Documents / FOIA release
This Top Secret study by the Interdepartmental Coordinating Group on Germany and Berlin, dated July 12, 1961, and released by the Central Intelligence Agency, answers NSC Directive No. 58 of June 30, 1961. It sets out courses of action for the Berlin crisis but does not judge their merits. It covers imminent presidential decisions, a three-phase timetable running to January 1, military preparations and mobilization, covert action, economic sanctions, public information, negotiating positions and checkpoint procedures for East German personnel.
“Cooper”8 pages
Read from the scan by GLM-OCR; expect the odd misread word.
## SECRET ## Appendix B requirement, but no action has been taken on the bill by the Congressional Committees because soundings determined that there would be considerable opposition among many small bankers, particularly in the middle west, and among many conservative members of the Congress. During World War II the Congress reduced the gold cover requirement from 40 percent to 25 percent, in order to make available more gold which was then needed to acquire essential imports from foreign countries. Should the present situation really develop into a substantial gold outflow, despite the cooperative efforts of other monetary authorities, it may become important to give greater emphasis in some way to the determination of the United States not to impose exchange restrictions and to be prepared to reduce the 25 percent gold cover requirement to free gold for international use. The Treasury and the Federal Reserve System might be asked to give further consideration to this general subject. Recommended Actions to Meet a Large Outflow of Gold. 1. Upon the public announcement of Berlin preparations, consult with European monetary authorities to encourage them to hold any large temporary accumulation of dollars in the form of Treasury bills or other dollar securities rather than converting them into gold. 2. Press to completion multilateral agreements to provide additional standby resources in the IMF under which the United States could, in effect, borrow the needed European currencies and avoid or fund dollar accumulations resulting from large capital movements. 3. If the capital movement should take the form of very heavy demands for gold for private hoarding, which is now illegal on the part of U.S. citizens, give consideration to international action to close down the London Gold Market and allow a premium price for gold to develop, as was the case in the early post-war period. 4. In the event of very large losses of gold amounting to $2 - $3 billion, utilize the existing emergency authority in the Federal Reserve Board to suspend the gold cover, and follow this by Congressional action to reduce this gold cover requirement for the duration of the emergency.
Not linked to a story yet.
FOIA release, from the cia-readingroom collection. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is above. The text was read from the page images by GLM-OCR; expect the odd misread word. 163 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.