Statement by the President Upon Instructing the Navy To Take Retaliatory Action in the Gulf of Tonkin.

I HAVE instructed the Navy

(1) to continue the patrols in the Gulf of Tonkin off the coast of North Viet-Nam,

(2) to double the force by adding an additional destroyer to the one already on patrol,

(3) to provide a combat air patrol over the destroyers, and

(4) to issue orders to the commanders of the combat aircraft and the two destroyers (a) to attack any force which attacks them in international waters, and (b) to attack with the objective not only of driving off the force but of destroying it.