THE ALLIES AT LEAST THEY'RE SPEAKING THAW ! CRIED U.S . HEADLINES 
. OPERATION CHARM ! PURRED THE PARIS PRESS . THE BIG 
NEWS, OF COURSE, WAS THAT CHARLES DE GAULLE LAST WEEK WAS 
ON SPEAKING TERMS WITH HIS ALLIES . IN PARIS TO ATTEND 
A MEETING OF THE SOUTH-EAST ASIA TREATY ORGANIZATION, SECRETARY OF STATE 
DEAN RUSK CHATTED " CORDIALLY " WITH FRANCE'S PRESIDENT FOR ABOUT 
35 MINUTES, COUNTING TIME OUT FOR TRANSLATION . BRITAIN'S FOREIGN SECRETARY 
LORD HOME AND FRANCE'S FOREIGN MINISTER MAURICE COUVE DE MURVILLE, WHO 
HAVE BEEN SNUBBING ONE ANOTHER EVER SINCE BRITAIN WAS EXCLUDED FROM 
THE COMMON MARKET LAST JANUARY, ALSO EXCHANGED CIVILITIES . WHAT'S MORE, 
AT AN ELYSEE PALACE RECEPTION FOR SEATO DELEGATES FROM EIGHT COUNTRIES, 
LE GRAND CHARLES AFFABLY DECLARED : " SECURITY MEANS COOPERATION . 
" SUBS, PLEASE . WAS THIS PROGRESS ? SKEPTICS NOTED THAT 
FRANCE'S GOVERNMENT SEEMED MORE INCLINED TO TALK COOPERATION THAN TO PRACTICE 
IT . AFTER INDICATING THAT THEY MIGHT HONOR A 15-MONTH-OLD AGREEMENT 
TO ACCEPT U.S.-CONTROLLED WARHEADS FOR ITS GERMAN-BASED F-100 FIGHTERBOMBERS, THE FRENCH 
BRUSQUELY DENIED THAT THEY HAD ANY PRESENT PLANS " CONCERNING THE 
USE OF THESE PLANES WITHIN NATO . " NOTHING DAUNTED, U.S 
. OFFICIALS IN PARIS LEAKED WISHFUL REPORTS THAT FRANCE'S NUCLEAR FORCE 
DE FRAPPE IS BADLY BEHIND SCHEDULE AND BESET WITH EVERMOUNTING TECHNICAL 
AND FINANCIAL PROBLEMS . DE GAULLE, IT WAS HINTED, WAS ABOUT 
READY TO RETURN TO THE NATO FOLD . NOT SO, RETORTED 
A HIGH-RANKING FRENCH OFFICIAL . FRANCE, HE INSISTED, WILL HAVE ITS 
FIRST 50 MIRAGE IV A-BOMBERS IN SERVICE BY DECEMBER 1965, ON 
SCHEDULE ; EXPECTS TO HAVE ITS OWN H-BOMB " WELL BEFORE 
" 1970 ; AND IS ACTUALLY AHEAD OF SCHEDULE WITH ITS 
MISSILE-LAUNCHING SUBMARINE, NOW DUE IN 1968 . THUS DE GAULLE HAD 
NO REASON TO BACK AWAY FROM HIS DECLARED AIM OF NUCLEAR 
INDEPENDENCE . AS THE GAULLIST PARIS-PRESSE POINTED OUT, " IT IS 
HIS PARTNERS WHO HAVE GREATLY CHANGED THEIR TONE " SINCE THE 
GENERAL REJECTED THE U.S . OFFER OF NATO-COMMITTED POLARIS MISSILES LAST 
JANUARY . THE U.S . WAS STILL PUSHING ITS LONG-TERM PLAN 
FOR A SURFACE POLARIS FLEET MANNED BY MIXED CREWS . HOWEVER, 
BRITAIN HAS LITTLE ENTHUSIASM FOR THE IDEA, WHILE WEST GERMANY AND 
ITALY, WHICH WERE BOTH ENTHUSIASTIC AT FIRST, HAVE NOW INDICATED THAT 
THEY WOULD RATHER SINK THEIR MONEY IN MULTIMANNED POLARIS SUBMARINES . 
WHAT THE U.S . DID WIN LAST WEEK WAS SUBSTANTIAL AGREEMENT 
FROM ITS ALLIES EXCLUDING FRANCE ON THE GENERAL OUTLINE OF A 
MORE LIMITED SCHEME, THE INTER-ALLIED, NATOCONTROLLED STRIKE FORCE THAT WASHINGTON HOPES 
TO CREATE IN THE NEAR FUTURE . JUST A GIMMICK ? 
AFTER A NATO SESSION IN PARIS AND CONFERENCES IN LONDON ATTENDED 
BY RUSK, DEFENSE SECRETARY MCNAMARA AND OTHER TOP POLICYMAKERS, THE U.S 
. ANNOUNCED THAT IT WOULD PRESENT NEXT MONTH'S NATO MEETING IN 
OTTAWA WITH DETAILED PLANS FOR A NUCLEAR COMMAND AND PLANNING STRUCTURE 
TO INTEGRATE THE NEW INTER-ALLIED FORCE . IT WOULD INCLUDE BRITAIN'S 
V-BOMBERS AND, IN 1968, ITS POLARIS FLEET, AS WELL AS THREE 
POLARIS SUBMARINES THAT THE U.S . HAS COMMITTED TO NATO, AND 
OTHER ALLIED AIRCRAFT AND MISSILES . SOME ALLIED PLANNERS DISMISSED THE 
U.S . PROPOSALS AS MERE " GIMMICKRY . " BUT AFTER 
ALL IT WAS WESTERN EUROPE THAT HAD BEEN CLAMORING FOR A 
GREATER ROLE IN NUCLEAR WEAPONS POLICY . NOW WASHINGTON HAD PRODUCED 
A PLAN THAT WOULD GO A LONG WAY TOWARD MEETING THIS 
DEMAND . MOST EUROPEAN COUNTRIES SEEMED ANXIOUS TO COOPERATE . PARIS 
REMAINED STIFFLY ALOOF, SUGGESTING ONLY THAT IN THE EVENT OF WAR, 
ITS OWN DETERRENT MIGHT BE " COORDINATED / WITH A NATO 
NUCLEAR FORCE . IF ANY U.S . OFFICIALS REALLY BELIEVED, AS 
THEY SAID LAST WEEK, THAT THE FRENCH HAD SHOWN A MORE 
" POSITIVE " ATTITUDE TOWARD THE WESTERN ALLIANCE, THEY GRAVELY MISJUDGED 
THE AIMS OF CHARLES DE GAULLE . SNAPPED A GERMAN DIPLOMAT 
: " OF COURSE THE CRISIS ISN'T OVER . AND IT 
WON'T BE AS LONG AS DE GAULLE IS AROUND . " 
