Office of the Historian

237. Memorandum From the Acting Assistant Secretary of State for European Affairs (Barbour) to the Under Secretary of State (Hoover)1

Washington, October 18, 1955.

SUBJECT

  • Abolition of the Planning Coordination Group

At a PCG Alternates meeting this morning we discussed the attached draft documents2 to accomplish the abolition of the Planning Coordination Group.3

Substantive comment was made on the following two points in the proposed memorandum to the Chairman of the OCB.4

1.
CIA proposed that Par. 4(a) be redrafted to amend NSC 5412/15 to specify the individuals originally designated in Sec. 4(a) of that NSC [Page 726] paper, i.e. a representative of the Secretary of State and Secretary of Defense and to omit reference to members of the OCB. The reasoning advanced was that while the State Department representative is the same as the representative designated for this purpose in 5412,6 it is not clear whether the Defense representatives will be the same. (The question was not (repeat not) raised but it may be noted that the effect of this CIA proposal would be, unless further altered, to exclude Nelson Rockefeller. The “representative of the President” is not mentioned in NSC 5412.
2.
Defense (Charlie Sullivan) questioned whether in Par. 3 of the memorandum to the Chairman of OCB it is sufficient to state that the original objectives of the PCG continue valid and other means should be sought to achieve these objectives. Sullivan thought the PCG might consider suggesting some alternative means. I took the line and was supported by Nelson and CIA that that statement went far enough for the time being and we should not consider alternative mechanisms now.

One additional point was raised by Nelson Rockefeller, namely to explain the reason for his resignation as Vice Chairman of the OCB. His explanation was that the Budget Bureau have never liked the idea of establishing a Vice Chairman of the OCB. He did not expand further on the matter.

I took the general position on these points that in your absence I could not give Departmental approval but that we would consider them further when submitted.

  1. Source: National Archives, RG 59, S/S–NSC Files: Lot 66 D 148, PCG. No classification marking.↩
  2. Not printed.↩
  3. See Document 235 and footnote 3 thereto.↩
  4. The Under Secretary of State was chairman of the Operations Coordinating Board.↩
  5. Document 212.↩
  6. Document 171.↩