Editorial Note
On November 7 James S. Lay, Jr. submitted to the National Security Council a three-volume study entitled “Current Policies of the Government of the United States of America Relating to National Security”. In a covering memorandum, Lay wrote that “These volumes have been assembled for the information of the President and the President-elect in order to present briefly the current policies of the United States relating to the national security as approved by the President upon the advice of or acting with the National Security Council.”
Volume I was entitled Geographical Area Policies; Volume II, Functional Policies; Volume III, Organizational Policies. In Volume I, each section normally contained three parts for each geographic area, a Central Intelligence Agency intelligence estimate, a current statement of policy, and a summary of principal developments in the implementation of policy, prepared by the responsible departments or agencies in each case. Volumes II and III contained only the second and third parts for each section. Texts of policy decisions were taken, with minor editorial changes, from official Council reports and memoranda. The source of each policy statement, the date on which each report or memorandum was approved, and the security classification of each policy, was indicated under the policy titles.
In conclusion, Lay noted that all statements on policy implementation had been formally coordinated “at the working level within and between the departments and agencies responsible for their implementation, but they cannot be considered as cleared, formal, or complete statements.” The three-volume study is in the Truman Library, Truman papers, PSF–Subject file.