REORGANIZATION PLAN NO. 3 OF 1953

Current through P.L. 118-47 (published on www.congress.gov on 03/23/2024)

Eff. June 12, 1953, 18 F.R. 3375, 67 Stat. 634

Prepared by the President and transmitted to the Senate and the House of Representatives in Congress assembled, April 2, 1953, pursuant to the provisions of the Reorganization Act of 1949, approved June 20, 1949, as amended [see 5 U.S.C. 901 et seq.].

OFFICE OF DEFENSE MOBILIZATION

Section 1. Establishment of Office

(a) There is hereby established in the Executive Office of the President a new agency which shall be known as the Office of Defense Mobilization, hereinafter referred to as the "Office."

(b) There shall be at the head of the Office a Director of the Office of Defense Mobilization, hereinafter referred to as the "Director," who shall be appointed by the President by and with the advice and consent of the Senate and shall receive compensation at the rate of $22,500 per annum.

(c) There shall be in the Office a Deputy Director of the Office of Defense Mobilization, who shall be appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, shall receive compensation at the rate of $17,500 per annum, shall perform such functions as the Director shall designate, and shall act as Director during the absence or disability of the Director or in the event of a vacancy in the office of the Director.

Sec. 2. Transfer of Functions

There are hereby transferred to the Director-

(a) All functions of the Chairman of the National Security Resources Board, including his functions as a member of the National Security Council, but excluding the functions abolished by section 5(a) of this reorganization plan.

(b) All functions under the Strategic and Critical Materials Stock Piling Act, as amended ( 50 U.S.C. 98 et seq.), vested in the Secretaries of the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Interior or in any of them or in any combination of them, including the functions which were vested in the Army and Navy Munitions Board by the item numbered (2) in section 6(a) of the said Act (60 Stat. 598) [ 50 U.S.C. 98e(a)(2) ], but excluding functions vested in the Secretary of the Interior by section 7 of the said Act [ 50 U.S.C. 98f ].

(c) The functions vested in the Munitions Board by section 4(h) of the Commodity Credit Corporation Charter Act, as amended ( 15 U.S.C. 714b(h) ) and by section 204(e) of the Federal Property and Administrative Services Act of 1949 ( 40 U.S.C. 485(e) ) [now 40 U.S.C. 574(c) ].

(d) All functions now vested by any statute in the Director of Defense Mobilization or in the Office of Defense Mobilization provided for in Executive Order Numbered 10193 (15 F.R. 9031) [revoked by Ex. Ord. No. 10480, 18 F.R. 4939, formerly set out as a note under 50 U.S.C. App. 2153].

Sec. 3. Performance of Transferred Functions

(a) The Director may from time to time make such provisions as he shall deem appropriate authorizing the performance by any other officer, or by any agency or employee, of the Office, of any function of the Director, exclusive of the function of being a member of the National Security Council.

(b) When authorized by the Director, any function transferred to him by the provisions of this reorganization plan (exclusive of the function of being a member of the National Security Council) may be performed by the head of any agency of the executive branch of the Government or, subject to the direction and control of any such agency head, by such officers, employees, and organizational units under the jurisdiction of such agency head as such agency head may designate.

(c) In addition to the representatives who by virtue of the last sentence of section 2(a) of the Strategic and Critical Materials Stock Piling Act, as amended ( 50 U.S.C. 98a(a) ) [former section 98a (a) of Title 50], and section 2 of this reorganization plan are designated to cooperate with the Director, the Secretary of Defense, the Secretary of the Interior, and the heads of such other agencies having functions regarding strategic or critical materials as the Director shall from time to time designate, shall each designate representatives who shall similarly cooperate with the Director.

Sec. 4. Records, Property, Personnel, and Funds

There shall be transferred with the functions transferred by this reorganization plan from the Chairman of the National Security Resources Board and the Department of Defense, respectively, so much of the records, property, personnel, and unexpended balances of appropriations, allocations, and other funds, used, held, employed, available, or to be made available in connection with the said functions, as the Director shall determine to be required for the performance of the transferred functions by the Office, but all transfers from the Department of Defense under the foregoing provisions of this section shall be subject to the approval of the Secretary of Defense.

Sec. 5. Abolition of Functions

(a) The functions of the Chairman of the National Security Resources Board under section 18 of the Universal Military Training and Service Act (50 U.S.C. App. 468), as affected by Reorganization Plan numbered 25 of 1950 (64 Stat. 1280), with respect to being consulted by and furnishing advice to the President as required by that section, are hereby abolished.

(b) So much of the functions of the Secretary of Defense under section 202(b) of the National Security Act of 1947, as amended [see 10 U.S.C. 113(b) ], as consists of direction, authority, and control over functions transferred by this reorganization plan is hereby abolished.

(c) Any functions which were vested in the Army and Navy Munitions Board or which are vested in the Munitions Board with respect to serving as agent through which the Secretaries of the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Interior jointly act, under section 2(a) of the Strategic and Critical Materials Stock Piling Act, as amended [former section 98a of Title 50], are hereby abolished.

Sec. 6. Abolition of National Security Resources Board

The National Security Resources Board (established by the National Security Act of 1947, 61 Stat. 499) [ 50 U.S.C. 404 ], including the offices of Chairman and Vice Chairman of the National Security Resources Board, is hereby abolished, and the Director shall provide for winding up any outstanding affairs of the said Board or offices not otherwise provided for in this reorganization plan.

[For subsequent history relating to Office of Defense Mobilization, see 50 U.S.C. 404 and notes set out thereunder.]

Message of the President

To the Congress of the United States:

I transmit herewith Reorganization Plan No. 4 of 1953, prepared in accordance with the provisions of the Reorganization Act of 1949, as amended.

The reorganization plan is designed to achieve two primary objectives: The first is to improve the organization of the Executive Office of the President; the second is to enable one Executive Office agency to exercise strong leadership in our national mobilization effort, including both current defense activities and readiness for any future national emergency.

The National Security Resources Board was established by the National Security Act of 1947 to advise the President concerning various aspects of future military, industrial, and civilian mobilization. The areas of responsibility assigned to the Board included the use of national and industrial resources for military and civilian needs; the sufficiency of productive facilities; the strategic relocation of industries; the mobilization and maximum utilization of manpower; and the maintenance and stabilization of the civilian economy.

The vigorous and efficient discharge of these vital functions is not well served by the simultaneous existence in the Executive Office of the President of the National Security Resources Board (charged with planning for the future) and the present Office of Defense Mobilization (charged with programs of the present). The progress of the current mobilization effort has made plain how artificial is the present separation of these functions.

Both functions should now be combined into one defense mobilization agency. Accordingly, the reorganization plan would create in the Executive Office of the President a new agency, to be known as the Office of Defense Mobilization. It would transfer to the new Office the functions of the Chairman of the National Security Resources Board and abolish that Board, including the offices of Chairman and Vice Chairman.

The reorganization plan also transfers to the new agency the statutory functions of the present Office of Defense Mobilization. These are of a minor nature, the major functions of the present Office of Defense Mobilization having been delegated to it by the President, principally under the Defense Production Act of 1950, as amended. It is my intention to transfer the latter functions to the new agency by Executive order, and to abolish the Office of Defense Mobilization established by Executive Order No. 10193. There will thus result a new agency which combines the activities of the National Security Resources Board and both the statutory and delegated functions of the heretofore existing Office of Defense Mobilization.

The proposed plan would also reorganize various activities relating to the stockpiling of strategic and critical materials. Those activities are principally provided for in the Strategic and Critical Materials Stock Piling Act, as amended. It has become increasingly apparent that the policy and program aspects of stockpiling are an integral part of mobilization planning. They should not be administered separately from plant expansion, conservation of materials, and materials procurement under the Defense Production Act of 1950, or from the duties placed in the National Security Resources Board by the National Security Act of 1947. Therefore, the reorganization plan would transfer to the Director of the new Office of Defense Mobilization responsibility for major stockpiling actions, including the determination of the nature and quantities of materials to be stockpiled. In the main, these functions are transferred from the Secretaries of the Army, Navy, and Air Force (acting jointly through the agency of the Munitions Board) and the Secretary of the Interior. The duties of the Administrator of General Services regarding the purchase of strategic and critical materials and the management of stockpiles are not affected by the reorganization plan, except that he will receive his directions, under the plan, from the Director of the Office of Defense Mobilization instead of from the Department of Defense.

This transfer of stockpiling functions will correct the present undesirable confusion of responsibilities. The functions of the heads of the military departments of the Department of Defense and the Secretary of the Interior under the Strategic and Critical Materials Stock Piling Act, as amended, are at present in considerable measure subject to other authority of delegates of the President springing from the Defense Production Act of 1950, as amended. The allocation and distribution of scarce materials among essential civilian and military activities and the continued maintenance of adequate stockpiles of strategic and critical materials are of major current importance. The reorganization plan will make possible more effective coordination and close control over the Government's whole stockpile program. It will speed decisions. It can result in significant economies.

The Department of Defense will, of course, continue to be responsible for presenting the needs of the military services. That Department and the Department of the Interior are specifically designated in the plan as additional agencies which shall appoint representatives to cooperate with the Director of the Office of Defense Mobilization in determining which materials are strategic and critical and how much of them is to be purchased. Final authority with regard to such determination will, however, be in the Director of the Office of Defense Mobilization.

Section 5(a) of the reorganization plan withholds from transfer to the Director and abolishes the functions of the Chairman of the National Security Resources Board with regard to being consulted by and furnishing advice to the President concerning the placing of orders of mandatory precedence for articles or materials for the use of the armed forces of the United States or for the use of the Atomic Energy Commission, and with regard to determining that a plant, mine, or other facility can be readily converted to the production or furnishing of such articles or materials. These abolished functions were vested in the National Security Resources Board by section 18 of the Selective Service Act of 1948 (later renamed as the Universal Military Training and Service Act) and were transferred to the Chairman of that Board by Reorganization Plan No. 25 of 1950. The practical effect of this abolition is to obviate a statutory mandate that the President consult and advise with another officer of the executive branch of the Government.

Section 5(b) of the reorganization plan abolishes the direction, authority, and control of the Secretary of Defense over functions transferred from the Department of Defense by the reorganization plan. The Secretary's functions in this regard are provided for in section 202(b) of the National Security Act of 1947, as amended ( 5 U.S.C. 171a(b) ) [see 10 U.S.C. 113(b) ].

Section 5(c) of the reorganization plan abolishes any functions which were vested in the Army and Navy Munitions Board or which are vested in the Munitions Board with respect to serving as the agent through which the Secretaries of the Army, Navy, Air Force, and the Interior jointly act in determining which materials are strategic and critical under the provisions of the Strategic and Critical Materials Stock Piling Act, as amended, and the quality and quantities of such materials to be stockpiled. These abolished functions are provided for in section 2(a) of the Strategic and Critical Materials Stock Piling Act, as amended.

After investigation I have found and hereby declare that each reorganization included in Reorganization Plan No. 3 of 1953 is necessary to accomplish one or more of the purposes set forth in section 2(a) of the Reorganization Act of 1949, as amended. I have also found and hereby declare that by reason of these reorganizations it is necessary to include in the reorganization plan provisions for the appointment and compensation of a Director and a Deputy Director of the Office of Defense Mobilization. The rates of compensation fixed for these officers are, respectively, those which I have found to prevail in respect of comparable officers of the executive branch of the Government.

The reorganization plan will permit better organization and management of the Federal programs relating to materials and requirements and will thus help to achieve the maximum degree of mobilization readiness at the least possible cost. It is not practicable, however, to itemize, in advance of actual experience, the reductions of expenditures to be brought about by the taking effect of the reorganizations included in Reorganization Plan No. 3 of 1953.

I urge that the Congress allow the proposed reorganization plan to become effective.

Dwight D. Eisenhower.

THE WHITE HOUSE, April 2, 1953.