840.18/10–2251
Memorandum by the Assistant Chief of the Policy Reports Staff ( Barnes )
Mr. Webb phoned Mr. Bissell of ECA this evening to follow up on his conversation of October 101 with respect to the item of $10 million in the Mutual Security Act of 1951 earmarked for the emigration of surplus migrants from Europe. He told Mr. Bissell that we were most anxious to move forward on this problem, that Mr. Warren was currently in Europe negotiating with other governments on this question, and that we would like to have a final indication from Mr. Bissell that we would be able to utilize the $10 million for this purpose.
Mr. Bissell expressed the view that it was still his obligation to review any program or operation that was set up in this connection before the money was actually authorized. He said that while Senator McCarran had made quite clear the Committee’s interest in moving forward on this, Senator McCarran had also requested him to check on the kind of organization which the State Department set up in connection with this problem. Mr. Webb said he realized that Mr. Bissell had to satisfy himself with reference to the actual expenditure of the money under this program but he also had to realize that we would have to have some relatively definite assurance that we could go ahead with international negotiation in order for it to be possible for us to develop any program at all.
Mr. Bissell further felt that he should have a letter formally requesting the $10 million and presenting as detailed a justification as possible much in the same way that he would make it for the Bureau of the Budget. Mr. Webb agreed that we would do this but pointed out that we could not wait on an exchange of formal letters before taking action. Mr. Webb and Mr. Bissell thereupon agreed [Page 190] that Mr. Webb could send a telegram to Mr. Warren2 indicating that this money was available for use subject to the understanding that we would have to get final approval from ECA on the details of any program we undertook. Mr. Webb summarized the discussion by saying that he and Mr. Bissell agreed that our common objective was to use this money for the migration problem and that while we would have to justify the way in which we spent the money we would also have to justify not spending the money on the purpose for which it was earmarked.