The National Security Act, passed by Congress in July 1947, coordinated and unified the U. S. armed forces and reorganized the overall military effort.
The command structure of the military services previously had been coordinated only through informal arrangements. After World War II ended, a more permanent and secure arrangement was necessary. The National Security Act of 1947 emerged out of debates over the possible unification of the armed services in the face of concerns about the ability of foreign policymakers and the military to cope with the problems of the cold war. Proponents of the measure claimed it was necessary to protect the country from its enemies. Critics of the proposal, such as Republican senator Edward V. Robertson of Wyoming, feared it would lead to military domination of all foreign policy, and all natural and human resources. “We must not let out fear of Communism blind us to the danger of military domination,” warned Robertson.
The National Security Act, passed by Congress, created several new agencies to coordinate the efforts of existing military bodies. They included the National Security Council (NSC), which was created to improve interdepartmental coordination of defense and foreign policy matters, and the National Security Resources Board, which was commissioned to develop plans for economic mobilization in the event of war. The National Security Act also created the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). The CIA was designed to replace the existing Central Intelligence Group that was informally organized immediately following World War II. The CIA was to serve as the principal civilian source of foreign intelligence for the president of the United States and other decisionmakers in the executive branch.
One of the most important aspects of the National Security Act was the reorganization of military departments carried out under the act in an effort to provide for greater coordination between the departments. The measure merged the War Department and the Navy Department into a new National Military Establishment (NME). The NME was to be headed by a secretary of defense appointed by the president. The NME included the Department of the Army and the Department of the Navy as well as the new Department of the Air Force, which had been recently designated as an independent military service. A number of other defense-related agencies created during World War II, such as the Research and Development Board and the Munitions Board, were also placed under the authority of the secretary of defense. The NME was a failure because the secretary of defense had no real power or authority over the secretaries of the army, navy, and air force and the NME could do little more than encourage them to cooperate. Following the release of the Hoover Commission report in 1949, which proved that the NME was unwieldy and inefficient, Congress passed the National Security Act of 1949. It amended the 1947 act by eliminating the National Military Establishment and creating in its place the Department of Defense (DOD) as an executive department that had the separate service departments squarely under its authority. This reorganization diminished the power of the separate service secretaries and gave the defense establishment a united voice.
The National Security Council (NSC) also coordinated the activities of all executive branch departments concerned with national security. According to the measure, the NSC comprised the president, the vice president, the secretary of state, and the secretary of defense. Other major foreign policy officials, such as the CIA director and the chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, were not statutory members but frequently participated in NSC meetings.
Further reading: Demetrios Caraley, The Politics of Military Unification: A Study of Conflict and the Policy Process (New York: Columbia University Press, 1966); Michael J. Hogan, A Cross of Iron: Harry S. Truman and the Origins of the National Security State, 1945-1954 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998); Melvyn P. Leffler, A Preponderance of Power: National Security, the Truman Administration, and the Cold War (Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press, 1992).
—Elizabeth A. Henke
World History
