Memorandum from Secretary of Defense Louis Johnson to President Harry S. Truman, with Attachments and Related Material
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OCR Page 1 of 11TOP SEODET
DECLASSIFIED
E. O. OSD 11652, Sec. 3(E) and S(D) or (E)
THE SECRETARY OF DEFENSE
letter, April 12,
6378
By NLT. 4L NARS Date 1974 6 27.75
WASHINGTON
Approved original returned
to Sec. of Defense 5/24/50.
23 May 1950
MEMORANDUM FOR THE PRESIDENT:
On December 8, 1949, I requested that you authorize
the Defense Department to survey the area in the vicinity
of Washington for the purpose of selecting an appropriate
site for an alternate Joint Command Post. As I advised
you at that time, the Joint Command Post -- which should
more appropriately be termed the "joint communications
center" - would be an alternate implementing agency of
the Joint Chiefs of Staff to coordinate operational ele-
ments of the armed forces by transmitting policy decisions
and directives to the various JCS commands and to the Serv-
ices, as appropriate. The Joint Chiefs of Staff would them-
selves remain at the Seat of Government wherever it may be.
On January 3 you authorized me to proceed with this
survey, stating in addition that your earlier decision
that the Covernment would remain in Washington until that
area became completely untenable had not been altered by
subsequent events, and instructing me to coordinate all
aspects of the survey with the National Security Resources
Board.
An extensive survey has now been conducted under the
direction of the Corps of Engineers and its findings re-
viewed by the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Armed Forces
Policy Council. The Defense Department accordingly con-
siders that the area including Camp Ritchie, Maryland and
the adjacent hill known as Raven Rock Mountain is the most
suitable location for the alternate joint communications
center from the standpoint of economy, naturally protective
terrain, utilities and access to major communications systems.
Camp Ritchie is located 75 miles northwest of Washington and
20 miles northeast of Hagerstown. If this area should be
approved for the indicated purpose, the Defense Department
would use the facilities at Camp Ritchie and would construct
the underground portion of the joint communications center
in Raven Rock Mountain.
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