Attached is a description of the Operations Center recently established
in the State Department under the direction of Mr.
Achilles and Mr.
Stutesman, his deputy. This is distributed as a
matter of general information to the Staff, in view of the close working
relationship that will be maintained between the National Security
Council Staff and that of the Operations Center.
Attachment
OPERATIONS CENTER
In the Operations Center, with its interdepartmental staff, the
Secretary has an instrument for following up government-wide action
in the field of foreign affairs, for conducting informal
interdepartmental reviews of emerging foreign policy problems, and
for creating major interdepartmental Task Forces under his direction
at an instant’s notice.
I. Crises
S/O provides, on an around-the-clock basis, the secretariat, office
and conference space and rapid communication facilities for the
establishment and operation of as many as three major Task Forces at
the same time.
Called into being by the Secretary, a Task Force gathers all
pertinent facts bearing on a specific problem in the field of
foreign affairs and prepares recommendations for action. The
membership is drawn at appropriate levels from the Department and
other agencies of the Government. The Chairman is usually the
Assistant Secretary of the Geographic Bureau most directly
concerned.
The Chairman and the substantive officers of the Task Force are given
office space and officer and secretarial staff assistance in S/O.
Intelligence and operational data regarding the problem under study
flow on a 24-hour duty basis directly into S/O from the State
Department Telegraph Branch, the intelligence community through
INR, from the Defense Department
and from other agencies as required.
Task Forces should be disbanded as soon as possible after the
functions for which they are established have been fulfilled,
subject to reconstitution if and when needed.
II. Potential Crises
As an emerging or potential crisis is identified, the Secretary may
place it under special watch in S/O. In view of the fact that
communications from the field, from other agencies and from the
intelligence community are more rapid and complete to S/O than to a
Geographic Bureau, it may be useful to detail an appropriate
Geographic Bureau officer to S/O for the period of watch. This gives
that substantive officer the full benefit of S/O facilities and
removes him from the pressures of daily routine so that he can
devote full time to the significant questions of the problem under
study.
In effect, an interdepartmental Task Force in a minor key is thus
established as the permanent Defense, CIA and USIA members
of S/O
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work on an easy,
continuing and informal basis with the Department officers
concerned. This group, studying all alert signals and reviewing
existing policies, establishes a foundation of interdepartmental
understanding upon which a major Task Force can be built at an
instant’s notice.
III. Follow Up
Basic responsibility for the implementation of policies requiring
interdepartmental coordination rests with the appropriate Assistant
Secretaries under the coordinating supervision of the Deputy Under
Secretary for Political Affairs. S/O assists the Deputy Under
Secretary in the exercise of his responsibilities and follows up, at
the Secretary’s direction, any interdepartmental action in the field
of foreign affairs whether it originated within the Department or in
the National Security Council or in other inter-agency decision.
With a minimum of written reports and a maximum of informal
consultation, S/O maintains a continuing review of programs and can
identify at an early stage problems in the implementation of those
programs which may require high level attention. Formal
interdepartmental committee meetings or “progress reports” are
called for only when essential.
S/O thus serves the Secretary by keeping a continuing review of
government-wide action on certain programs. At the same time, S/O
assists the Geographic Bureau desk officers by offering them a
constant high level contact with Defense, CIA and USIA through
the representatives of those agencies assigned to S/O.
IV. Watch
S/O has an officer (generally FSO-3
level), a clerk and a messenger-driver on duty at all times.
Other around-the-clock watch officers in the Department are: (1) the
INR duty officer who monitors
all intelligence reports; and (2) the Telegraph Branch Watch Officer
who monitors all operational cables. They are under instruction to
alert the S/O duty officer the instant any significant message
appears regarding any problem being dealt with by S/O.
Thus, the S/O duty officer is constantly in touch with all major
developments on those problems and is prepared to take the necessary
action to deal promptly with any question or problem which may
arise. Some questions he may be able to answer on the basis of his
own knowledge of S/O activities and the briefing he received before
going on duty. Other matters may require a search for information.
In this connection, he is furnished with a daily revised list of
telephone numbers
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where
every S/O officer may be reached that evening or night. He will take
counsel with the S/S duty officer in
the office during the day or at home at night if an operational
problem outside S/O jurisdiction should arise.
