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Me. William C. Foster, Olin-Mathleson Chemical Corporation and
member of the Security Resources Panel, then made an oral presentation on the elements of the Panel report relating to Management and
Organization.
Mr. Foster and Mr. Sprague offered brief concluding remarks on
behalf of all of the members of the Security Resources Panel.
At the conclusion of the formal presentation General Cutler
asked Mr. Robert Lovett, as a member of the Advisory Panel, if he
would say a word.
Mr. Lovett replied that while he had no authority
to speak for these old "re-treads" on the Panel, he believed that
all of them certainly agreed that the report which had been presented
was e@ very competent job. Moreover, the conclusions had been forced
upon the members of the group against their own liking and inclination.
Their conclusions presented a grim picture but there was light at the
end of the tunnel. There was a solution. This was cold comfort but
neverthelese comfort. While Mr. Lovett saw nothing too desperate in
our present situation, it was clear that urgency of U.S. action was
very real indeed.
The President commented that he was extremely sorry that insufficient time had been provided for discussion and clarification of
the Security Resources Panel's conclusions. Had time permitted, for
example, he would have liked to explore further the views of the Panel
on the organization of the Department of Defense.
He was inclined to
believe there was much to be said for the Panel's recommendation that
the Office of Defense Mobilization and the Federal Civil Defense Agency
be consolidated. Since there was so little time for discussion the
President added that we would want to call on the members of the'
Security Resources Panel and the Advisory group in the future. The
President then went on to further exploration of certain matters .What,
he asked, can the American people be expected to put up with in terms
of the allocation of the Gross National Product over the next several
years?
Was the Panel proposing to impose controls on the U.S. economy
now? After all, this Administration had gotten rid of controls on the
economy as soon as it came into office because of its conviction that
in the absence of controls the American economy would develop more
rapidly. Are we now to advocate the re-introduction of controls? Enlarging on a comment made in the course of the presentation about the
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38 billion dollar ceiling on the Defense Department program, the
President reminded those present that he had urged upon the Congress
appropriations amounting to 39.5 billion rather than 38 billion.
In
Spite of a number of meetings with members of Congress on the budget,
in spite of the fact that he had gone on television to urge the validity
of his proposed appropriation, Congress had nevertheless cut the figure.
The President added that in the light of what had been presented
at the Council meeting today it was essential that we neither become
panicked nor allow ourselves to be complacent. It was necessary
Ee7 AGPSERED