Foreign Relations of the United States, 1955–1957, Eastern Europe, Volume XXV

21. Letter From the Deputy Secretary of Defense (Anderson) to the President’s Special Assistant for National Security Affairs (Anderson)¹

Washington, July 12, 1955 .

Dear Dillon : I have reviewed with Admiral Radford the comments of USCINCEUR ² on the proposed establishment of a Volunteer Freedom Corps.

As a matter of record, the Joint Chiefs of Staff have considered the comments of USCINCEUR and have taken them into account in making their recommendations on the implementation of the program outlined in NSC 5523.³ This is set forth in their memorandum of 24 June 1955 to the Secretary of Defense.⁴

In view of the above, I perceive no objection to the consideration by the National Security Council at an early date of NSC 5523, which relates to the establishment of the Volunteer Freedom Corps. I would see no advantage in further OCB consideration of this matter.

In my opinion there are two policy questions which would make Council consideration of the entire study desirable. These are:

a. The question of whether we should ask the British opinion on this matter, or simply inform the British concerning our decision.

b. Whether in fact this considerably more limited proposal can be viewed as adequate implementation of NSC 143.⁵

The above reasons would seem to warrant presentation of the limited Volunteer Freedom Corps proposal submitted by OCB for early NSC consideration. The expressed wish of the President for the implementation of such a project would appear to add further reason for speedy consideration.⁶

Sincerely yours,

Bob

1. Source: Eisenhower Library, Project Clean Up. Top Secret.
2. The views of the U.S. Commander in Chief Europe were set forth in telegram EC 9–2833, DA IN 144659 to the Department of the Army, June 4. USCINCEUR considered that implementation of the Volunteer Freedom Corps at the time was “unwise” because the project 1) would drain non-German personnel of the Labor Service Organization, 2) would requre burdensome logistical support, installations, and training, and 3) from a political and psychological viewpoint, could be exploited by the Soviet bloc as evidence of internal subversion. (Department of State, S/P–NSC Files: Lot 61 D 167, Volunteer Freedom Corps)
3. NSC 5523, “Activation of a Volunteer Freedom Corps,” June 20, is identical to the text of the progress report on NSC 143/2, Document 26. NSC 5523 was circulated for NSC consideration, but was superseded by NSC acceptance of the recommendation in the progress report that NSC 143/2 be amended (rather than completely revised in the form of a new paper in the NSC 5523 series).
4. In this memorandum, the JCS reviewed NSC 5523 and stated that they “perceived no objective to having appropriate government agencies proceed with the courses of action recommended in part III of the report by the OCB of June 14”. (Department of State, S/P–NSC Files: Lot 61 D 167, Volunteer Freedom Corps)
5. For text of NSC 143, “Activation of a Volunteer Freedom Corps,” February 14, 1953, see Foreign Relations, 1952–1954, vol. VIII, p. 180.
6. Dillon Anderson responded to this letter in a letter to Robert Anderson of July 14, stating that while the Volunteer Freedom Corps activation proposal should be submitted to the NSC, it should be done in the form of a revised progress report. (Eisenhower Library, Project Clean Up)