A/MS files, lot 54 D 291, “Committees”
The President to the Director of the Bureau of the Budget (Hughes) and the Chairman of the President’s Advisory Committee on Government Organization (Rockefeller)
Dear Sirs: Over the past several months it has become increasingly apparent that we are going to be faced with a continuing series of complex problems in the foreign economic field which not only will involve over-all foreign policy, but will often directly affect basic domestic policy questions.
In discussions with you and others as to the manner in which the Executive Branch has handled these problems over the last year, my attention has been called to difficulties which may be attributed at least in part to inadequacies in the organizational structure for handling the development and implementation of foreign economic policy.
I am impressed with the fact that at present, the Executive Branch lacks an orderly way of identifying and reconciling conflicting points of view and interests in the development of long-range international economic objectives in support of our foreign policy as well as in the development of policies and programs to achieve those objectives. This is also true in arriving at solutions to individual foreign economic problems in a way that reflects our best overall national interest. Some of these problems have been handled by the State Department, some by one or more of my immediate assistants, some by Cabinet Committees, some by the National Advisory [Page 83] Council, and in a few cases by the National Security Council or the Cabinet. Despite the best efforts, the handling of such problems on an ad hoc basis has not always produced the timely or decisive action required by the seriousness or urgency of the problem encountered.
Accordingly, I desire as a matter of high priority, that my Advisory Committee on Government Organization and the Director of the Bureau of the Budget collaborate in a study of the suitability of existing organizational machinery for the formulation and implementation of foreign economic policy within the framework of our overall foreign policy, and develop specific recommendations for my consideration.
I agree with your suggestion that, in order to assure that this study has full-time top-level direction, the Committee and the Bureau of the Budget should secure to direct the staff work of this project a top-notch individual thoroughly familiar with this problem and well versed in high-level government organizational relationships.1 I am sure you will also have the full cooperation of all officials of the Government who can contribute to the success of this project.
Sincerely,