313. Letter From Secretary of Defense Johnson to Secretary of State Acheson0

My Dear Mr. Secretary: At our luncheon on September 23, 1949, we discussed the location and various aspects of certain special activities of the Central Intelligence Agency. I expressed to you my very great concern at the present situation, and we both agreed that on an interim basis we should make special and direct arrangements to provide policy guidance for these activities.

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I am familiar with your arrangements in the State Department whereby Mr. Kennan serves as your adviser on these activities, and in accordance with our understanding I am designating Brigadier General John Magruder, U.S. Army (Retired), as my special adviser on these activities. He will be particularly concerned with the subject contained in NSC 10/2, but in addition, and for the purpose of providing the necessary integration of other interrelated matters, he will concern himself on my behalf with NSC 4 and NSC 43 series. Your Department and mine under this arrangement can then proceed to guide these activities in a direction that we deem mutually desirable, and likewise to seek agreement respecting an appropriate organizational setting for the activities comprised in NSC 10/2.

The designation of General Magruder as my policy representative does not alter the previous arrangements for the Joint Chiefs of Staff representation in NSC 10/2 and NSC 43 matters.

I am also informing the three Secretaries of the military departments, the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Executive Secretary, National Security Council, of my action.

Sincerely yours,

Louis Johnson 1
  1. Source: National Archives and Records Administration, RG 273, Records of the National Security Council, NSC 10/2. Top Secret. Copies were sent to the Secretaries of the Army, Navy, and Air Force, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the Executive Secretary of the NSC, and the Director of Central Intelligence.
  2. Printed from a copy that indicates Johnson signed the original.