Evening star., 1947-01-17

Secretary of the Nary Forrestnl:
Dear Mr.. President:
8 On 81 May, 1946, we jointly sub
nlitted to you q letter which gave
our respective views on the major
elements involved in establishing a
greater measure of unification of
our armed forces.
In your letter Of June is, 1916,
you expressed qualification at the
progress made in narrowing the
zone of disagreement which had
previously existed between the serv-
ices and stated your position with
reference to the essential points on
which disagreement still existed. )
In our opinion the necessity for
agreement between the military
services Is now even greater than
at the time of our earlier letter. We
and our representatives have been
meeting in an effort to secure fur
ther resolution. within the scope
and the spirit of the statement Of
your position, of the views of the
two departments. We are pleased
to report success In this under
taking.
Joint Support on Following.
We agree to support legislation
in which the following points are
incorporated:
a. There shall be council of
national defense, a national secur-
ity resources board and central
intelligence agency (Which already
exists as agreed by the Secretary
of War and the Secretary of the
Navy in their letter to the Presi-
dent of 81 May, 1916.
b. The armed forces shall be Or
ganized under a secretary of ma
tional defense so as to place the
Army, the Navy Ito include the Ma
rine Corps and naval aviation>
and the air force, each with a mill
tary chief, under the departments
of the Army and Navy and the air
force, respectively. Each shall be
under a secretary and, under the
overall direction of the secretary
Of national defense, shall be ad-
ministered as an individual unit.
The secretary Of any of the three
departments may, at any time, pre-
sent to the President, after first
informing the secretary Of nation
al defense, any report or recon-
mendation relating to his depart
ment which he may deem neces-
sary or desirable.
c. A war council shall be created
consisting of the secretary of
national defense as chairman and
with power of decision, the Secre-
tary Of the Army, the Secretary of
the Navy and the Secretary of the
air force and the heads of the
three services. The war councI'
will concern itself with matters of
broad policy relating to the armed
forces.
d. There shall be a Joint Chiefs
of Staff consisting of the military
heads of the three services, and
also the Chief of Staff to the
President If that Office exists. Sub
ject to the authority and direction
Of the secretary of national de-
fense, the joint Chiefs of Staff
will provide for the strategic direc-
ton of the military forces of the
United States, will formulate
strategic plans, assign logistic re-
sponsibilties to the services in
support thereof, integrate the mill
tary requirements and, as directed,
advise in the integration Of the
military budget.
Full-Time Joint Staff.
e. There shall be full-time joint
staff to consist initially of not over.
100 officers to be provided in ap-
proximately equal numbers by the
three services. The joint staff,
operating under a director thereof,
shall carry out policies and drec-
tives of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
I. The secretary of national de-
fense shall head the armed forces
establishment, shall be vested with
authority, under the President, to
establish common policies and COM
mon programs for the integrated
operation of the three departments
and shall exercise control over and
direct their common efforts to dis
charge their responsibility for
national security.
We are agreed that the proper
method Of setting forth the func-
tions (so-called roles and missions)
of the armed forces is by the is
suance of an executive order con.
currently with your approval of
the appropriate legislation. We
attach for your consideration a
mutually agreed graft of such an
order.
Respectfully yours,
ROBERT P. PATTERSON,