MEMORANDUM POR THE RECORD SUBJECT Minutes PRESEHT Mr Kissinger Mr Mitchell Mr Adm'iral Moorer and Mr Helms of the Meeting of the 40 Committee Packard 8 September 1970 Mr Johnson Mr Charles A Meyer Mr Viron P Vaky Mr William McAfee Mr Thomas Karamessines and' Mr William Broe were also present Chile a The Chairman opened the meeting with a reference to Ambassador Korry's excellent cable of 7 September 1970 and asked for an analysis of where prospects now stand for taking any kind of action which might successfully preclude Allende assuming the presidency of Chile following his garnering of a plurality of the popular vote in the elections on 4 September b Mr Broe summarized the situation and highlighted some of the points in Ambassador Korry's cable He noted that Korry is attempting to amintain flexibility and thpt there is some but not much fluidity in the situation He pointed out that Frei is an essential cog to success in any action congressional or mili tary to frustrate an Allende take-aver and that Ambassador Korl'y is very pessimistic about the prospects of Frei doing much more than deploring Allende'8 electoral victory He concluded that it is still too early to decide on a given course of action and suggested that the Embassy and CIA field elements be requested during the next week to probe all possible aspects of feasible actions and forward recommendations as to what might be done c In the lively discussion which followed 'there was general that more time to assess the situation was essential It was also agreed that there is now little likelihood of success in the previously proposed operation to influence the 24 October congressional'- run-off election against Allende agreement d Mr Helms noting that congressional action against Allende was not likely to succeed offered his personal observation that once Allende is in office it is predictable that the Chilean opposition to him will disintegrate and collapse rapidly Re expressed the view that Allende will quickly neutralize the military and police after which there will be no effective rallying point for opposition against him Wi thout advocating it as a course of action he observed that a military golpe NSC DECLASSIPICRTION REVIEW I Release in full by L salvetti Date 7 28 2000 UNOLA8SIFIEr E o 12958 against Allende would have little chance of success unless undertaken soon He stated that even then there is no positive assurance of success because of the apolitical history of the military in Chile and the presence of Allende supporters in various military elements e Mr Packard was also strongly litary action to prevent Allende from have to occur in the very near future mi leaders would undertake Chilean military initiative of the view that any effective the presidency would expressed the hope that the assuming He puch action soon on their own f Messrs Johnson and Meyer pointed out that if Allende's by a military take-over there is a strong likelihood that his supporters would take to the streets and plunge the country into full-scale civil war They felt that Allende was possibly the lesser of two evils They suggested that Frei should be strongly counseled to start immediately building an effective political opposition for the future before important individuals who would constitute that opposition might decide to leave the country election is frustrated g The Chairman and Mr Mitchell expressed considerable is in the presidency there will real counterforce against him that once Allende organizing any be anyone skepticism capable of h In accord with the agreement of those present the Chairman directed that the Embassy be immediately requested for a cold-blooded of assessment i 1 the pros and cons and problems and prospects involved should a Chilean military coup be organized now wiph U S assi stance and 2 the pros and cons and problems and prospects involved in organizing an effective future Chilean opposition to Allende stated that these assessments and recommendations in time for 40 Committee consideration in a meeting The Chairman should be available to be convened on 14 September Frank Distribution Mr Mitchell Mr Packard Mr Johnson Admiral Moorer Mr Helms M Chapin This document is from the holdings of The National Security Archive Suite 701 Gelman Library The George Washington University 2130 H Street NW Washington D C 20037 Phone 202 994-7000 Fax 202 994-7005 nsarchiv@gwu edu Read related article ‘Extreme Option Overthrow Allende’ 2020-09-15