124.93/3–1447
The Acting Secretary of State to the Ambassador in China (Stuart)
The Acting Secretary of State encloses for appropriate action a copy of a memorandum, dated March 3, 1947, for the President entitled “Supervision and Coordination of Basic Policies Governing American Activities in China”.2 Attached to this memorandum is a copy of a Presidential Directive, approved by the President, authorizing the establishment of an Executive Office in the Embassy, consisting of Embassy, Army and Navy personnel, as a means of insuring complete and consistent implementation of American policy toward China. The War and Navy Departments, authorized under the Directive to assign personnel to serve in this office, are being requested to take appropriate action to that end.
In approving the paper (SWNCC 349) providing for the Executive Office, which was first submitted to the State-War-Navy Coordinating Committee, the Navy member made the following statement:
“The Navy Department believes that the duties outlined in the subject paper to be performed for the Ambassador by naval personnel can best be performed by an officer ordered as Naval Attaché and is prepared to assign an officer with suitable qualifications to such duty. Such an arrangement will avoid the establishment of a new naval headquarters with undesirable expense and possibly involving undesirable comment.”
In accepting this statement, the Secretary of State made the following comment:
“I approve SWNCC 349 as amended, and note the statement of the Navy member, but wish to insert, as a matter of record, that it may be desirable at a later date to review the manner in which the Navy representative of the Executive Office is appointed. I make this comment since it is my view that it would be preferable to divorce the activities of the Executive Office in its effort to assist the Ambassador in supervising and coordinating basic policies governing American [Page 1430] activities in China from the normal intelligence functions of the Naval or Army Attaché’s office.”
In view of the lack of precedents for the Executive Office, it is believed that the functioning and procedures of the Office must be worked out on the ground and that the Embassy will find it desirable to adapt the Office, within the framework of the Presidential Directive, to meet the situation and the existing needs. The Department has not, therefore, attempted to lay down specific rules for the functioning of the Office, believing that its functions and procedures can best be worked out through actual experience and experimentation in the Embassy.
It is believed desirable, however, that all communications relating to the activities of the Executive Office should, as a regular procedure, be forwarded through Embassy channels. This should not, of course, preclude the use by Army and Navy representatives in the Office of communications facilities available to them in seeking instructions from their respective Departments or agencies of such Departments.
With regard to personnel assigned to the Office, it is understood that the War and Navy Departments will name a general officer and a flag officer, respectively, as their chief representatives in the Executive Office, together with such personnel of lower rank as are believed to be necessary. In this connection, it would seem desirable that the Minister-Counselor of Embassy serve as the chief Embassy representative in the Office in order that parallel rank may be maintained vis-à-vis the War and Navy Departments.
It is requested that the Embassy inform the Department of the effective date of the establishment of the Executive Office and that it submit to the Department, from time to time, reports of the functioning of the Office, together with suggestions it may have for increasing its effectiveness.
- Supra.↩