The chart also shows that EDAC has an Executive Committee; it handles the day-to-day operating and policy problems of the economic defense program. EDAC advises the Director of the Foreign Operations Administration and the Secretary of State who are charged with coordinating the implementation of the program of economic defense matters including the control of strategic shipments from the free world to the Soviet bloc.
Each agency that has a part in the economic defense program brings its own particular point of view to the discussions which constantly go on in the EDAC structure. For example, the Department of State is the agency that coordinates the overall foreign policy of the Government and deals directly with other countries; hence, that Department is able to speak authoritatively about the vital problems involved in maintaining good relations and close cooperation among the free nations, and concerning the most feasible and effective means of exerting United States influence in the implementation of United States policies. The Department of Defense, being the agency primarily concerned with military defense, brings to the discussions its own expert knowledge of military matters and contributes valuable advice on the military aspects of the problems that come up. The Department of Commerce brings its specialized knowledge of commodities and its experience in the administration of controls over the exportation of goods from the United States. The Foreign Operations Administration, besides administering the Battle Act, brings the point of view of the program of foreign assistance and the economic factors which must be taken into account. The Treasury Department is the authority on foreign-assets control, the Atomic Energy Commission on the significance and control of all atomic-energy materials, and so on through the list.
All these viewpoints and all these special areas of expert knowledge and experience are necessary to a well-rounded economic defense program. Each agency, while discharging its obligation to make its own special contribution to policy, is perfectly well aware that it is only one of the participants, and that the other agencies have legitimate points of view and valuable contributions to make. It is natural and inevitable that these agencies should not approach every problem of economic defense with identical views. But when the problem has been thoroughly considered, and all viewpoints taken into account, a decision is made on the basis of the overriding security interest of the country, and that decision then becomes the policy of the Government as a whole, respected by each agency regardless of the specialized views which it might have expressed in the discussions.
Improving the Machinery
Organizational changes made in the United States economic defense program during the 6 months under review included the following:
1. Establishment of a Security Trade Controls unit within the United States Regional Organization at Paris. This unit represents the United States in the informal international committee known as the Consultative Group (CG) and its subordinate working bodies, the Coordinating Committee (COCOM) and the China Committee (CHINCOM).[1] It also performs certain Battle Act duties in Europe. These two functions had previously been handled by separate staffs. The head of the new amalgamated office is responsible jointly to the Department of State and the Director of the Foreign Operations Administration.
2. Establishment of a Joint Operating Committee (JOC) in Washington. This development grew out of the fact that while EDAC is advisory on Battle Act matters and on economic defense in general, another interagency structure known as the Advisory Committee on Export Policy (ACEP) advises the Secretary of Commerce on controls on exports from the United States. EDAC and ACEP rely on basically similar information and upon the same general body of experts throughout the Government. Accordingly, JOC was created to analyze and recommend the strategic rating of commodities and the levels of control which might be exercised by the United States and advocated by the United States in international discussions. JOC is thus the central point of United States commodity review activities in this field, and there are no overlapping or competing activities of this nature. The chairman of JOC is a Commerce Department representative who is also a regular member of the EDAC Executive Committee. The membership of JOC is made up of the principal agencies which sit on both ACEP and EDAC. The new arrangement has proved itself in practice.
[1] See Third Semiannual Battle Act Report, ch. II.