HISTORY OF SECTION 102(C) OF THE NATIONAL SECURITY ACT OF 1947

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00610R000100180002-6
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 3
• Document Creation Date: December 14, 2016
• Document Release Date: October 7, 2002
• Sequence Number: 2
• Publication Date: June 15, 1959
• Content Type: MF

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MCM:. em
15 June 1959
SUBJECT: History of Section 102(c) of the National Security Act
of 1947
1. In going over the background of the formation or the
Central Intellience Agency, I have come across some history of section
102(c).. The first rough draft of thx-~ proposed bill for the merger of the
armed forces, apparently drafted at the White House in January of 194t,
contained no provision for the discharging of personnel by the Director
of Central Intelligence in the Central Intelligence section of the bill.
However, in section 1+04 of thidraft bill, the Director of C-~titral
Intelligence, alon with the Secretary of National Defense, the Secretar,
of the Air Force, the Executive Secretary of the Council of Nsa.tional Defen .(-
and the Chairman of the National Security Resources Board, was giver
authority to "appoint and fix the compensation of such personnel as may of-t
necessar: to perform their respective duties. Such appointment shall be
made and such compensation shall be fixed in accordance with the provisinns
of the Civil Service laws and the Classification Act of 1923, as amended'
2. When the bill was forwarded to CIG for comment, it w-E+s not, d by
officials in CIG that section 1+04 of the proposed draft, would tend !;o 1 J tt
the powers of the Director to appoint personnel to exempted positions on
unvouchered funds and it was further noted that the Director would have
limited power to discharge employees for security reasons.',=f insequentl:-, on
23 January 1947, a memorandum was sent to Mr. Charles S. Murphy, Adminis-:rr::ive
Assistant to the President, transmittinT a proposed draft of th~3-yea a~ 1.
r
lf4"which included revisions i had been discussed with Mr. Murphy, aTrd-9reviwhich
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G. Copies of the proposed draft also were forwarded to
General Norstad and Admiral Sherman who, along with Mr. Murphy, composed
the National Defense Act drafting team. CIG's draft included--fit
many administrative details which were subsequently eliminated when re-
drafting the bill. However, section 102(d)(8) contained the following
language: "Notwithstanding the provisions of section 6 of the At of
August 24, 1912 (37 Stat. 555), or the provisions of any other law, this
Director of Central Intelligence may, in his absolute discretion, term note
the employment of any officer or employee of the Agency whenever he shall
deem such termination necessary or advisable in the interests of the United
States, but such termination shall not affect the right of such office:- or
employee to seek or accept employment in any other department or agenc,! of
the Government if declared eligible for such employment b: the United. state
ILLEGIB
Civil Service Commission."
ILLEGIB
of personnel and discharge employees for any question of possible _disl-.-_i,
discussed the discharging -me employees difficulties c
a{-~ e an estine methods in the absence of detailed legislation
empowering the Director to operate on unvouchered funds, select certain tvps
ILLEGIB
3. At +,-e meeting with Mr. Murphy, the Director, General Vandernbi-rg.,
.4
included in the proposed draft of the National Security Act bill which CIG
was to submit to the White House.
4. On 10 February 191+7, a confidential provision of the merger bill
was discussed' Mr. Murphy and an aide to Admiral Leahy, probably at
It was agreed at that meeting that provisions`
the White House, which would have allowed the Secretary of the Armed Force-,
the S cretary of the Air Force, the Executive Secretary of the National Sec Uri
Council, the Chairman of the National Security Resources Board and the
Director of the Central Intelligence Agency to "appoint and fix the ecrnpersation
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 of such personnel as may be necessary to perform their respective duties.
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and the functions of the agencies under their control". he CIG position
on this provision apparently was that CIG didn't care if this provision
was inserted or not.
5. A text of a proposed bill providing for a national defense
establishment was sent to the Congress on 26 February 191+7. -bi did
not include the section on termination of CIA employees as proposed n-
CIG on 23 Januarys
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