REORGANIZATION PLAN NO. 4 OF 1949-TRANSFERRING THE NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL AND THE NATIONAL SECURITY RESOURCES BOARD

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP57-00384R000100050002-6
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 6
• Document Creation Date: November 17, 2016
• Document Release Date: May 5, 2000
• Sequence Number: 2
• Publication Date: June 2, 1949
• Content Type: REPORT

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81ST CONGRESS SENATE REPORT
1st Session j No. 838
REORGANIZATION PLAN NO. 4 OF 1949-TRANSFERRING
THE NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL AND THE NA-
TIONAL SECURITY RESOURCES BOARD
AUGUST 4 (legislative day, JUNE 2), 1949.-Ordered to be printed
Mr. MCCLELLAN, from the Committee on Expenditures in the Execu-
tive Departments, submitted the following
REPORT
by low.
On June 20, 1949, the President of the United States transmitted
to the Congress Reorganization Plan No. 4 of 1949, prepared in accord-
ance with the provisions of the Reorganization Act of 1949. While
not required to do so under the provisions of the Reorganization -Act
of 1949, this committee is reporting the plan favorably in order that
the record may be clear and the Senate may be cognizant of the
inspection and consideration of the plan by the committee, as required
Reorganization Plan No. 4 of 1949 transfers the National Security
Council (NSC) and National Security Resources Board (NSRB) to
the Executive Office of the President, in line with recommendations
of the Commission on Organization of the Executive Branch of the
Government. An accompanying press release emphasizes the need of
well-coordinated staff facilities to help the President to provide effec-
tive administration.. Ten years back, several staff agencies were
grouped into an. Executive Office of the President (EOP). The greatly
improved staff assistance thereby supplied to the President prompts
this proposal to expand EOP to include the NSC and NSRB.
The President's message transmitting plan No. 4, states that these
two agencies-
assist the President in developing plans and policies which extend beyond the
responsibility of any single department of the Government (since) their work
needs to be coordinated to the fullest degree with that of other staff arms of the
President, such as the Bureau of the Budget and the. Council of Economic Ad-
visers, it is highly desirable that they be incorporated in the Executive Office of
the President. The importance of this transfer was recognized by the Commission
on Organization of the Executive Branch of the Government, which specifically
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REORGANIZATION PLAN NO. 4 OF ' 1949
recommended such a change as one of the essential steps in strengthening the
staff facilities of the President and improving the over-all management of the
executive branch.
NSC.-The NSC must by statute appraise United States "objec-
tives, commitments, and risks in relation to actual and potential
military power (consider), policies on matters of common interest to
(agencies) concerned with the national security," and make recom-
mendations thereon. It is an advisory bod to the President and
not one of the various agencies within the National Military Estab-
lishment.
The President as chairman controls NSC business, making his
desires known through the executive secretary who is appointed by
the President without Senate confirmation, and who acts as the
President's staff assistant for national security matters. The President
is briefed daily by the executive secretary on the development of NSC
affairs. He uses the executive secretary on national security matters
which require the coordination of efforts of various departments.
NSC studies may be submitted for advice and comment to the
Bureau of the Budget, the Council of Economic Advisers, and other
Presidential assistants, either during preparation or after submission
as the President may prefer.
A special memorandum prepared by the executive branch in support
of the proposed reorganization plan concludes that---
rM
the Council function of advising the President indicates the desirability of its
official recognition as a strictly Presidential staff organization, a high-policy
planning arm of the President. It pulls together the factors involved in a national
security problem and presents to the office an integrated proposal for a United
States policy. This requires the coordination of Cabinet members and other
high Government officials which can and should be done only by the President
or in his name * * *
The NSC and its staff (31 individuals, half of whom are detailed
from departments and agencies, and half are permanent career
employees; current budget of $200,000) are now housed in the Old
State Department Building together with the Executive Office of the
President. The Council meets regularly in the conference room of the
White House. -Aft
NSRB.-NSRB mobilization planning requires (a) identification
of the measures needed to mobilize the Nation's human, natural,
financial, and productive resources to meet wartime needs, and
(b) "readiness planning" to ascertain the present steps, such as stock
piling and selective service, which will assure that national resources
will not be inadequate in critical areas in the event of war. For such
purposes the NSRB in its brief history has advised the President on
such vital security issues as the stock piling of strategic and critical
materials, domestic rubber production policies, relocation of Gov-
ernment and industry, and the impact of security plans on the Nation's
resources.
To meet statutory requirements, the NSRB cooperates closely
with other Presidential staff agencies. Thus it works with the
Bureau of the Budget to apply the "readiness measures" quoted
above, and to place mobilization planning for war upon peacetime
considerations. Likewise, it must cooperate closely with the Council
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of Economic Advisers to evolve those readiness measures which do
not cause undue stresses and strains on the peacetime economy.
With relation to the NSC, it injects into the work of that body
evaluations of national security resources, and policies of economic
mobilization. Outside the staff agencies of the President, the NSRB
must also assume leadership in coordinating and stimulating various
executive agencies to undertake readiness measures.
The portion of this report devoted to the Executive Office of the
President discusses the Presidential practice of many years of setting
up interdepartmental Cabinet committees to advise on foreign and
domestic aspects of important problems. Two of the most con-
spicuous of these committees have been NSC and NSRB, which were
made advisory agencies to the President by the National Security
Act of 1947. They are located in the same building with the present
members of the President's office, and to all intents and purposes are
part of that agency. Recommendation No. 7 of this Hoover report
reads as follows:
The National Security Council and the National Security Resources Board,
with their respective staffs, should be made, formally as well as in practice, a part
of the President's office.
In support of this recommendation, the Chairman of the Com-
mission on Organization of the Executive Branch of the Government
testified at a hearing by this committee on June 30, 1949, that the
seven reorganization plans of 1949 "are all steps on the. road to better
organization of the administrative branch * * *." With specific
reference to plan No. 4 he indicated that it-
conforms to the Commission's recommendations and accomplishes the Com-
mission's major purpose. Again, in this case some legislation is probably required
to effect the Commission's further recommendations which included the elimina-
tion of statutory membership on these two councils.
Subsequently, Senator Smith asked about NSC formulating security
policies, whereas NSRB works out administrative and other aspects of
these policies, and whether the latter might not be eliminated to relieve
the President. While Mr. Hoover agreed on the distinction made, he
emphasized that-
these are practically Cabinet committees and I do not think they add to his
burdens. (We recommended the creation of a special Secretary in the President's
office who would coordinate the work of these different committees and see they
carry on this work.)
The NSC has been attacked on the ground that its dominant?mili-
tary membership has taken over from the State Department, impor-
tant phases of the control of the American foreign policy. The task
force report finds this to be a potential rather than immediate danger.
It emphasizes that an informed determination of what should be done
in Germany and Korea, for example, must reflect the advice of both
the military and State Departments.
NSC has only 11 full-time staff personnel, 3 officers and 8 clerical.
It draws upon the existing departments for reports which are then
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4 REORGANIZATION PLAN NO. 4 OF 1949
broadly circulated for policy discussion and determination. It also
directs the Central Intelligence Agency which coordinates intelligence
activities.
NSRB is quite different. By last September it was employing 200
full-time staff, and 95 consultants and w. o. c. employees. The task
force report finds that NSRB has been somewhat isolated from the
rest of the executive branch, and that it "has not been able to fulfill
its role" of advising the President on mobilization problems.
DEVELOPMENT OF EXECUTIVE OFFICE OF PRESIDENT
Creation.-The present organization of the Executive Office of the
President sterns from the comprehensive 1937 Brownlow-Merriam-
Gulick report. The President set up this Committee on Adminis-
trative Management to suggest "a comprehensive and balanced pro-
gram for dealing with the overhead organization and management of
the executive branch as it is established under the Constitution."
The report of the committee states:
The White House staff: In this broad program of administrative reorganiza-
tion the White House itself is involved. The President needs help. His imme-
diate staff assistance is entirely inadequate. He should be given a small num-
ber of executive assistants who would be his direct aides in dealing with the
managerial agencies and administrative departments of the Government. These
assistants, probably not exceeding six in number, would be in addition to his
present secretaries, who deal with the public, with the Congress, and with the
press and the radio. * * *
This recommendation arises from the growing complexity and magnitude of
the work of the President's office. Special assistance is needed to insure that all
matters coming to the attention of the President have been examined from the
over-all managerial point of view, as well as from all standpoints that would bear
on policy and operation * * *
The three managerial agencies, the Civil Service Administration, the Bureau
of the Budget, and the National Resources Board should be part and parcel of
the Executive Office. Thus the President would have reporting to him directly
the three managerial institutions whose work and activities would affect all of
the administrative departments (pp. 5-6).
Planning management: In addition to the means already indicated as desirable
for fiscal and personnel management it is essential that machinery for over-all
planning management be provided for the use of the Executive * * *.
To help manage many scattered and important agencies: It is recommended
that a permanent National Resources Board be set up to replace the present
temporary committee created by Executive order. This committee was first
set up by the Public Works Administrator in 1933, and later was established by
Executive order as the National Resources Board. It was then directed "to
prepare and present to the President a program and plan of procedure dealing
with the physical, social, governmental, and economic aspects of public policies
for the development and use of land, water, and other national resources, and
such related subjects as may from time to time be referred to it by the Presi-
dent" (p. 27).
The first function of such an agency is to serve as a clearinghouse of planning
interests and concerns in the national effort to prevent waste and improve our
national living standards. Another is to cooperate with departmental, State, and
local agencies * * *.
. Another function is that of collecting and analyzing data relating to our national
resources, both human and physical, and of shaping up advisory plans for the
better use of those resources * * * Unless some overhead central agency
takes an over-all view from time to time, analyzes facts, and suggests plans to
insure the preservation of the equilibrium upon which our American democracy
rests, there is danger that it will be badly upset * * * (pp. 27-28).
AMA
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REORGANIZATION PLAN NO. 4 OF 1949
SUBSEQUENT. AND PROPOSED DEVELOPMENTS IN PRESIDENT'S OFFICE
By 1939 statute the National Resources Planning Board (NRPB)
was established in the Executive. Office. Under Reorganization Plan
No. 1 of 1939 there was merged with that Board the functions and
personnel of the National Resources Committee and the Federal
Employment Stabilization Office in the Department of Commerce.
After various intervening changes an act of 1943 abolished the NRPB.
Under Reorganization Plan No. 1 of 1939, the Bureau of the Budget
was also transferred from the Treasury to the Executive Office of the
President where it has expanded markedly in personnel and work.
To bring conformance with other changes in nomenclature, the
Hoover Commission now recommends that this agency become the
Office of the Budget in the President's office.
In 1939, also, one of the administrative assistants to the President
was assigned as liaison officer of personnel management' to assist in
the preparation of legislation dealing with personnel, and to maintain
close contact with the departments and agencies on their personnel-
management policies. Presumably that assignment will be modified,
if, as the Hoover Commission. recommends, the President's office is
expanded by an Office of Personnel, the director of which is to be the
Chairman of the Civil Service Commission.
In 1946 the Council of Economic Advisers was created by statute to
study and report on national economic developments and trends.
The Council consists of three members appointed by the President
with the consent of the Senate. Hoover Commission Report No. 1
on General Management proposes that the Council be now replaced
by a single-headed Office of the Economic Adviser.
In 1.947, the National Security Act created both the National
Security Council and the National Security Resources Board. As
indicated. above, the Hoover Commission recommends that they
become "formally, as well as in practice, a part of the President's
office."
The following comparison covers the numerous changes in the
Executive Office recommended in Hoover Commission reports:
MAKE-UP OF THE EXISTING EXECUTIVE PROPOSED PRESIDENT'S OFFICE ON BASIS
OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT OF HOOVER REPORTS
1. The White House office, including
administrative assistants.
2. Council of Economic Advisors.
3. Bureau of the Budget.
4. Liaison Office for Personnel Manage-
ment (an administrative assistant).
1. The White House office, including
administrative assistants, and staff
secretary to "facilitate teamwork"
with interdepartmental commit-
tees, etc.
2. Office of the Economic Adviser.
3. Office of the Budget.
4. Office of Personnel.
5. National Security Council, including
Central Intelligence Agency.
6. National Security Resources Board.
7. Board of Impartial Analysis for
Engineering and Architectural
projects.
S. Office of General Services.
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Instead of simply adding new agencies to the President's office,.
there should be a general policy to govern its best internal organiza-
tion. Such a policy might prescribe primary agencies to control broad
areas of personnel, finance, planning, and housekeeping, all activities,
then to be grouped under those three categories.
S. 942, the proposed General Executive Management Act, 1949,,
specifically includes the National Security Council and the National.
Security Resources Board as constituent units of the Executive Office
of the President. It also establishes an executive secretary of the
Council, and a Chairman of the Board who is to be appointed by the
President alone; both of these officials are to have their salaries
specified in this statute. This general bill has not been reported by
the Committee on Expenditures in the Executive Departments
pending legislative developments in related fields.
S. 1843, to amend the National Security Act of 1947, among its
proposals for unification of the military forces, provides the substan-
tive legislation which is required to change the statutory membership
of the NSC. As proposed in the President's message to the Congress
on March 5, 1949, S. 1843 would make the Secretary of Defense the
sole representative of the National Military Establishment on the
NSC. The bill provides for the addition of the Vice President as a
member, along with such other officials of the Executive branch as
the President, by and with the consent of the Senate, may appoint
from time to time to serve at his pleasure. The bill is now in final
process of enactment.
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