No. 220
Editorial Note
A May 12 memorandum by James S. Lay, Jr., to the National Security Council noted that in response to a request from the Operations Coordinating Board the President had on that day designated it as the coordinating agency for NSC 155/1, the current NSC policy on the Near East. (S/S–NSC files, lot 63 D 351, “NSC 155 Memoranda)” A May 18 paper by the Operations Coordinating Board, entitled “Terms of Reference for Working Group on Coordination of NSC 155/1 (Near East)”, stated that a working group had been formed to assist the Board in its task. The chairman of the working group was to come from the Department of State. Other members of the group, besides the OCB staff, would be representatives of the Department of State, Department of Defense, Foreign Operations Administration, Central Intelligence Agency, United States Information Agency, and other agencies when appropriate, as determined by the Executive Officer. The first consolidated report, covering the period through June 30, 1954, was to be submitted to the Executive Officer of the Operations Coordinating Board on July 1, with subsequent reports due at least every 6 months after. (OCB files, lot 62 D 430, “Near East, 1954–5”)
On July 2, a draft Progress Report on NSC 155/1, dated July 1, was submitted by Parker T. Hart, Chairman of the Operations Coordinating Board Working Group on NSC 155/1, to the Executive Officer. A July 7 memorandum by Elmer B. Staats, the Executive Officer, to the National Security Council Board Assistants, transmitted the July 1 Progress Report for consideraton by them at a July 16 meeting. Another draft Progress Report, dated July 16, contained some changes from the July 1 Report, but there was no notation on the document to indicate whether the changes were made as a result of the July 16 Planning Board meeting or not. (OCB files, lot 62 D 430, “Near East, 1954–5”)
The final copy of the Progress Report, dated July 29, is printed infra.