Office of the Historian

S/S–NSC Files: Lot 63D351: NSC 68 Series

The President to the Secretary of State

personal and confidential
Washington, July 19, 1950.

Dear Mr. Secretary: I have been considering the steps which are now necessary to make the National Security Council of maximum value in advising me as to the major policies required in the interest of our national security as a result of the present international situation. It is my desire that all such policies should be recommended to me through the Council in order that I may readily have the benefit of the collective views of the officials of the Government primarily concerned with the national security. This result can be achieved only if there are frequent Council meetings at which the responsible officials may freely discuss specific recommendations on which there has previously been coordinated staff work.

Attendance at recent meetings of the Council has been so large that I feel it has discouraged free discussion. I therefore direct that the Council meet regularly every Thursday with the Secretary of State presiding in my absence and additional attendance confined to the Secretary of the Treasury, Mr. Harriman, Mr. Souers, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the Director of Central Intelligence, and the Executive Secretary of the Council. Participation by other officials will be only with my specific approval.

To be effective these meetings should be preceded by carefully coordinated staff work by the best qualified individuals who can be made available for this task. I would therefore like the Secretary of State, the Secretary of Defense, the Chairman of the National Security Resources Board, the Secretary of the Treasury, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the Director of Central Intelligence, each to nominate for my consideration one individual to be a member of a senior NSC staff group which will be designated by me as Chairman of the Council and which will be headed by the Executive Secretary of the Council.1

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I am confident that with your wholehearted cooperation these arrangements will make the National Security Council of even greater effectiveness in the future than it has been in the past.

Very sincerely yours,

Harry Truman

  1. Action No. 332, taken by the National Security Council at its 63rd Meeting, August 3, read as follows:

    “[The Council] Noted the President’s designation of the following officials as members of a senior NSC staff group, to be headed by the Executive Secretary:

    Philip C. Jessup, nominated by the Secretary of State

    Thomas K. Finletter, nominated by the Secretary of Defense

    Robert J. Smith, nominated by the Chairman of the National Security Resources Board

    William McChesney Martin, Jr., nominated by the Secretary of the Treasury

    Rear Admiral E. T. Wooldridge, nominated by the Joint Chiefs of Staff

    Rear Admiral Roscoe H. Hillenkoetter, Director of Central Intelligence” (S/S–NSC Files: Lot 66D95: NSC Actions)

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