345. Minutes of the 10th Meeting of the National Security Council0

PARTICIPANTS

  • Members Present
  • James V. Forrestal, Secretary of Defense, Presiding
  • Robert A. Lovett, Under Secretary of State
  • Kenneth C. Royall, Secretary of the Army
  • John L. Sullivan, Secretary of the Navy
  • W. Stuart Symington, Secretary of the Air Force
  • Arthur M. Hill, Chairman, National Security Resources Board
  • Others Present
  • Rear Admiral R. H. Hillenkoetter, Director of Central Intelligence
  • C. V. Whitney, Assistant Secretary of the Air Force
  • Secretariat
  • Sidney W. Souers, Executive Secretary
  • James S. Lay, Jr., Assistant Executive Secretary

DECISIONS

[Here follows a decision on the U.S. position with respect to support for Western Union and other related free countries.]

2. Protection of Intelligence Sources and Methods From Unauthorized Disclosures1

a.
Agreed that a National Security Council Directive should be issued on this subject.
b.
Directed the Executive Secretary to prepare such a Directive and submit it for approval by the Council.2

[Here follows a decision on review of the world situation as it relates to the security of the United States.]

  1. Source: Truman Library, Papers of Harry S. Truman, President’s Secretary’s Files, Subject File. Top Secret. The meeting was held in the Conference Room at the White House. Although the series of Presidential memoranda on the NSC meetings begins with the 9th meeting, no such memorandum was found for the 10th session.
  2. Paragraphs a–b constitute NSC Action No. 45. (National Archives and Records Administration, RG 273, Records of the National Security Council, Record of Actions, Box 55)
  3. The directive was not issued until January 1950 when the Council approved NSCID Nos. 11 and 12 (Documents 430 and 431).