Foreign Relations of the United States, 1961–1963, Volume VIII, National Security Policy

65. National Security Action Memorandum No. 119⁰

Washington, December 18, 1961.

TO

• The Secretary of State
• The Secretary of Defense

SUBJECT

• Civic Action

The President is concerned that we may be missing an opportunity this year to develop methods for supporting whatever contribution military forces can make to economic and social development in less-developed countries. While recognizing that civic action is not universally applicable, he hopes we will take full advantage of its contribution in crisis areas as well as in those where the threat of subversion is more remote.

By civic action we mean using military forces on projects useful to the populace at all levels in such fields as training, public works, agriculture, transportation, communication, health, sanitation, and others helpful to economic development.

In countries fighting active campaigns against internal subversion, we should encourage local forces to undertake civic action projects as indispensable means of strengthening their society’s economic base and establishing a link between army and populace. In countries threatened by external aggression, local forces should participate in civic action projects which do not materially impair performance of the primary military mission. In countries where subversion or attack is less imminent, selected military forces can contribute substantially to economic and social development, and we should make such a contribution a major function of these forces.

The President hopes that we can include civic action projects in existing and future military and economic assistance programs wherever practicable and in guidance that will affect future planning. He realizes we will have to develop new procedures for supporting this sort of project but feels that the benefits to be gained in some countries warrant considerable effort on our part. In an emergency, we should also consider using U.S. training teams as catalysts for a more rapid or substantial reorientation.

We must coordinate civic action with other programs directed at the same goals. A number of programs—economic and military assistance, political reform, paramilitary activities, police training, Peace Corps, and others—have common goals, but each can make a unique contribution. The President hopes that you might include civic action in any comprehensive study made in connection with NSAM No. 114¹ or in any regional study such as that requested in NSAM No. 118.²

I would appreciate very much your looking into our efforts to implement this policy and giving special attention to any interdepartmental or procedural problems which may be slowing our program. Would you be so kind as to let me know by 31 March what programs we have built into our FY 62 program and by 1 September what projects of this sort the FY 63 program includes.

McGeorge Bundy

³

0. Source: Kennedy Library, National Security Files, Meetings and Memoranda Series, NSAM 119. Secret. Copies were sent to Robert Kennedy, David Bell, Allen Dulles, and General Taylor. In a December 13 memorandum to McGeorge Bundy, Harold Saunders of the NSC Staff stated that a draft of this NSAM had been approved by General Taylor, DOD/ISA, the Bureau of the Budget, and the Department of State. In an attached memorandum for the President, Saunders argued that an NSAM was necessary because, although most Defense planners accepted the desirability of individual military civic action projects in underdeveloped countries, they lacked a concept for a broad program that would contribute to long-range development. In a December 18 memorandum to Bundy, Komer “agreed” that the NSAM was “marginal, and that we have too many little bits and pieces, largely overlapping, being issued as NSAMs on whole complex internal security problems,” but “nonetheless, a jog on civic action is desirable in general,” particularly while budget decisions were being made. The memorandum bears Bundy’s handwritten approval. (All ibid.)
1. Document 59.
2. Entitled “Participation of U.S. and Latin American Armed Forces in the Attainment of Common Objectives in Latin America,” December 5, 1961. (Kennedy Library, National Security Files, Meetings and Memoranda Series, NSAM 114)
3. Printed from a copy that indicates Bundy signed the original.