Foreign Relations of the United States, 1950, Western Europe, Volume III

S/S–NSC Files: Lot 63 D 351: NSC 82 Series

Memorandum by the Ambassador at Large (Jessup) to the Executive Secretary, National Security Council (Lay)¹

top secret

Washington, October 9, 1950.

Subject: First Progress Report on NSC 82, “United States Position Regarding Strengthening the Defense of Europe and the Nature of Germany’s Contribution Thereto.”

NSC 82 was approved as governmental policy on September 11, 1950. It is requested that this progress report as of October 9, 1950, be circulated to the members of the National Security Council for their information.

The United States position based on NSC 82 was presented by Secretary Acheson at the fifth session of the North Atlantic Treaty Council in New York on September 15, 1950.²

The Council approved the concept of an integrated force for the defense of Western Europe based upon the principle, set forth in NSC 82, that it should be organized under the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and that it should be under a Supreme Commander who would be served by a combined international staff, headed by a Chief of Staff, drawn from nationals of all nations contributing to the force. It was also agreed that pending the appointment of a Supreme Commander, the Chief of Staff would be endowed with the necessary authority for the organization and training of the forces made available by the national governments.

The Council at the same time considered the question of the nature, extent, and timing of German participation in such an integrated force. Although a majority of the members were in general agreement with the principle that Germany should participate in the defense of Western Europe, providing that the West German Government so desired and that there were adequate safeguards to prevent a resurgence of German militarism, the French representative, on instructions from his Government, was unable to concur. Since in the view of many of the Ministers the proper and early solution of the problem of German participation was intimately connected with the successful implementation of the plan for an integrated force, the latter plan was not finalized by the Council.

The Council, accordingly, requested the Defense Committee in its forthcoming meeting on October 28 to make specific recommendations on the methods by which, from the technical point of view, Germany could make its most useful contribution to the successful implementation of the plans for the defense of Western Europe, bearing in mind the unanimous conclusion of the Council that it would not serve the best interests of Germany or Europe to bring into being a German national army or German general staff.

In order to explain the scope of the United States proposal more fully to the appropriate representatives of the French Government, the Secretary of State and the Security of Defense met with the French Foreign Minister and Minister of Defense in New York on September 22 and 23.³ The French representatives undertook to obtain further consideration of the problem by the French Government. In the meantime, representatives of the Departments of State and Defense are preparing a United States position for consideration by the Defense Ministers, based on NSC 82 and in the light of further information which will be forthcoming from the United States representatives in France and Germany.

Philip C. Jessup

1. This memorandum was circulated to the National Security Council on October 9, 1950, as National Security Council Progress Report by the Department of State on the implementation of United States Position Regarding Strengthening the Defense of Europe and the Nature of Germany’s Contribution Thereto (NSC 82).

   NSC 82, September 11, is the same as the joint communication of September 8 from the Secretary of State and the Secretary of Defense to President Truman, p. 273.

2. Regarding Secretary Acheson’s expression of United States policy at the fifth session of the NATO Council on September 15, see telegrams Secto 17, September 16, and Secto 22, September 17, pp. 308 and 316.
3. For a report on the conversations under reference here, see telegram Secto 42, September 23, from New York, p. 1394.