Office of the Historian

58. CIEP Decision Memorandum No. 21

Washington, April 5, 1971.

MEMORANDUM FOR

  • The Secretary of State
  • The Secretary of Treasury
  • The Administrator, Agency for International Development
  • The Director, Office of Management and Budget

SUBJECT

  • Coordination of Bilateral Development Assistance Agencies

The President has carefully considered the issue of how we might best coordinate the bilateral development assistance agencies which we will propose to the Congress in the new aid legislation as raised in the memorandum of the Secretary of State, dated March 5, 1971,2 both to assure efficient operation and adequate accountability to the Congress.

In view of the previous decision to establish three separate, independent agencies,3 the President has decided that coordination can best be assured by his appointing a coordinator, responsible to him, for U.S. development assistance, who would be Chairman of the Board of the proposed International Development Corporation, the proposed International Development Institute, and the existing Overseas Private Investment Corporation. In the latter case, he would assume the responsibility which is now discharged by the Administrator, A.I.D.

To assure effective operational coordination he will chair, in addition to his other duties as Chairman of the three boards, an Executive Committee consisting of the Presidents of these three organizations.

While it is desirable to avoid duplication of service functions between these three agencies, providing the coordinator a large number of central functions may undermine the functional specialization of these agencies. The common service functions, therefore, will be kept to the minimum feasible.

Peter G. Peterson
  1. Source: National Archives, RG 59, S/S Files: Lot 82 D 126, Box 5197, CIEP Decision Memoranda. Confidential. Copies were sent to the Secretaries of Agriculture, Commerce, and Labor; the CEA Chairman; the President’s Assistant for National Security Affairs; the Executive Director of the Domestic Council, and the Special Trade Representative.↩
  2. See footnote 8, Document 51.↩
  3. See Document 136.↩