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U. 8S. POLICY ON CONTINENTAL DEFENSE
(sc 5408; NSC 5606; NSC Actions Nos. 1574, 1781, 1814, 1815,
1841 and 1842; Executive Order No. 10173; NSC 5802)
General Cutler briefed the Council in detail on the his-
tory of U. S. Continental Defense policy, noting that in 1954, be-
cause of the lack of emphasis previously placed on programs for
Continental Defense, the Council concluded that it would be advisable to raise to a high level of importance and urgency--in relation to other national security programs--certain military and
non-military programs directly related to Continental Defense.
For this purpose, a Continental Defense policy statement embracing
over 30 selected programs was recommended to and approved by the
President in February, 1954, as NSC 5408.
General Cutler observed
thet in the years which have followed, the basic purpose of elevating these selected Continental Defense programs has been achieved,
. and the importance of selected Continental Defense programs is cur-
_ rently reflected in our Basic Policy statement (NSC 5707/8).
wy
General Cutler indicated that during the last four years
some of these Continental Defense programs--especially those of a
military nature--have been either completed, diminished, modified,
or altered in priority by reason of scientific and technological
advances. Thus, the Southern Canadian Early Warning Line and the
DEW Line have been established and are in operation. In addition,
other Continental Defense programs are in a continuing state of
implementation. As a consequence of the foregoing, it has been
conceded for some time that although NSC 5408 has remained the of-
ficial policy statement, many parts of it are out of date and require revision.
General Cutler noted that the Council's recent consideration of the Gaither Report and of progress in advanced weapons
systems related to Continental Defense, makes the present time
suitable to present to the Council anup-to-date statement of Con-
tinental Defense policy to replace NSC 5408. He noted that when
NSC 5408 was considered in 1954, then existing circumstances made
it appropriate to present the issues in the form of 4& group of programs rather than in the form of policy guidance. Now, however,
circumstances permit the presentation of the less detailed and non-
programmatic statement (NSC 5802) scheduled on today's agenda.
In
the latter connection, General Cutler noted that the President had
recently indicated it was high time the Council issued such revised
non-programiatic statement of policy.
General Cutler called attention to the scope of NSC 5802
and to the fact, as stated in paragraph l-a, that there are many
policies relating to Continental Defense (for example, our overseas
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