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Mr. Baron. The last paragraph of those minutes quote Mr. Dulles as saying: "The Soviet ships off the African Coast were apparently awaiting a clarification of the situation. Mobutu appeared to be the effective power in the Congo for the moment, but Lumumba was not yet disposed of and remained a grave danger as long as he was not disposed of."

Did Mr. Dulles make those remarks?

Mr. Dillon. I don't recall those particular remarks. But he could have. But again, there my own interpretation, "disposed of" wouldn't necessarily only be assassinated, it would be gotten out of the Congo to some place where he was neutralized and couldn't come back in, and you could be sure he was done with.

Mr. Baron. But assassination would have been one of the means of disposing of Lumumba, that would have been acceptable?

Mr. Dillon. I guess the word "disposed" could mean that. But that strikes me as rather surprising, because I would think once he was out of office, our concern would have been deescalated to some extent, it would have been more to find some way, which should have been perfectly possible, of getting him out, or locking him up, or anything.

Mr. Baron. Let me represent to you that the report of the United Nations investigation of the circumstances surrounding Lumumba's death, which was not reported until February of 1961, indicated that at this time, in late

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