NATIONAL SECURITY ACTION MEMORANDUM NO. 237
 

TO:                     The Secretary of State
                           The Secretary of Defense
                           The Director of Central Intelligence

SUBJECT:          Project MERCURY Manned Space Flight (MA-9)

    The President is aware of the contingency planning with respect to the possibility of the landing of MERCURY 9 or future Gemini flights in the territorial waters of Communist China, North Vietnam, or Cuba, as described in the letter dated May 1, 1963, from the Deputy Under Secretary of State to the Deputy  Assistant Secretary of Defense of International Security Affairs.

    The President agrees that the Secretary of Defense has adequate authority to authorize the penetration of the territorial waters of the above countries for the purpose of locating, rendering assistance to, and retrieving the personnel and spacecrafts.
 

                                                                                                                                McGeorge Bundy

cc:   Director, Bureau of the Budget
       Administrator, National Aeronautics
            and Space Administration