Policy Planning Staff Files
Memorandum by the Deputy Under Secretary of State for Administration (Peurifoy)1
Subject: Politico-Military Liaison
With the completion of the organization within the Department for high-level politico-military liaison,2 it is now possible to provide a [Page 410] clarification of the respective responsibilites of Mr. Rusk, Mr. Sheppard, and Mr. Bishop.
Before describing these politico-military duties, I should like to point out that the Under Secretary wishes it to be clearly understood that liaison between the State Department and the Defense Department should be conducted at all levels and by all offices charged with politico-military responsibilities. Moreover, the Department and its officers should make every effort to cultivate friendly and cooperative relations with the Defense Department on an informal as well as formal basis. Formalized procedures and organizational arrangements will never be as effective in creating an atmosphere of mutual trust and confidence as will simpler, less inhibited, and more personal efforts.
Nothing that follows in this memorandum should be construed to place limitations upon the responsibilities of Assistant Secretaries and their subordinates in conducting liaison with the Defense Department on matters within their functional areas. Rather it should be emphasized that primary responsibilities for liaison with the Defense Department on, say, NAT matters lies with EUR; on MAP matters with S/MDA; etc. In short, the basic State–Defense liaison channel is between the Department’s action office and the Defense Department. Other liaison arrangements exist to assist and to supplement the action offices and to handle matters on which action cannot be confined to one office.
Office of the Deputy Under Secretary (substantive)
- a.
- In addition to his other duties, Mr. Dean Rusk, Deputy Under Secretary, has been designated the Department’s NSC consultant. He has also been delegated responsibility for State–Defense relationships on important matters of broad policy requiring high-level consultations and for maintaining these relationships on a sound and cooperative basis.
- b.
- Mr. Rusk will be provided a special assistant who will assist him in the fulfillment of his politico-military responsibilities.
- c.
- Mr. Max Bishop has been designated the Department’s representative on the NSC Staff in which capacity he acts as coordinator of the NSC Staff. He also is the Department’s NSC Staff member and is responsible for coordinating within the Department NSC papers at the Staff level. In addition to his NSC Staff member function, he assists Mr. Rusk in the discharge of the latter’s NSC function.
Special Assistant to the Secretary
- a.
-
Mr. William Sheppard, Special Assistant to the Secretary, is responsible for continuing review of the coordination and participation of the Department in the U.S. national security organization, including the NSC, CIA, the NSRB, the Defense Department and its components, and for recommending action to improve the Department’s coordination and participation in this field. In this capacity, Mr. Sheppard is available to help in any relationships with these agencies which present special problems, or which have become chronically difficult. [Page 411] He will also make special studies relating to these functions for the Secretary and Under Secretary.
In order to provide him access to the flow of communications relating to the national security organization, Mr. Sheppard serves as a member of the executive Secretariat, particularly on matters affecting S/P and R within the Department and the agencies outside the Department listed above.
The Under Secretary has approved this memorandum.