Foreign Relations of the United States, 1958–1960, Volume III, National Security Policy; Arms Control and Disarmament, Microfiche Supplement

125. Questions and Answers Drafted in JCS¹

Washington, January 7, 1959

Q. To what extent did the JCS as a corporate body participate in the formulation of the FY 60 budget?

A. (C) The JCS approved on 3 Jan 58 a Joint Strategic Objectives Plan (JSOP 61), which had been prepared in accordance with personnel guidelines furnished by the Secretary of Defense and budgetary guidelines adopted by the JCS. The Joint Program for Planning states, as one of the purposes of the JSOP:

“e. Provide one of the bases for:

“(1) The annual statement by the Joint Chiefs of Staff of military requirements to the Secretary of Defense for his consideration in developing his annual budgetary guidelines for a fiscal year² beginning two years subsequent to the scheduled date of approval.

“(2) The preparation and justification of the annual departmental budget requests for the same fiscal year as in (1) above, in conjunction with the Secretary of Defense’s annual budgetary guidelines.”

(C) The Deputy Secretary of Defense subsequently approved this JSOP for use by the DOD as a common point of reference for strategic and mobilization planning, subject to certain additional guidance which, included a statement that the JSOP would not be used as automatic justification of personnel, procurement, installation, or budget programs.

(C) DOD later issued directives to the individual services containing guidance on materiel requirements programs, and FY 60 strength for the active services, the National Guard, and the Reserves. There resulted a series of meetings in which each service discussed its budget with the Secretary of Defense and after which service budget ceilings were established. The services then submitted their individual budgets based on these ceilings to the Secretary of Defense for consolidation into a single Defense budget.

(C) On 5 Dec 58 this Defense budget was presented to the JCS who advised³ the Secretary of Defense that the Defense budget level is adequate to provide for the essential programs necessary for the defense of the nation but the JCS all have reservations with respect to funding some segments of their respective service programs.

(C) As reflected above, the JCS participation in budget formulation was minimal. The JSOP and JCS deliberations on individual weapons, plans, procedures and strategic and organizational concept undoubtedly have an influence on the budget, but since budget submissions are made directly by the services to the DOD and not through the JCS, the JCS as a corporate body were not directly involved in the formulation of the FY 60 budget; they merely commented on the overall Defense budget after it was completed.

Q. What is the position of the Joint Chiefs of Staff as to the military sufficiency of this budget?

A. (C) On 5 Dec 58 the DOD budget for FY 60 was presented to the JCS who sent the following comment to the Secretary of Defense:

“The Joint Chiefs of Staff consider that the FY 1960 proposed expenditure figure of $41,165,000,000 is adequate to provide for the essential programs necessary for the defense of the nation for the period under consideration. They find no serious gaps in the key elements of the budget in its present form, but all have reservations with respect to the funding of some segments of their respective service programs.”

1. Source: JCS role in Department of Defense budget formulation. Confidential. 3 pp. Eisenhower Library, White House Office Files, Project Clean Up.
2. For JSOP 61 the pertinent fiscal year is FY 60. [Footnote is in the original.]
3. JCS Memo for Sec/Def “JCS Position on the FY 60 Budget” dated 6 Dec 58, quoted in answer to next question. [Footnote is in the original.]