Pages 1 | 2

Henry Luce, Time Inc.'s founder, interrupted an interviewer's question about his “powerful life” to say “power” came from holding public office, something Henry never did. He merely had “influence”. US foreign policy, something Henry influenced, is presided over by a 57-year-old super-organism called the National Security Council (NSC). The dozen public officials on the NSC, directly or indirectly, command all US military, diplomatic and intelligence organizations. Innumerable outsiders influence the NSC. While within the NSC a mercurial, ever-changing clique holds power and most Council members settle for influence.

The last time an English King led troops into battle was June 27 th 1743. George II led the Pragmatic Army to a successful if inconsequential confrontation near Dettingen, Germany. For the remainder of English participation in the War of Austrian Succession, and in all subsequent wars, English-speaking armed forces have been led by a delegate bearing the title “Commander-in-Chief”. During the American Revolution George Washington assumed the title “Commander-in-Chief”.

The necessary evil of a supreme military executive was debated by the 55 delegates to the 1787 Philadelphia convention that drafted the US Constitution. The solution was a separation of powers with Congress getting exclusive powers to declare war (Article I, section 2). On the other hand, Article 2 section 2 sub 1 states “the President shall be the Commander-in-Chief of the Army and the Navy of the United States.” The Commander-in-Chief is further constrained by Congressional financial control.

Although the titles have evolved, the Commander-in-Chief's military policy, starting in the Revolutionary War, has been conducted through an “Army Chief of Staff” and a “Secretary of the Navy”. The Commander-in-Chief's diplomatic corps and civilian foreign policy advisory system began with the appointment of Robert Livingston to the posting of “Secretary of Foreign Affairs”. He served from October 1781 to June 1783 leaving in frustration at the vagueness of his job description and his “lack of a free hand” to negotiate with foreign powers. The first US “Secretary of State” was Thomas Jefferson who served from 1790 to 1793. Jefferson left behind an office with an annual budget of $56,000, a Washington DC staff of 5, two overseas political embassies and ten commercial consulates.

But something had clearly gone askew with the office of the Commander-in-Chief for by mid-February 1848, an exasperated Abe Lincoln opined: “Allow a President to invade a neighbouring nation whenever HE shall deem it necessary to repel an invasion…and you allow him to make war at pleasure.” What Abe was on about was President Polk's Mexican War. Polk took office in March 1845 and within months ordered US Army General Zachary Taylor to assemble a force in Corpus Christi and Commodore Connor to assemble a US Navy fleet in the Gulf of Mexico. In January 1846 Polk ordered Taylor to march to the Rio Grande and Connor to sail to Vera Cruz leading to skirmishes in April and battles in May. Then, after the Mexican War was an accomplished fact, Congress declared war. John Quincy Adams eulogized: “It is now established as an irreversible precedent that the President of the United States has but to declare that war exists, with any Nation's Government and the war is essentially declared.” Teddy Roosevelt's provocative war against Spain at the dawn of the 20 th century was an application of this constitutional convention.

In spite of this constitutional deviation, prior to WWII, the US was not a militaristic country. From the late 1860s to the early 1940s the Europeans and Japanese kept far larger standing armies and peacetime navies and exhibited a higher degree of militaristic culture, including militarist-corrupted foreign policy, than did liberal, republican USA. Woodrow Wilson addressing the West Point graduating class of 1916 said: “Militarism does not consist in the existence of an army, nor even in the existence of a very great army. Militarism is a spirit. It is a point of view. It is a system. It is a purpose. The purpose of militarism is use armies for aggression”. The Commander-in-Chief declared militarism Un-American. This all changed after WWII.

WWII overwhelmed Roosevelt. To end confusion and infighting Roosevelt formed the State-War-Navy Coordinating Committee (SWNCC) in 1944 which consisted of weekly closed-door meetings of the President, Vice President, Secretaries of State and Navy, Army confidante, Harry Hopkins, and Roosevelt's private military fixer, Admiral Leahy. These weekly meetings were supplemented when these men saw each other informally throughout the week. The sum of these communications was the US High Command.

There was no CIA. A short-lived 1941 effort called Office of Coordinator of Information sought to centralize federal intelligence in order to reduce the chronic rivalry and duplication within the Navy, Army and FBI. In June 1942 Roosevelt created the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) to coordinate exclusively those intelligence gathering entities assisting the war effort. When disbanded, October 1945, the OSS had 12,000 employees. A rump OSS was maintained as the Central Intelligence Group.

The Cold War was “declared” in monthly instalments over a year beginning April 1945 when Truman used blunt language when talking about Poland with the Soviet Ambassador. A month or two later Truman called the atomic bomb “America's ace in the hole” when dealing with the Soviets. By December 1945 the Commander-in-Chief was frequently using strong anti-Soviet language. Then George “our-man-in-Moscow” Kennan issued his “Long Telegram” on Soviet-US relations concluding the differences between the two states were irreconcilable. Finally Churchill's gave his “Iron Curtain” speech in Fulton, Missouri, March 6, 1946. The Cold War was much on the minds of those who re-organized the US government after WWII.

The National Security Act July 26 th 1947 “legalized” Roosevelt's informal SWNCC and christened it the National Security Council. The NSC was designed as a forum for developing and perfecting a reliable set of executive institutions to better manage US foreign policy. The NSC is the legal and actual centre of US foreign policy decision-making and decision implementing. The NSC was originally envisioned as a regular meeting chaired by the President and attended by the Secretary of State and the heads of the Navy, Army and Air Force and the chairman of the National Resources Board. The Council was to meet frequently, listen to presentations from the CIA, diplomats, or military-industrial executives then debate their recommendations and decide on an action for one or more of the represented Departments to undertake. Legally the NSC advises the President with respect to integrating the military, foreign affairs and domestic control functions of national security. Less formally, it was designed to be the President's private think tank, sounding board and discussion group.

The concept of a national security council was vigorously promoted by Navy Secretary James Forrestal who wanted a US version of the UK's Committee of Imperial Defence. Forrestal's was an all-Navy man and kingpin of the aircraft-carrier-industrial complex who deemed his mission as safely navigating the US Navy through the post-WWII de-mobilization. Under Forrestal's influence the dreaded merger of the armed services was forestalled. A new Air Force Department was created and the “Joint Chiefs of Staff” (JCS) was given legal standing and a budget. An umbrella organization with little resources called the National Military Establishment (NME) led by a “Secretary of Defence” took over from the War Department. Forrestal couldn't complain too loudly about this unifying process as he was named the first Defence Secretary. Republicans in Congress viewed the NSC as a device for controlling Truman whom they derided as a pore' farm-boy from Lamar, Missouri way beyond his depth in international relations and grand military doctrine. Forrestal shared this mindset.

The National Security Act also created the CIA. Congress reformed and strengthened the Central Intelligence Group into an omnibus organization with ranging liberties. It was mandated to present reports to the National Security Council and is thus integral to the NSC system. Yet the Armed services and the FBI refused to give up their intelligence divisions. J. Edgar Hoover, had an elaborate overseas network of FBI agents and files particularly in Latin America, but he recalled these agents and destroyed their files rather than turn them over to the CIA.

Truman attended the inaugural NSC meeting September 26, 1947 but avoided 45 of the next 55 meetings. The Korean War brought Harry around to the NSC. The Korean War, along with Mao's victory and Stalin's A-bomb, got Truman to 64 of the next 71 NSC meetings held promptly Thursday mornings. Truman's preference was for reports prepared at least at the Assistant Secretary level of State or Defence, or from the CIA, to be presented and discussed by the Council followed by orders to be sent down “policy hill”.

Continue to page 2

****