Official History of the Bay of Pigs Operation- Volume 2- Part 1

The question of the use of Special Forces per-
sonnel was brought before the Special Group in its
meeting on 30 November, 5 December, and 8 December of
1960. From the 8 December meeting came the unique
suggestion which Thomas Parrot, Executive Secretary
for the Special Group, noted in the minutes of that
meeting:
Mr. Douglas [James H. Douglas, Deputy
Secretary of Defense] went on to say that
he is anxious to make the 38 trainers
available but that L~e Army wants to have
them as fully protected as possible. He,
therefore, asked that CIA explore the sit-
uation further to see if the Government of
Guatemala could not make a formal request
for trainers from the DOD. Mr. Esterline
said that he thought a secret agreement
could be negotiated with President Ydigoras,
but that it would not be feasible to have
an open agreement of any kind. Mr. Mann
expressed some fears about having anything
in writing with Ydigoras because of his
somewhat unsure tenure. He asked that this
be taken up with him later. '(At the later
meeting referred to above, Mr. Mann agreed
to a plan suggested by CIA whereby a
secret agreement would be negotiated,. but
no signed copy would be in the hands of
the GOG.) 65/
Following the suggestion that a secret agreement
be negotiated with the government of Guatemala, plans
were made for Jake Esterline to fly black into Guate-
mala to undertake negotiations with Ydigoras. The
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