons are removed from
Cuba and kept out of the
Hemisphere in the future.' This,
were building a submarine sup-,
port base.' They have noted
Soviet naval activity in the
area, including recent visits by'
ships and the to win of thrg
barges from avana_ I Q _ ien-
iiegos.
Mr. Friedheim jjgd that
some o e merican intelli-
gence came from fli h s, 9X1'
Cuba b U 2 reco9Rg?A,a.nce
arrcra
U-2 Flights Continue
I U-2 flights over Cuba have
continued since the missile
crisis and have been tolerated
by the Cubans, apparently
without incident. . President
Kennedy, in his speech; said
the Uinted states had "no
choice but to pursue its own
means of checking. on military
activities in Cuba" if offensive
weapons were to be kept out.
At a briefing this afternoon,
a second -White House official
reiterated that "there is no
confirmation that there is a
strategic base" in Cienfuegos
.and said there were no Soviet
submariens in Cienfuegos Bay.
Pentagon spokesmen said there
were four Soviet ships in the
port: a submarine tender, a
tank-landing ship, a rescue tug
and a salvage ship.
Observers here pointed out
that the strategic implications
of a Soviet naval facility in
Cuba-even one that would
service submarines carrying
missiles with a 1,500-mile range
--were quite different from the
[Soviet attempt to put missiles
in Cuba in 1962.
of course, remains the policy of
this Government."
The official appeared -to be
reminding the Soviet Union of
the understanding reportedly
reached in 1962. In his speech,
"Chairman Khrushchev .... In 1962, they say, the United
,agreed to remove from Cuba all ,States had overwhelming nuc-
weapons systems capable of of-, dear :superiority, which the So-
-.--
i
introduction of such weapons
into Cuba, and to permit appro-'
priate United Nations observa-
tion and supervision to insure
the carrying out and continua-
L___ (United States.
on our part agreed that once
these adequate arrangements
for verification had been estab-
lished we would remove our
naval quarantine and give
assurances against an invasion
of Cuba."
The Pentagon comment on
Soviet activity at Cienfuegos,
which is southeast of Havana,
came from Jerry W. Friedheim
Deputy Assistant Secretary of
Defense for Public Affairs. He
said that the Penta on had.
dicat'ons that 'F el- o ~T~eli vvc
t at Ussians waantedto
t
i ai~fuily bti.t that 2t "a' no
ayy what
yet ina fro ition to s
Russianswere building.
Keunedy Speech Recalled
"We are watching the devel-
opment of Soviet naval activity
and of possible construction
there," the official said. "We
..are watching it very closely.
The Soviet Union can be under
no doubt that we would view
the establishment of a vtrate"ic
? 1 ?,n with the
e
esta is a permanent sua-
r o acility--in Cuba.
redheim stressed that
Viet pinion was try
ng to re-
dress. Now there is much
greater parity, and the Russians
can, and do 'operate submarines
r
11 \
Auban nav. -yvquldl
e '
give th e Soviet pion?tw vantages, according to Rear
m. Norvell Ward, command-
er of the Caribbean- sea frontier.
Reached by telephone in San
Juan, Puerto Rico, Admiral
Ward said that submarines
uld en more time off the
East oast i grey are based in
e Western Atlantic than if
they were based in the Soviet
Union-they wouldn't have to
spend time going back and
forth."
Submarines have to have a
protected anchorage-"smooth
water"-to make repairs and
get provisions, he explained.
The second gain the Russians
would derive, the admiral said,
was "political advantage."
A naval-officer at the Penta-
gon pointed out that the Rus-
sians had shown their flag in
the Caribbean only since July
of last year. "This clearly indi-
cates their intention to operate
in our waters," he said. "We
can obviously look forward to
seeing Russians off our coasts
more. and more."
Some observers speculated
that Soviet naval activity in the
area might pose more of a
hazard to political stability in
Latin America than to the Unit-
ed States security.
A source in the intelligence
community said that what the
Russians appeared to be build-
ing was a rather limited facil-
ity, not a submarine base on
the scale of American bases at
Holy Loch, Scotland; or Rota,
Spain.
In The New York Times to-
day, C.L. Sulzberger reported
in his column that the Adminis-
tration was investigating infor-
mation that a Soviet naval in-
stallation was being built at
Cienfuegos.
iev
J4
Elavana ._:-~.~_
base in tile car w,
. roved F
utmost seriousn P~
The White House official then
turned to a quotation on a
tionS anlsure the Russians The New York TImes