A Case Study in NASA-DoD - The Black Vault

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government, allocating responsibility for major aeronautical and space
activities, providing for effective cooperation between NASA and DoD,
and resolving differences arising among departments and agencies of the
United States.
These duties represented the primary means for carrying
out the mandate to devise a comprehensive and integrated policy in
this field. (1 6 )
(The draft legislation provided for a Space Board advising
the NASA Director; the Space Act provided for a Space Council
advising the President. The two provisions bear almost no resemblance
to each other.) (1 7 )
In the original wording of this provision, Congress intended that
the appointment of the executive secretary of the NASC be mandatory,
but because of White House pressure "shall" was changed to "may."
Throughout the Eisenhower Administration no appointment was made and
the Council never really functioned as Congress had intended. This
was consistent with the administration position that there was no need
for a coordinated national space policy because the civilian and military
functions in space development are separate responsibilities requiring
no coordinating body. (18)
The Congress also provided machinery for direct day-to-day military-civilian
coordination by providing that a Civilian-Military Liaison
Committee (CMLC) be established (Sec. 204).
A chairman appointed
by the President, together with at least one representative from DoD
and each of the three services, matched by an equal number from NASA,
would serve as a means by which NASA and DoD could "advise and consult
with each other on all matters within their respective jurisdictions
relating to aeronautical and space activities" and keep each other
fully and currently informed with respect to such activities.
If DoD
or NASA could not come to an agreement on some matter, either agency
head was explicitly authorized to refer the matter to the President
for a final decision.
(No provision for such a liaison committee was
included in the draft legislation and the push for it came largely from
the House of Representatives.) (8 )
ORGANIZATIONAL ARRANGEMENTS
As mentioned previously, the Space Act required the formulation of
two groups to facilitate both the formulation of the U.S. national space