It will be noted that the document sets forth general principles to guide
the State, War, and Navy Departments in their policy of providing
indoctrination, training, and equipment for the armed forces of the
other American republics. The document thus is the next logical step
after the agreement by the three Departments to hold staff
conversations, in that it provides the manner in which the conversations
are to be implemented and the responsibilities of the three Departments
in their implementation. On the Department rests the responsibility of
passing on basic plans and projects for carrying out these plans
submitted by the War and Navy Departments. It is the Department’s
further responsibility to request such adjustments in approved projects
as may be necessitated by unforeseen political developments. The Chiefs
of Diplomatic Missions are charged with the responsibility of guiding
the senior representatives of the War and Navy Departments in the
various American republics: on all matters the Chiefs of Diplomatic
Missions may deem to be of a political nature or such as may affect our
foreign relations.
The War and Navy Departments will shortly submit for the approval of the
Department an interim project47 for the implementation of those
staff conversations whose results have so far been studied. In making
its decision the Department considers it important to ascertain the
probable effect upon the financial structure and political conditions of
the other American republics of carrying out the recommendations of the
staff conversations. In the absence of final proposals by the War and
Navy Departments, it is requested that the Embassy base its opinions
upon the recommendations resulting from the staff conversations. The
Embassy is accordingly requested, if it has not already done so, to
study this question and report its conclusions to the Department.
As is mentioned in the enclosed document, it is the intention of the
three Departments to seek new legislation to carry out the policy and
program of military cooperation with the other American republics. Until
such legislation can be enacted the provisions of the Surplus Property
Act and of other applicable laws will be used for this purpose.
[Enclosure]
Proposed Joint Statement by State, War and the
Navy Departments To Be Approved by the President48
This document embodies a statement of policy governing the provision
by the United States of indoctrination, training and equipment for
the armed forces of the other American republics.
When, at the outset of the present World War, the United States
confronted the necessity of encompassing the defense of the Western
Hemisphere against the aggression of the Axis nations, an important
factor prejudicial to the cooperation of the American republics in
that defense was that their military forces, in most cases, had
received their training from the armed forces of Germany or Italy or
other non-American nations according to the standards and procedures
of those non-American nations, and had been equipped by those same
non-American nations in accordance with their own equipment
standards. Not only would the coordination of the respective armed
forces of the American republics for the defense of the Hemisphere
have been made difficult by the diversity of standards, procedures,
and equipment thereby established; but, what was far worse,
important elements in the armed forces of the American republics had
been indoctrinated in the alien ideals espoused by aggressor
nations, and had been imbued with an admiration for the war-making
methods of these nations. An important and time-consuming element in
making possible inter-American military collaboration for the
prosecution of the war was the necessity of eliminating this Axis
influence on the armed forces of the American republics.
With the prospective conclusions of the present war, it has been
established as a matter of inter-American policy in the Act of
Chapultepec49 that the American republics will hereafter engage in
close military collaboration for the military defense of the
Hemisphere against any threat that may arise in the future. It is
clear that, on the basis of this policy now established, the United
States must take measures to prevent such a situation as confronted
it at the outset of
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this
war from again arising to hamper and jeopardize the common
defense.
In so far as possible, the military establishments of the American
republics should be organized in accordance with common tables of
organization; they should be equipped with types of equipment based
on common tables of equipment; their training should be based on
common military doctrine, and their governing military methods and
practices should follow common lines of procedure. Since the United
states has recognized military leadership in the Hemisphere and is
the only considerable producer of military equipment among the
American republics, the United States should act forthwith to obtain
the agreement of the other American republics to the adoption by
them of United States military doctrine, United States military
methods and procedures, and United States standards of military
equipment. Such agreement would envisage the dispatch by the United
States of military missions to the other American republics to
indoctrinate and train their armed forces; the provision of
facilities in the United States for the indoctrination and training
of representatives of the armed forces of the other American
republics; the making of appropriate joint plans among the American
republics for the defense of the hemisphere; and the provision to
the armed forces of the other American republics by the United
States of arms, ammunition and implements of war conforming to the
types used by the armed forces of the United States.
The United States has conducted and is conducting a series of
exploratory conversations with the military staffs of the other
American republics looking toward the realization of the policy and
of the measures outlined above. The United States is therefore
confronted with the imminent necessity of carrying out that policy
and putting those measures into effect.
It is recognized that in carrying out such a program of military
collaboration, involving the equipping and training of the armed
forces of the other American republics, there are considerations of
a political and economic nature affecting the broad foreign policy
of the United States in the field of its inter-American relations
that must be recognized.
With this in view, the Departments of State, War and the Navy will be
guided in all matters of military cooperation and execution of the
policy and measures enunciated above by the following general
principles:
- (1)
- The cooperation of the United States will not be extended
to any other American republic so as to provide it with a
military establishment that is beyond its economic means to
support.
- (2)
- Training and equipment shall not be made available by the
United States to the armed forces of any other American
republics
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where
there is good reason to believe that they may be used for
aggression or in order to threaten aggression, against one
of its neighboring American republics, thus prejudicing the
primary objective of inter-American unity.
- (3)
- In accordance with the democratic principles that the
United States represents and upholds throughout the world,
and on which its moral credit is largely based, every effort
shall be made to insure that the training and equipment
afforded by the United States to the armed forces of the
other American republics shall not be used in order to
deprive the peoples of the other American republics of their
democratic rights and liberties.
It is clear that the program of collaboration envisaged above is a
program for the military defense of the Hemisphere and,
consequently, falls within the field of responsibilities of the War
and the Navy Departments. It is equally clear that measures taken in
accordance with the program envisaged above will bear importantly on
the foreign relations of the United States, with American and
non-American nations alike. Consequently, the Department of State,
being responsible for the conduct of the foreign relations of the
United States, has a concurrent and coordinate responsibility with
the War and the Navy Departments in the carrying out of the program
envisaged above. So that the State, War, and Navy Departments may be
in a position to meet their respective responsibilities as indicated
above, all plans shall be made and all measures in the carrying out
of this program shall be taken with the approval of the War and Navy
Departments in respect to defense policy, and with the approval of
the Department of State in respect to foreign policy.
In order to realize this division and coordination of responsibility
among the three departments, it has been agreed that:
(1) The War and Navy Departments shall assume the initiative (based
on bilateral and subsequent military staff conversations) in
preparing the basic plans for indoctrinating, training, and
equipping the armed forces of each of the other American republics
in accordance with the policy set forth above. These plans, set
forth in such detail as is practicable, shall be submitted to the
Department of State and no action shall be taken to put them into
effect until this department has indicated that they are not in
conflict with this government’s foreign policy.
(2) For the carrying out of basic plans so approved or so agreed
upon, the War and Navy Departments will prepare and submit in
writing at three-month intervals (or at such other intervals as may
be mutually agreed upon) projects for implementation. Pending the
completion and approval of the final plans the War and Navy
Departments may from time to time present for approval interim
projects. When the Department of State shall have indicated that
these projects for implementation are not in conflict with this
Government’s foreign policy, the War and Navy Departments shall be
free to proceed under them until their completion, except that if
unforeseen political developments arise which call for adjustments
or modifications, the Department
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of State may call these developments to the
attention of the War and Navy Departments and request that the
appropriate modifications or adjustments be made.
American Ambassadors or Chiefs of Diplomatic Missions in the other
American republics shall be charged with rendering all possible
assistance in carrying out the policy and program envisaged above,
and all senior representatives of the War and Navy Departments
dispatched to any of these republics pursuant to this program shall
be guided by the Ambassador or Chief of Diplomatic Mission with
respect to any matters he may deem to be of a political nature or
such as may affect our foreign relations.
The State, War, and Navy Departments recognize that it will be
desirable to obtain, at the earliest possible date, Congressional
authorization and legislation for the provision by the armed forces
of arms, ammunition, and implements of war to the other American
republics in accordance with the policy herein set forth. They agree
that they will seek such authorization and such legislation
forthwith. However, they recognize the desirability of proceeding
with the program herein set forth with the least possible delay for
the following reasons:
- (1)
- Unless the opportunities outlined above are made available
to the other American republics shortly, they may be
expected to accept similar offers from and make commitments
to representatives from non-American countries, thus
creating obstacles to the realization of the defense program
envisaged by the United States.
- (2)
- In the exploratory conversations already held or being
held between the military representatives of the United
States and representatives of the armed forces of the other
American republics, the United States has indicated its
willingness to cooperate in the indoctrination, in the
training, and in the equipment of the armed forces of those
republics. So that its good faith may not be questioned, it
must not now hesitate to proceed with concrete proposals and
measures for the indoctrination, training, and equipment of
the armed forces of the other American republics.
It is agreed that the State, War, and Navy Departments will avail
themselves so far as possible of the provisions of the Surplus War
Property Act and other applicable laws in carrying out the policy
and program herein outlined, pending the provision of specific
legislation for that purpose. It is further agreed that the
provisions of the Lend-Lease Act will be utilized only on
certification of the War or Navy Department, as the case may be,
that the transfer or other action proposed to be taken is for the
defense of the United States, in accordance with the provisions of
the Lend-Lease Act as amended and in accordance with applicable
presidential directives. The State, War, and Navy Departments agree
that this paragraph shall supplant the statement of Lend-Lease
policy contained in Joint Chiefs of Staff document JCS 629/4.50
