March 6, 1975: State Department Tells Congress Diego Garcia Has ‘No Local Population Whatsoever’

A State Department official tells Congress, “[T]he nature of the island [of Diego Garcia] itself, which is a rather small piece of land, is also fortuitous in that it has no local population whatsoever so we have a minimal degree of the sort of political problems that are sometimes associated with establishing a facility of this sort.” [US Congress, 11/4/1975]