National Security Act
The National Security Act of 1947 reorganized the U.S. Armed Forces, the civilian command over them, and the logistics operations for them.
Contents
Description
The Department of War was split between Army and Air Force. These departments, along with that of the Navy, were then made subordinate to a National Military Establishment.
The Joint Chiefs of Staff was established to centralized uniformed command within the NME.
The various logistics agencies and munitions boards that oversaw the U.S. Armed Forces supply chain were consolidated into the NSRB and the Munitions Board.
History
As early as 1944, Congress began to study a reorganization plan for the U.S. Armed Forces. The Select Committee On Postwar Military Policy was convened and heard plans from both the War Deparment and Navy; the former supported a merger while the latter opposed any reorganization. After a few months, the committee was dissolved without consensus. It was also known as the Wadsworth Committee for Wadsworth who introduced the resolution to create it.
In late 1945, Truman began to lobby Congress for a merger. In 1946 he issued gag orders against Navy leadership to prevent them from publicly opposing his plans.
In February 1947, Truman sent a draft of the National Security Act to Congress. By July, the bill was finally passed and signed into law.
In 1949, the NME was renamed to the DOD; Eisenhower would further reorganize it in 1958 to establish the modern DOD.
The NSRB and Munitions Board both quickly became ineffectual. Truman attempted to solve these issues by creating additional agencies (i.e. the ODM and Defense Supply Management Agency). Eisenhower eliminated all of these boards and agencies; economic management powers were abandoned, mobilization advisement was moved into the Office of Civil and Defense Mobilization, and procurement was assigned to a new assistant secretary for Supply and Logistics.