Office of the Historian

SPA Files

The United States Representatives on the Military Staff Committee to the Joint Chiefs of Staff 58

secret
[New York,] 6 November 1946.

Subcommittee on basic principles has completed study of purpose and have submitted final report to Military Staff Committee indicating divergent views.59

[Page 997]

Chinese, French, U.K. and U.S. representatives on Subcommittee accepted French proposed paragraph 1 as amended (U.S.M.S./50/16).60 U.S. reserved commitment as to whether final document of the MSC on basic principles should include article on purpose. Chinese, U.K., and U.S. representatives on Subcommittee rejected all of Soviet proposed paragraphs and paragraphs 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 of French proposal, but agreed that paragraphs 5 and 6 of both the French and Soviet proposals could be discussed later under other headings of basic principles. French favored retention of French paragraphs 3 and 4. Soviet adhered to its original proposal.

Security Council directed MSC to examine from the military point of view (not the military aspects) the provisions of Article 43 of the Charter. Since Article 43 mentions purpose and the French paragraph 1 as amended does not amend or alter the meaning of the Charter, the U.S. Representatives consider this one paragraph entirely suitable for inclusion in final basic principles report to Security Council. Unless instructions to the contrary are received, the U.S. Representatives will take that position at the next meeting of the MSC on 13 November.61

  1. The source text indicates that this communication was a despatch. A marginal notation reads as follows: “To Mr. Hiss from Col. Cress.”↩
  2. In accordance with the decision taken at the 18th Meeting of the Military Staff Committee, September 18 (see the Summary of the Sequence of Events, p. 913), the Subcommittee on Basic Principles had resumed meetings on September 25. (IO Files)↩
  3. Not printed.↩

  4. The Military Staff Committee at its 22nd Meeting on November 13 agreed on the following definition of the purpose of United Nations armed forces and agreed to include it in its final statement of basic principles:

    • “1. Armed Forces, made available to the Security Council by Member Nations of the United Nations are intended for the maintenance or the restoration of international peace and security in cases:

      a.
      of existence of any threat to international peace,
      b.
      of any breach of international peace and security,
      c.
      of any act of aggression.

      when measures undertaken by the Security Council in accordance with Article 41 of the United Nations Charter would be inadequate or have proved to be inadequate and when the threat to international peace and security is such that it necessitates the employment of these Armed Forces.

    • “2. These Armed Forces may not be employed for purposes inconsistent with the purposes, principles, and the spirit of the United Nations Charter as defined in its Preamble and Chapter I.”

    The Subcommittee on Basic Principles did not complete its work as a whole in 1946. (IO Files)

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