841.24/263
Memorandum by the Chief of the Division of Controls (Green)
I called this morning by appointment on Captain Collins, Chief of the Procurement Division of the Treasury and Chairman of the Interdepartmental Liaison Committee established by the President to deal with, foreign purchasing missions. I explained that I had asked for an appointment in order to ascertain from him just what he wished the Department of State to do in connection with the work of his Committee. I pointed out that correspondence between his office and the Department in regard to this matter had followed no regular pattern and suggested that the establishment of some definite procedure agreeable to him might be advantageous.
Captain Collins readily agreed. He said that the whole machinery of the Liaison Committee was new; that the Committee had been almost swamped by the pressure of business; and that contacts with the Department of State had heretofore been rather haphazard. He said that he welcomed my call as a means of establishing proper and definite liaison with the Department of State.
After some discussion, it was agreed that representatives of foreign governments, whether diplomatic representatives or agents specifically charged with making purchases, who might call at the Department with a view to making arrangements for the purchase of munitions, were to be referred to him, except when the proposed purchases were to be purchases of arms declared surplus by the War Department. In each case, when the representative of a foreign government was referred to his office, he would be notified by a third person letter. Representatives of foreign governments referred to Captain Collins would be informed by the Department that they could carry on all negotiations directly with him and that it would not [Page 2] be necessary to transmit requests for information or for action through the Department of State. The Department would in all cases be informed in writing of the decisions of the Committee—for information only in case the purchasing agent is not the diplomatic mission of the purchasing government accredited to this Government, and for transmission to the appropriate embassy or legation in case the purchasing agent is a diplomatic officer accredited to this Government. In the latter case, the decisions would be transmitted in duplicate, the papers drafted in such wise that copies could be forwarded to the appropriate mission.
Captain Collins agreed that requests to negotiate for the purchase of surplus arms should not be referred to his Committee but should be referred directly to the War Department in accordance with the procedure already agreed upon between the Secretaries of State and War.