 In a meeting at the White House on 16 March 1969 attended by Nixon, Laird, the Secretary of State William P. Rogers, Kissinger and the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, General Earle Wheeler, Nixon announced that he had decided to start bombing Cambodia while at the same time not telling the American people that Cambodia was being bombed.The next day, Operation Menu as the bombing of Cambodia was code-named, started.As Cambodia was a neutral nation, the bombing was kept secret and officially denied.