Foreign Relations of the United States, 1969–1976, Volume XXXVIII, Part 2, Organization and Management of Foreign Policy; Public Diplomacy, 1973–1976

175. Memorandum From the President’s Assistant for Economic Affairs (Seidman) to President Ford¹

Washington, November 6, 1974.

SUBJECT

• Economic Policy Organization

On October 1, 1974 Executive Order 11808 established the President’s Economic Policy Board (EPB).² This memorandum outlines a set of general principles to guide economic policy making and a more detailed description of how the EPB and its Executive Committee will organize to fulfill these objectives. The guiding philosophy of this proposal is not to transfer departmental functions into the White House but to insure the maximum flow of information for effective policy making and implementation.

General Principles

Economic policy structure should:

(1) Provide the President with a full range of adequately researched options and recommendations.

(2) Eliminate overlap and duplication of policies to ensure consistency.

(3) Provide a focus for policy development, before options and recommendations reach the President.

(4) Provide a systematic pattern for implementing Presidential decisions on economic matters.

(5) Maintain flexibility to respond rapidly to changing conditions.

(6) Ensure that economic policy decision-making is coordinated with national security and domestic policy objectives.

(7) Coordinate and make decisions not requiring Presidential approval.

Organization

In order to achieve these objectives, the following organizational structure and responsibilities are recommended:

(1) The EPB and its Executive Committee will “provide advice to the President concerning all aspects of national and international economic policy, will oversee the formulation, coordination, and implementation of all economic policy of the United States, and will serve as the focal point for economic policy decision-making.” (Executive Order 11808).

(2) The Executive Director of the EPB will have responsibility for liaison with the staffs of the National Security Council, the Energy Resources Council, the Domestic Council, and with the White House senior staff.

(3) The Executive Director of the EPB will have responsibility for White House liaison with the President’s Labor-Management Committee, the National Commission on Supplies and Shortages, and the proposed National Commission on Regulatory Reform.

(4) A Domestic Economic Policy Staff Coordinator will have responsibility for policy guidance and EPB liaison with the Council on Wage and Price Stability, the Commission on Productivity, and the Committee on Fertilizer. He will also have responsibility for economic policy coordination among Executive departments, agencies, and other entities including: Department of the Treasury, Department of the Interior, Department of Agriculture, Department of Commerce, Department of Labor, Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, Department of Housing and Urban Development, Department of Transportation, Office of Management and Budget, Council of Economic Advisers, Federal Energy Administration, Federal Reserve Board, and Environmental Protection Agency.

(5) The Executive Director of the Council on International Economic Policy will serve as the International Economic Policy Staff Coordinator with responsibility for policy guidance and EPB liaison with the National Advisory Council on International Monetary and Fiscal Policies, the Development Coordination Committee, the East-West Trade Policy Committee, the Trade Expansion Act Advisory Committee, the Inter-Agency Committee on PL 480, and the Special Trade Representative. He will also have responsibility for economic policy coordination among Executive departments, agencies, and other entities including: Department of State, Department of the Treasury, Department of Defense, Department of the Interior, Department of Agriculture, Department of Commerce, Department of Transportation, Office of Management and Budget, Council of Economic Advisers, Federal Energy Administration, Export-Import Bank, Overseas Private Investment Corporation, and the Federal Reserve Board.

(6) Policy coordination by both the Domestic Economic Policy Staff Coordinator and the International Economic Policy Staff Coordinator will entail ensuring that departmental and agency recommendations and proposals are properly communicated to the EPB and the Executive Committee and that economic policy decisions are properly communicated to and implemented by departments and agencies.

(7) The Executive Committee of the EPB will meet daily to address economic policy issues.

(8) The Executive Committee of the EPB will meet with the President to present options papers, make recommendations, and discuss current economic developments.

(9) The Executive Committee of the EPB will report on its actions at Cabinet meetings as requested.

(10) The Executive Director of the Executive Committee will be responsible for supervising and directing the staff of the Executive Committee.

(11) The organization of the Economic Policy Board is shown at Tab A.³

(12) Proposed staffing for the Executive Committee and the Office of the Executive Director is at Tab B.⁴

1. Source: Ford Library, National Security Council, Institutional Files, Box 52, Relationship between NSC and Economic Policy Board. No classification marking. Attached to a memorandum from Hormats to Kissinger, November 11, which outlines the “essential features” of the Economic Policy Board.
2. See footnote 3, Document 172.
3. A chart is attached but not printed.
4. Not attached and not found.