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Coordination of American Security Policy at the United Nations
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 22 May 2009
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The articles of the United Nations Charter providing for the establishment of a Military Staff Committee and looking forward to provision for armed forces, assistance and facilities by Members introduced for many states new and perplexing problems in their relations to international organization. While it is true that military considerations are normally one of the factors influencing the formulation of the foreign policy of every state, never before has there existed one central international organization to which it was expected that all major political problems would be submitted, regardless of origin and regardless of the geographical area concerned. Coordination of military policy with political representation under these circumstances becomes, therefore, not a matter of the occasional conference at a given moment of international tension, but, instead, requires a day-to-day ìntegration in order to achieve both consistency and effectiveness.
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- Copyright © The IO Foundation 1948
References
l The Joint Chiefs of Staff were established by direction of the President, given orally, on February 6, 1942. No written executive order on the matter was ever issued. However, a War Department press release of that date did announce the organization of the Combined British American Chiefs of Staff and of the two subdivisions.
2 It is of interest to note in passing that this provision of the United Nations Charter was the first legal recognition to be accorded the United States Chiefs of Staff. Prior to the entrance into reforce of the Charter on October 25, 1945, the Amerioan Chiefs of Staff had no standing in law, despite the important part they played in winning the war. They may have “spoken with the voice of God,” as one former Navy lieutenant remarked when informed of their extra-legal status, but they had no being in law.
3 Public Law 264, 79th Congress.
4 In this connection it is interesting to compare the size of the military and civilian elements, respectively, of the United States Mission. On August 1, 1947, 13 Air Force officers were attached to the United States Mission, 14 Army officers, and 10 Navy officers, making a total of 37. On the same date, the civilian element numbered 57, excluding clerical and stenographic personnel, cryptographic operators, chauffers, couriers, and messengers. Of this total, 36 were engaged in administrative activities, leaving 21 for the United States Representative to the United. Nations with his civilian staff.
5 General Joseph T. McNarney, representative of the Commanding General, United States Air Force, has indicated the method by which the representatives of the Joint Chiefs of Staff operate. The following is an excerpt from a statement made by General McNarney on June 6, 1947: “Within the U.S. Delegation, our work and studies are conducted in much the same way as in the Military Staff Committee, that is by the Sub-Committee system. The United States members of the Military Staff Committee Sub-Committees … also function as Sub-Committees within the Delegation; in addition, we have set up certain others. These Sub-Committees maintain liaison with appropriate sections of the U.S. Mission to the United Nations, study United Nations proceedings for elements of military implication, study United States policy, and prepare Delegation proposals and studies. Sub-Committee papers are then considered by the Representative (of the Joint Chiefs of Staff) for concurrence and action. There is no actual voting among the three coson equal U.S. Representatives. If the three are unable to agree, the divergence of views must be referred to the Joint Chiefs of Staff for decision. …”
6 United States Mission to the United Nations Press Release 277, October 20, 1947.
7 Public Law 253, 80th Congress, Section 211 (c).
8 Ibid., Section 101 (b) (1).
9 The way staff studies are prepared for the National Security Council is described in the following excerpts from the Army and Navy Journal of December 6, 1947, by the Council's executive secretary, Admiral S. W. Souers: “The law says I'm to have a staff, but I didn't want an ivory tower staff. So I worked out an arrangement with State, Army, Navy, and Air so that Kennan, Norstad, Wedemeyer, and Sherman were ex-officio members of my staff. Each of them details some of his officers to the job. … We tie in with the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The formal procedure, when we get a paper ready, is for Secretary Forrestal to get the views of the Joint Chiefs of Staff on the military implications of the proposed policy. So, of course, the Joint Staff works it over, too. So, you've got these four ex-officio members of my staff, plus the Joint Chiefs of Staff. That's getting pretty decent advice to the President. Sometimes it may be wrong, but I don't know how to go about getting any much better.”
10 While the Department of the Air Force receives separate representation and the name of SWNCC has been changed to State-Army-Navypolicy. Air Force Coordinating Committee (SANACC) as consequences of the National Security Act of 1947, it is too early to conclude how and to what extent, if at all, the part played by this Ad Hoc Committee has been altered.
11 Executive Order 9844, paragraph 2.
12 Also created by the National Security Act of 1947 is the Central Intelligence Agency, statutory successor to the National Intelligence Authority. Its part in coordinating instructions to our representative in the United Nations is not disclosed by available documents.