Foreign Relations of the United States, 1949, National Security Affairs, Foreign Economic Policy, Volume I

S/S–NSC Files: Lot 63D351: NSC 25 Series

Memorandum by the Executive Secretary of the National Security Council (Souers) to the Council

confidential

Washington, May 11, 1949.

Subject: Interim Terms of Reference of SANACC

References:

A. Memo for NSC from Executive Secretary, same subject, dated April 13, 1949¹

B. NSC 25/1²

In response to the memorandum request (Reference A) for Council members to indicate their action with respect to the recommendation on the subject contained in NSC 25/1, the following replies have been received:

• Secretary of State: Agree
• Secretary of the Treasury: Agree
• Secretary of Defense: Disagree, as stated in the attached memorandum
• Secretary of the Army: Disagree, and concur in the position taken by the Secretary of Defense in the attached memorandum
• Secretary of the Navy: Disagree, and concur in the position taken by the Secretary of Defense in the attached memorandum
• Secretary of the Air Force: Disagree
• Chairman, National Security Resources Board: Agree

These views, including the recommendation of the Secretary of Defense in paragraph 3 of the enclosed memorandum, that a decision be taken immediately to dissolve SANACC as an independent entity, are accordingly submitted herewith for the further consideration of the National Security Council.

Sidney W. Souers

[Annex]

The Secretary of Defense (Johnson) to the Executive Secretary of the National Security Council (Souers)

confidential

Washington, 4 May 1949.

Dear Admiral: This is with reference to your request of 13 April 1949 for action on the recommendations contained in NSC 25/1 regarding the future of SANACC.

Although SANACC and its predecessor, SWNCC, have performed a useful and creditable service in the past, it is my opinion that there is no longer any justification to keep SANACC in existence. For a variety of reasons, including the development of the National Security Council and the removal of occupied area matters from SANACC’s jurisdiction, SANACC has been very inactive during recent months. The Committee itself has met only twice and has processed only ten papers in the last nine months. Matters pending on its agenda on 28 February 1949 have been under consideration for an average of over nine months and in single cases for a period of as long as twenty-three months. Practically no new questions have been placed before SANACC and a number of important ones have been or are being, taken over by other agencies.

For these reasons, I am disapproving NSC 25/1 and wish to recommend that a decision be taken immediately to dissolve SANACC as an independent entity. This decision should go into effect after a delay of sixty days, during which period the affairs of SANACC should be disposed of by their abolition or their transfer to the departments having primary responsibility for them or their transfer to other interdepartmental agencies such as the National Security Council. I recommend that responsibility for liquidation of SANACC be assumed by the National Security Council and assigned by it to a subcommittee comprising the Executive Secretary of the National Security Council and one representative each from the Secretary of State and the Secretary of Defense.³

Sincerely yours,

Louis Johnson

1. The memorandum of April 13, not printed, was directed to the Members of the Council, requesting that they indicate their agreement or disagreement with the recommendation contained in document NSC 25/1. See footnote 2, below.
2. NSC 25/1, a Report to the National Security Council by the State–Army–Navy–Air Force Coordinating Committee on the Interim Terms of Reference of SANACC, April 13, 1949, is not printed. The Committee recommended that its terms of reference be extended for a further period of six months from February 19, 1949. At its 18th Meeting, August 19, 1948, the Council had approved document NSC 25 which delineated terms of reference to govern the activities of SANACC for a six-month period. For text of NSC 25, August 12, 1948, see Foreign Relations, 1948, vol. i, Part 2, p. 605.
3. In a memorandum of May 25, not printed, Deputy Under Secretary of State Peurifoy advised Under Secretary Webb that he and Deputy Under Secretary Rusk agreed that SANACC had outlived its usefulness and should be dissolved (Department of State Administrative Files, 1949–1960: Lot 54D291). At its 41st Meeting, June 2, the National Security Council “Agreed to recommend to the President that the State–Army–Navy–Air Force Coordinating Committee be dissolved as of June 30, 1949 and that, in the interim, with the advice and assistance of a representative of the Secretary of Defense, SANACC conclude or transfer its affairs to other executive departments or agencies” (S/S–NSC Files: Lot 66D95: NSC Action No. 220). In a memorandum of June 3, not printed, Souers informed the Members of Council that President Truman had approved the recommendation (S/S–NSC Files: Lot 63D351: NSC 25 Series).