Statement by the President on the Meeting of the National Security Council in Denver.

YESTERDAY, the National Security Council met with me here in Denver. This was unprecedented, but it was also very natural. I had not met with the Council for more than two weeks, while it happened that yesterday Secretary Dulles reached here on his way back from the Philippines, where he had been conducting difficult negotiations.

We met in order that all of us together could have the benefit of his observations and the details of his report.

No specific decisions were advanced for action. It was merely a consulting together as to the place of the United States in the world today in that particular area--that troubled area of the Western Pacific--and reaffirming our devotion to certain policies.

These are, of course, to defend the vital interests of the United States wherever they may arise, to make better partners of old friends, and to get new friends wherever we can. And of course, where our vital interests demand it, to support them in their security and in their own interests

The meeting lasted several hours, and broke up last evening.