National Security Act of 1947
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President Truman signs the National Security Act Amendment of 1949 with guests in the Oval Office. |
The
National Security Act of 1947 signed
July 26,
1947 by
U.S. President Harry S. Truman realigned and reorganized the
United States' armed forces,
foreign policy, and
Intelligence Community apparatus in the aftermath of
World War II. The majority of the provisions of the Act took effect on
18 September 1947, the day after the
Senate confirmed
James V. Forrestal as the first
Secretary of Defense.
The Act merged the
Department of War and the
Department of the Navy into the
National Military Establishment (NME) headed by the Secretary of Defense. It was also responsible for the creation of a separate
Department of the Air Force from the existing
United States Army Air Forces. Initially, each of the three branches maintained quasi-cabinet status through their individual secretaries, but the act was amended on
10 August 1949 to assure their subordination to the Secretary of Defense. At the same time, the NME was renamed as the
Department of Defense.
Aside from the military reorganization, the act established the
National Security Council, a central place of coordination for national security policy in the Executive Branch, and the
Central Intelligence Agency, the United States' first peacetime intelligence agency.
The act and its changes, along with the
Truman Doctrine and the
Marshall Plan, were major components of the Truman administration's
Cold War strategy.
The bill signing took place aboard Truman's
C-54 presidential aircraft
Sacred Cow, the predecessor of
Air Force One. [
1].
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Text of the National Security Act of 1947*
National Security Act of 1947 information at the Department of State*
Did the National Security Act of 1947 destroy freedom of the press? HIR
