Page:Legislative History of the AAF and USAF.djvu/64

 �This Page Declassified lAW EO12958 partmerits, separately admmstered, for the operation and administration of the Army, the Navy (ncluding naval aviation and the U.S. Manne Corps), and the Air Force, to provide for their coordmatxon and unified direction under the mvfimn control of the Secretary of Defense, but not to merge them; and to prowde for thezr operation un- der unLfied control and thmr integration into an efficxent team of land, naval, and air forces To hmptement this policy the act first of all set up a National Security Council. It consisted of the President, who was to pre- side over ts meetings; the Secretary of State; the Secretary of Defense; the Secre laries of the Army, the Navy, and the An' Force; the chairman of the National cunty Resources Board; and other officers named, with the adwce and consent of the Senate, by the President from the follow- ms. the secretaries of the executive depart- ments, the chairman of the Munitions Board, and the chairman of the Research and Development Board. The chief func- tions of the National Security CuuncH were to assess and appraise the objectives, com- mitments, and risks of the United States m relatmn to ts actual and potential tory power and to advise the President cordingly. It was also te conruder pohmes on matters o common interest to departments and agencies of the government concerned wth natrenal security and to advise the ?resident accordingly. There was established under the Na- tional Security Council a Central Intelh- gence Agency headed by a director pohuted by the Promdent The main duty of the CIA was to coorchnate the mtelli- gence actwtes of the several departments and agencies of the government in the in- terest of national security, and to advise wth the National Security Council thereon The National Security Act also provided for the establishment of the National Se- curity Resources Board. Its perschool was to conrest of a chairman and such heads of executive departments or agencies as the Promdent might designate. The main func- tion of ths board was to adwse the Prom- dent concerning the coordination of mfii- tory, industrml, and civilian mobilizaton. The new unified armed services organiza. tmn set up mder the act was called the National Mtary Estabhshment. It was to be headed by the Secretary of Defense and was to consist of three departments, the Department of the Army, the Department cf the Navy, and the Department of the Force, each with its own Secretary. The Secretary of Defense was to be appointed by the President wth the advice and consent of the Senate. The Secretary was to estab- hsh the general pohcms of the National Mihtary Estabhshment and was to have general superwsion and control over the departments and agencies set up under the National Security Act. It was required that the Premdent should appoint the Secre- tary of Defense from ciwhan life, by and wth the advice and consent of the Senate. It was provlded that the Department of the Ar Force was to be headed by a civil- ian Secretary appmnted by the President; there were also to be an Under Secretary and two Assistant Secretaries of the Air Force snnilarly appointed from cvilian hfe. The several officers of the Department of the Ant Force were to perform such func- trans as its Secretary prescribed. Those functnons of the Secretary of the Army and of the Department of the Army, mcuchng those of any officer of the de- partment assigned to or under the control of the Commanding General, Army Air Forces, and those judged by the Secretary of Defense to be necessary or desrable for the operatrans of the Department of the Air Force or the Urnted States Air Force, were to be transferred to and vested in the Sec- retary of the Air Force. The National Guard Bureau was to perform the same functions or the Department of the Air Force that t performed for the Department of the Army, and was to act as a channel of communica- tion between the Department of the Air Force and the states in matters pertaining to the National Guard. Arrangements were to be made or an orderly transfer o per- sormel, records, property, and functions rom the Department of the Army to the Department of the Air Force. The Department of the Ar Force was to have THIS PAGE Declassified lAW EO12958