general direction and coordination of all departmental and interdepartmental activity concerning the North Atlantic Treaty and other regional and bilateral arrangements concerned with collective defense, mutual defense assistance programs, and economic assistance in support of military preparedness. Mr. Thomas Cabot, a Boston banker and businessman new to the Government, has been appointed to fill this position, and we are in process of recruiting a competent staff to help him to carry out his tremendously important job. Other areas of the Department have been undergoing internal adjustments in their organization to accommodate new or expanded functions.

An example of the increased workload is the greatly accelerated tempo of intelligence resulting from the world crisis. An emergency program has been invoked to meet the need for speed. The heavy demands for current intelligence in all fields and for continuous evaluation of information on critical areas has been met by the establishment of special facilities to provide for hour-by-hour service to the operating officers of the Department. Each morning, for example, intelligence officers brief me and other members of my staff on overnight developments having foreign-policy implications.

The Department of State, of course, must also maintain for the other Federal intelligence agencies a steady flow of evaluated political news from abroad. Further, it must contribute to the national intelligence estimates, and insure that full account is taken in such estimates of political, economic, and sociological factors. Thus, the Department's intelligence organization is more than ever a key part of the over-all governmental organization and is playing a vital role in the national security program.

As a result of these new developments, the intelligence area will be called on for a greater effort to collect and evaluate the facts upon which sound policies can be developed. It will be heavily taxed to meet these needs.

In reporting to you last year, I reviewed at some length the steps I had taken to assure most careful consideration of the Hoover Commission's recommendation for amalgamation of the departmental and Foreign Service personnel systems. The committee which I mentioned then was composed of Mr. James Rowe, formerly Assistant Attorney General, Mr. Robert Ramspeck, formerly a Member of the House of Representatives and chairman of the House Civil Service Committee, and William E. DeCourcy, Ambassador to Haiti, who is a career Foreign Service officer. This committee has submitted its report to me. Its recommendations warrant most serious consideration. The Department will take steps to assure that these recommendations are implemented as fully and as quickly as sound personnel practice and the conditions imposed on us by the national emergency permit.

Now I would like to discuss briefly some of the means through which we are seeking to strengthen our defenses and to promote our security and well-being in the world.

UNITED NATIONS

With respect to the United Nations, we are continuing to give unfaltering support to the principles of its Charter and to the United Nations as a functioning organization.

Last fall, the General Assembly adopted the resolution entitled "United Action for Peace," which provided for strengthened collective measures against aggression. The realization and operation of this plan are subject to no veto. It depends only upon the will of the members to plan and act together.

We are striving now to maintain a strong united position among the free members of the United Nations against the aggression which has been committed in Korea.

Progress toward the international control of atomic energy or the reduction of armaments has been slow. On October 24, however, the President of the United States suggested a new approach to this subject. He proposed the consolidation in one body of the activities of the two separate commissions set up by the United Nations to deal with these problems. The General Assembly on December 13 initiated steps looking toward this end.

In the economic and social field, the General Assembly on the recommendation of the Economic and Social Council provided for the appointment of an Agent General for Relief and Rehabilitation in Korea. The General Assembly also made provision for the continuation of the Palestine relief program, including the establishment of a reintegration fund.

The technical assistance program of the United Nations is gathering momentum with major emphasis being placed on agriculture, health, education, and public administration programs in underdeveloped The General Assembly has established an Office of High Commissioner for Refugees to provide protection for refugees in countries of resettlement until they acquire a nationality.

Steps have been taken in the Trusteeship Council toward settlement of many controversial issues in the African Trust Territories. In the Caribbean area and in the South Pacific, regional commissions representing the administering powers concerned are making progress in dealing with economic and social problems of the dependent territories.

REGIONAL GROUPINGS

The work of the United Nations is being substantially buttressed by the maturing programs of the Organization of American States and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Support of these organizations is fundamental to our policy.

In this hemisphere, the accomplishments of the Organization of American States in promoting unity of action have been outstanding. Progress in this respect is continuing. On the initiative of the United States, a consultative meeting of the ministers of foreign affairs of the American Republics has been called to convene in Washington on March 26, 1951. This will be an emergency meeting of the foreign ministers, in contrast to the regular inter-American conferences held every 5 years. Similar emergency meetings have been held three times previously-at Panama in 1939 after the outbreak of World War II, at Habana in 1940 after the independent nations of Western Europe had been overrun, and at Rio de Janeiro in 1942 following United States entry into war. At the present time, the United States, having embarked on a program of urgent mobilization for the common defense, desires to consult with its fellow members in the interAmerican community on the threat to the free world. The request.

of the United States representative on the Council of the Organization of American States at the meeting on December 20, 1950, for a consultation of foreign ministers met with an enthusiastic response on the part of representatives of the other American Republics and resulted in the call for the March 26 meeting.

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization is developing as an effective mechanism for increasing the capacity of Western Europe to resist Communist aggression. The 12 nations of the North Atlantic community are moving forward to the creation of that kind of strength which will constitute an effective deterrent against aggression.

The Western European countries are moving out of the stage of paper plans into the field of action. With our help, they are acting to raise and equip the forces needed to reach the goals laid down in our common military plans. A notable milestone in this development has been the acceptance of plans for an integrated defense force and the designation of General Eisenhower as the supreme commander of the forces of the North Atlantic Powers located in Europe.

The development of further regional organizations depends upon the existence of this community sense among the peoples of other

areas.

STRENGTHENING THE FREE WORLD

We are encouraging and assisting our allies in the rapid building of military strength which will be sufficient to provide a powerful deterrent to any new aggression and afford readiness for immediate all-out mobilization if necessary.

Every item which goes into our programs of military and economic aid will be examined to see whether it is making a sufficient contribution to international security and to the strength of the Nation receiving the item. While further economic aid is needed, even in Europe, such aid is primarily required for, and will be directly related to, our main effort which is to create adequate defensive power in the free world. In this effort, the ability of Europe to produce arms for its own use must be used to the fullest, if our goals are to be reached, and we propose to help them do so whenever our help is required for this purpose. In other cases, the United States will, in place of providing items from our own production or from our own shelves, procure military arms in Europe and make them available to those countries which most urgently require them. In short, we must boldly make our contribution in whatever form that contribution will do the most good, whether it be a carload of copper or a carload of rifles. The same principles apply to other areas.

We are now helping our allies in many different parts of the world to build our common defensive strength.

We have been continuing economic assistance to the Chinese Government in Formosa and affording it certain military supplies which it requires for the defense of the island.

In the Philippines, economic difficulties not unnatural to a new nation recently emerged from a devastating war have created pressing problems. We are engaged there in a far-reaching cooperative undertaking in economic rehabilitation and reform. This program will require contributions from both the Philippine peoples and ourselves. We are also currently engaged in aiding the Philippines to strengthen their forces to enable them to eliminate armed Communist dissidents in the islands.

Elsewhere in southeast Asia we are rendering these same forms of assistance through our special technical and economic missions operating on Economic Cooperation Administration funds and under the mutual defense assistance program. In Indochina, where the rebel Ho Chi-minh is receiving increasing aid from Communists across the border in China, the assistance we have been and are giving forces of the associated states and of the French Union is particularly important.

In the Near East, south Asia, and Africa, our major effort has been devoted to assisting the countries of Greece, Turkey, and Iran, to maintain their independence and territorial integrity. To offset continued Soviet pressure on Turkey and Greece, and greatly increased Soviet activity with respect to Iran, economic and military aid is being continued or, in some instances, stepped up. India, Pakistan, and other south Asian countries, as well as the Arab States and Israel, remain free of Communist domination. The importance of encouraging the voluntary association of the governments of these areas with the United States and other western democracies in opposition to Soviet imperialism is self-evident.

Supplementing our programs of military and economic aid we must plan our financial and trade policy with recognition of the possibility that the emergency we now face may extend over a period of several years. Our financial and trade policy must accordingly be viewed in two perspectives-the short-range, representing the duration of the emergency, and the long-range, which represents the ultimate objective of our total policy. While it is essential that we prepare ourselves for the present period of crisis, it is equally necessary that we continue to build our own strength and that of the free world for the attainment of our long-range goals. Continued progress toward the elimination of unnecessary trade and financial barriers, and toward free-world acceptance of sound economic policies, increases the military and defense powers of each country and of the entire free world.

The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade will continue to play an important role in this field. It will be necessary for the Congress this session to renew the trade agreements authority, under which the agreement has been developed.

In addition to a broadening and intensification of export security controls, strengthened by consultation and coordination of similar security measure with other countries, export controls have been applied by the United States to a growing list of short-supply commodities. In order to provide for essential requirements of friendly countries and to assure the most effective distribution in the free world, it became necessary to institute export allocation of these shortsupply items under United States control. To assure distribution consistent with the effective use of short-supply materials, international commodity groups are being organized to recommend action necessary to expand production, and conserve supplies.

There is also the major task which constantly engages our attention in utilizing international communications facilities including shipping, aviation, and telecommunications. We must be certain of the most effective international cooperation in these fields of activity.

TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE

The rapid building of military strength and the myriad demands which will accompany this task will tax the resources available for economic development. Therefore, technical and economic assistance for the creation of new resources has become of great strategic significance. Accordingly we are broadening the concept of aid to underdeveloped areas.

Our assistance to the underdeveloped areas of the world is essential to the attainment of our foreign policy objectives and is of the greatest importance for our own economy. You are familiar with the excellent work the Institute of Inter-American Affairs did during World War II and has continued to do by way of strengthening the economies of our American neighbors. Those activities are being expanded under the point IV program, and similar programs have been initiated in Africa, the Near East, and in Asia. We seek by technical and economic aid to people who live in underdeveloped areas to strengthen their will and capacity to resist both external aggression and internal subversion. This aid also helps to ease political tensions, and to deter the use of violence. But the urgency becomes greater and the time dimension shorter for effecting these political purposes. The underdeveloped countries, particularly in Asia, Africa, and the Near East, are increasingly exposed to Soviet probing, pressure, and blandishment. Both the governments and the peoples of these areas must now, more than ever, become aware of their stake in the free world and of the hope for a better life offered by free institutions.

With this consideration in mind, a major objective of our aid must be an immediate and substantial increase in food production in the underdeveloped areas. Food supply projects are now given and must continue to be given top priority. Wherever we can help to increase the yield per acre per man in a friendly country, we are increasing its people's strength and will to resist, as well as decreasing the drain on our own resources of food and shipping. We are, in addition, vitally concerned with the underdeveloped countries as sources of strategic and critical materials, and it will be necessary not only to procure in quantity from abroad, but also to expand capacity and develop new foreign sources of supplies of commodities vital to the defense of the free world. Furthermore, with the prospect of general shortages of many nonstrategic but important consumer goods, our objective is to encourage the development of new production of such goods which would otherwise have to come largely from United States production. We can continue to look to private foreign investment to do part of the job that needs to be done in those underdeveloped areas of the world that are relatively secure. It is unreasonable to expect any increase in private foreign undertakings in areas on the periphery of the

soviets.

Experience has shown that technical cooperation and development programs, even those which have long-range objectives, make an immediate impact on the attitudes of peoples of the underdeveloped areas, who are the prime targets of Communist subversion. Such programs, therefore, can and do contribute to our immediate political objectives as well as to ultimate economic aims.