Letter in Response to Report by the Chairman, National Security Resources Board.

Dear Mr. Gorrie:

Thank you for the report of the activities of the National Security Resources Board under your Chairmanship. I am glad to have this record of the constructive steps which our Government is taking to strengthen its security and your appraisal of the problems to which we must give prompt and increasing attention.

The Resources Board, created under the National Security Act of 1947, has been a vital force in the planning that has gone forward to strengthen the mobilization base and to gird the Nation for effective defense. I have relied greatly on the advice of the Resources Board in formulating national policy for the direction of our defense effort both before and since the invasion of Korea; and I have looked to it for sound advice with respect to planning for effective defense for the future with its great question marks.

Much of the advice you have given me over the past years, because of the nature of the problems to which it related, has been classified. It is appropriate, therefore, to have a report at this time, summarizing to the extent possible, some of the major activities of the Board in initiating and guiding the development of special security programs, particularly as they relate to the non-military defense of the continent.

Very sincerely yours,

HARRY S. TRUMAN

[Mr. Jack Gorrie, Chairman, National Security Resources Board, Washington 25, D.C.]