Foreign Relations of the United States, 1958–1960, Foreign Economic Policy, Volume IV

242. Memorandum From Acting Secretary of State Dillon to President Eisenhower⁰

June 8, 1959.

SUBJECT

• Draper Committee Second Interim Report¹

I have received the second interim report of the Draper Committee dealing with the organization and administration of the Military Assistance Program and submit the following preliminary comments both in my capacity as Acting Secretary of State and as Coordinator of the Mutual Security Program.

As indicated in our earlier discussions of this subject, I fully support the two basic concepts recommended by the Committee: (1) the strengthening of the Secretary of State’s position in the foreign policy direction and coordination of this program and (2) the focusing of responsibility on the Department of Defense for the program’s administration and execution.

We have previously accepted your decisions regarding (1) the transfer of the military assistance funds to the Department of Defense budget and the continuing authorization of such funds and (2) corresponding clarification of the responsibilities of the Secretary of State for foreign policy direction and program, as transmitted last week to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in the form of an Executive Branch position.² These are the only aspects of the report on which immediate action was required. The other parts on which executive action is recommended are separable from these legislative actions and do not in my opinion require immediate decisions.

I find in any event that in several important respects the Committee’s detailed recommendations which have just been received³ appear to contradict the two basic concepts set out in the second paragraph above. They would seem, however, to fragment and diffuse even further the lines of executive responsibility for the coordination of this program and would in effect place back upon you the responsibility for day-to-day coordination, which has been recently delegated to me. I feel this to be contrary to the general principles of executive organization you and your Advisory Committee on Government Organization have indicated you wish to see followed. I believe accordingly that the Draper Committee’s detailed recommendations should be thoroughly examined and analyzed in the light of the action taken by Congress on the current legislative recommendations before any conclusions are reached. As Coordinator of the Mutual Security Program, I have directed that such a study be prepared and we will submit to you at a later date the Executive Branch analysis and recommendations.

In the meanwhile, I recommend that the Committee’s detailed report be withheld from publication until such time as the study referred to above can be completed and final Executive Branch positions are reached. I have no objection to publication of the summary letter of transmittal.

Douglas Dillon⁴

0. Source: Department of State, Central Files, 700.5–MSP/6–859. Confidential. Drafted by Wilson and concurred in by John O. Bell and in draft by Graham A. Martin.
1. H. Doc. 186, 86th Congress, 1st Session, “The Organization and Administration of the Military Assistance Program.” For text of the Committee’s June 3 transmittal letter, see American Foreign Policy: Current Documents, 1959, pp. 1581–1584.
2. Neither found.
3. The Committee did not approve the report until June 5, but dated it June 3 to conform to the date of the transmittal letter, which had already been delivered to the President. On June 5, the Committee also authorized its Secretary to deliver the report to the White House the following day. (Minutes of the Eleventh Meeting of the President’s Committee; Eisenhower Library, Draper Committee Records)
4. Printed from a copy that bears this stamped signature.