Office of the Historian

67. Memorandum From the Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Management (Roberts) to the Assistant Secretary of State for Administration (Porter)1

Washington, November 5, 1963.

SUBJECT

  • Budget Bureau Study on “State Department Organization for Foreign Economic Affairs”
1.
Attached is a copy of the study referred to Thursday by Ken Hansen. Also attached are analyses (Tab A)2 made by OM when the study was first received, and later when the Budget Bureau called Bill Brubeck on the status of action. Because AID is concerned in the larger area covered by the report, Dave Bell’s transmittal letter (as Budget Bureau Director) may also be of interest (Tab B).3
2.
The study had three focuses: internal E organization; general Department arrangements for strengthening economic expertise and distributing it throughout the regional bureaus; and the over-all organization of the Department (including AID) for foreign economic functions.
3.
In the first two areas the Department has moved some distance, although we have not had occasion to make an evaluation in depth (nor [Page 128] do I recommend one immediately). By the time the report was released a number of lesser organizational rearrangements had been completed or agreed to and PER had begun to concentrate more on the need for economists. About six weeks later Griff Johnson became Assistant Secretary for Economic Affairs (Ed Martin had already moved from E when the report came out). Since then there has been a serious and, I understand, successful effort to bring into E some first-rate economic specialists.
4.
No change has, however, been made in E’s status within the Department by upgrading its head to Deputy Under Secretary. Neither have the larger organizational relationships between the AID Director, E and the rest of the Department been altered. When current developments in the AID program become somewhat clearer, we might well seek another reading from the Secretary or Mr. Ball on this. I should welcome an opportunity to discuss this with you.
Ralph S. Roberts
  1. Source: National Archives and Records Administration, RG 59, Management Staff Files: Lot 69 D 434, Miscellaneous Subject Files, 1960–1967, State Department Organization for Foreign Economic Affairs, 1962. No classification marking. A handwritten notation on the memorandum by Roberts reads: “P.S. Please return attached when it has served your needs. RSR.”↩
  2. Not printed; see Document 51.↩
  3. Not attached.↩