Foreign Relations of the United States, 1952–1954, National Security Affairs, Volume II, Part 1

PPS files, lot 64 D 563, “Chronological, 1953”

Memorandum by the Director of the Policy Planning Staff (Bowie) to the Secretary of State ¹

top secret

[ Washington ,] June 8, 1953.

1. NSC 153² is the Planning Board’s attempt to summarize, or restate, that basic national security policy which was contained in three NSC papers approved by the previous Administration (NSC 20/4, 68/2 and 135/3) as it has been modified by NSC 149/2 (“Basic National Security Policies and Programs in Relation to Their Costs”), approved on April 29 of this year.³

2. Whereas the emphasis of the first three papers was centered around the direct threat to our national security posed by the Soviet Union, NSC 149/2 placed greater emphasis on the threats to our economy of a long-sustained cold war and the necessity of balancing Federal expenditures with Federal income. The paper you have before you, NSC 153, is, therefore, a summary in that it sets forth policies previously contained in four separate papers; it is a “restatement” in that it attempts to synthesize policies relating to an external threat on the one hand and an internal threat on the other. This paper is not the result of a restudy, or review, of basic policy by the Planning Board.

3. The paper is divided into three sections: General Considerations, General Objectives, and Courses of Action. It is in the first section that the attempt to synthesize past policy and NSC 149/2 is most evident, particularly paragraph 1 and those sentences of paragraph 4 at the top of page 4. Therein it is stated that we must continue to give primary emphasis to the threat of Soviet power and at the same time recognize that increased emphasis on sound fiscal policy may involve assuming increased risks in relation to this threat.

4. Under “General Objectives” the most important paragraph for Council consideration is 8e on page 6. This reads: “To prevent further expansion of Soviet bloc power, even at the grave risk of general war.” We inserted a footnote to this paragraph on the same page as a means of insuring discussion of the issues involved. That footnote adequately explains the question.

5. The Courses of Action are a detailed spelling out of the general objectives. They are perhaps too detailed but appear to present no real difficulty.

6. The Annex, “U.S. Objectives vis-à-vis the USSR in the Event of War”,⁴ is lifted verbatim from NSC 20/4, which was approved in November 1948. This section was added to this paper at the request of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Their war plans are based on these objectives; and numerous attempts have failed to date to produce more generally satisfactory war objectives.

7. In approving the paper, I recommend that you make clear that you are doing so in the knowledge that it represents simply a summary, or “restatement” of existing policies.

Robert R. Bowie

1. Drafted by Bowie and Harry H. Schwartz.
2. Not printed; a copy of NSC 153, “Restatement of Basic National Security Policy,” June 1, 1953, is in PPS files, lot 64 D 563, “Review of Basic National Policy.” For text of NSC 153/1, June 10, see p. 378.
3. For text of NSC 149/2, Apr. 29, see p. 305.
4. For text of the Annex to NSC 153/1, see p. 386.