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    "localId": "213875700",
    "label": "National Security Council Report 17, A Report to the National Security Council by the Executive Secretary on the Internal Security of the United States",
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    "id": "213875700",
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    "contentType": "document",
    "title": "National Security Council Report 17, A Report to the National Security Council by the Executive Secretary on the Internal Security of the United States",
    "citationUrl": "https://catalog.archives.gov/id/213875700",
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        "President's Secretary's Files (Truman Administration)",
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    "productionDates": [
        {
            "day": 28,
            "logicalDate": "1948-06-28",
            "month": 6,
            "year": 1948
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    "seq": 7,
    "pageIndex": 0,
    "type": "photo",
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    "ocrText": "as well as\n\"to consider policies on matters of common interest to the\ndepartments and agencies of the Government concerned with\nthe national security, and to make recommendations to the\nPresident in connection therewith.\"\nIt was in the perspective of this statutory responsibility that the National Se-\ncurity Council directed that this study be undertaken, since the internal secur-\nity is an integral part of the national security. Accordingly, the National Se-\ncurity Council retained the writer to conduct the survey, subsequent to which\ntime this report was prepared after consultation with representatives of numer-\nous agencies including the following: Departments of State, the Army, the Navy,\nthe Air Force, Justice (Federal Bureau of Investigation and Immigration and Nat-\nuralization Service), the Treasury, Commerce, Atomic Energy Commission, Central\nIntelligence Agoncy, National Security Resources Board, and the Office of Civil\nDefense Planning.\nDISCUSSION OF TERMS\nIn this report the term \"internal security\" is not used in the re-\nstricted sense of relating solely to the discovery, control and counteraction\nof activit ies involving espionage, sabotage, treason, sedition and general sub-\nversion, although it is recognized that such activities do relate basically and\ndirectly to the Nation's internal security. Conversely, as used in this report,\nthe term should not be construed as including within its scope the entire field\nof national security. For example, it does not extend as a matter of principal\ninterest to measures of economic security taken to counter the effects of eco-\nnomic penetration or control of the world's resources and implemented through\ntariffs, trade agreements, etc. Similarly, it does not include as a matter of\nprimary interest measures of military security taken to counter the use of hos-\ntile military power and implemented through the use of organized armed fo rces;\nnor does it pertain principally to measures of political security primarily\ntaken with respect to another government and implemented through treaties, pacts\nor othor diplomatic action.\nConsistent with the qualifications outlined immediately above, the\ntorm \"internal security\" as utilized herein relates to the defense and protection\nwithin the United States and its territories of the people, the government, and\nrelated institutions from all hostilc and destructive actions on the part of per-\nsons, groups and nations. It is concorned therefore with tho inward defense of\nthe nation from dangerous or hostile forces. It is, accordingly, a collective\nresponsibility for collective protection of collective values by various coordi-\nnated agencies. Indicative of the practical facilities which have been estab-\nlished to insure this protection are such governmental entitics as: (1) The Na-\ntional Military Establishment, which must protect our vast coast line and\nNSC 17\n- 4 -"
}