Editorial Note
A draft report by the National Security Council to President Truman on United States civil aviation policy toward the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and its satellites was prepared in early September following a meeting of Department of State officers in the office of Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for European Affairs Llewellyn E. Thompson on August 11 at which time a consensus had been reached for basis upon which NSC 15/1 (see editorial note, page 184) might be appropriately amended. That early draft report was amended and revised in the light of comments and criticisms made by various responsible officers of the Department. Documentation on the background to those drafts is included in a dossier in file 711.4027/12–1949. The amended and revised draft report was transmitted to the National Security Council under cover of Under Secretary of State Webb’s letter of December 27 to Executive Secretary Souers (supra) and was subsequently circulated to the National Security Council as document NSC 15/2, December 28, 1949. NSC 15/2 was adopted with [Page 222] further amendments by the National Security Council at its meeting on January 5, 1950. The final version of the paper adopted by the Council was designated NSC 15/3, January 5, 1950, and was approved by President Truman the following day. For the text of NSC 15/3 (together with indications of the few differences from NSC 15/2 and details regarding its adoption by the Council and the President), see Foreign Relations 1950, volume IV, pages 1 ff.