All but the Chiefs of the Army and Navy Command Staff were, then, component parts of the ordinary Cabinet. The composition of this Defense Council was changed in 1938. I refer the Tribunal to Exhibit USA-36, which appears in our document book as Number 2194-PS. This contains the unpublished Reich Defense Law of 4 September 1938.
I now quote from Paragraph 10, entitled “The Reich Defense Council,” which is found at Page 4 of the copy of the law in the original; and I now quote from Page 6 of the English translation, the top of the page:
“(2) The Führer and Reich Chancellor is chairman in the Reich Defense Council. His permanent deputy is General Field Marshal Göring; he has the authority to call conferences of the Council. Permanent members of the Council are:
“Reich Minister of Air and Supreme Commander of the Air Force, the Supreme Commander of the Army, the Supreme Commander of the Navy, the Chief of the OKW, the Führer’s Deputy, the Reich Minister and Chief of the Reich Chancellery, the President of the Secret Cabinet Council, the Plenipotentiary General for the Reich Administration, the Plenipotentiary General for Economics, the Reich Minister for Foreign Affairs, the Reich Minister of the Interior, the Reich Minister of Finance, the Reich Minister for Public Enlightenment and Propaganda, the President of the Reich Bank Directorate.
“The other Reich Ministers and the Reich offices directly subordinate to the Führer and the Reich Chancellor will be consulted if necessary. Further personalities may be called as the case demands.”
THE PRESIDENT: Colonel Storey, it would help me if you explained to me what conclusions you are asking us to draw from these documents.
COL. STOREY: If Your Honor pleases, we were trying to show the progressive domination of the Reich Cabinet by the defendants and the members of this group, so that, as Your Honors will see as we later go ahead, they could pass laws and decrees secretly, by circulatory process or at the will, in effect, of the defendants. I realize it is a little detailed, but we are trying to show the composition and how it was set up, and the conclusions will be drawn later.
By that time the Supreme Commanders of the Army and Navy had been given ministerial rank and authorized to participate in Cabinet meetings. I cite 1938 Reichsgesetzblatt, Part I, Page 215.