157. White House Press Release1
EXECUTIVE ORDER 10483 ESTABLISHING THE OPERATIONS COORDINATING BOARD
By virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and statutes, and as President of the United States, it is hereby ordered as follows:
[Page 455]Section 1. (a) In order to provide for the integrated implementation of national security policies by the several agencies, there is hereby established an Operations Coordinating Board, hereinafter referred to as the Board, which shall report to the National Security Council.
(b) The Board shall have as members the following: (1) the Under Secretary of State, who shall represent the Secretary of State and shall be the chairman of the Board, (2) the Deputy Secretary of Defense, who shall represent the Secretary of Defense, (3) the Director of the Foreign Operations Administration, (4) the Director of Central Intelligence, and (5) a representative of the President to be designated by the President. Each head of agency referred to in items (1) to (4), inclusive, in this section 1(b) may provide for an alternate member who shall serve as a member of the Board in lieu of the regular member representing the agency concerned when such regular member is for reasons beyond his control unable to attend any meeting of the Board; and any alternate member shall while serving as such have in all respects the same status as a member of the Board as does the regular member in lieu of whom he serves.
(c) The head of any agency (other than any agency represented under section 1(b) hereof) to which the President from time to time assigns responsibilities for the implementation of national security policies, shall assign a representative to serve on the Board when the Board is dealing with subjects bearing directly upon the responsibilities of such head. Each such representative shall be an Under Secretary or corresponding official and when so serving such representative shall have the same status on the Board as the members provided for in the said section 1(b).
(d) The Special Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs may attend any meeting of the Board. The Director of the United States Information Agency shall advise the Board at its request.
Section 2. The National Security Council having recommended a national security policy and the President having approved it, the Board shall (1) whenever the President shall hereafter so direct, advise with the agencies concerned as to (a) their detailed operational planning responsibilities respecting such policy, (b) the coordination of the interdepartmental aspects of the detailed operational plans developed by the agencies to carry out such policy, (c) the timely and coordinated execution of such policy and plans, and (d) the execution of each security action or project so that it shall make its full contribution to the attainment of national security objectives and to the particular climate of opinion the United States is seeking to achieve in the world, and (2) initiate new proposals for action within the framework of national security policies in response to opportunity and changes in the situation. The Board shall perform such other advisory functions as the President may assign to it and shall from time to time make reports to the National Security Council with respect to the carrying out of this order.
[Page 456]Section 3. Consonant with law, each agency represented on the Board shall, as may be necessary for the purpose of effectuating this order, furnish assistance to the Board in accordance with section 214 of the Act of May 3, 1945, 59 Stat. 134 (31 U.S.C. 691).2 Such assistance may include detailing employees to the Board, one of whom may serve as its Executive Officer, to perform such functions, consistent with the purposes of this order, as the Board may assign to them.
Section 4. The Psychological Strategy Board shall be abolished not later than sixty days after the date of this order and its outstanding affairs shall be wound up by the Operations Coordinating Board.
Section 5. As used herein, the word “agency” may be construed to mean any instrumentality of the executive branch of the Government, including any executive department.
Section 6. Nothing in this order shall be construed either to confer upon the Board any function with respect to internal security or to in any manner abrogate or restrict any function vested by law in, or assigned pursuant to law to, any agency or head of agency (including the Office of Defense Mobilization and the Director of the Office of Defense Mobilization).
- Source: National Archives, RG 59, S/S–NSC Files: Lot 66 D 148, PCG. No classification marking. The press release was issued from Lowry Air Force Base. Eisenhower was vacationing at the “Summer White House” in Colorado.↩
- This section of the act authorizes Executive branch departments to use appropriations to support interagency boards.↩
- Printed from a copy that indicates Eisenhower signed the original.↩