NATIONAL SECURITY POLICY


                      STRATEGIC STOCKPILING
  The NSRB program for strategic stockpiling is based on the fol-
lowing assumptions:
  The USSR will have by mid-1954, at the latest, the capability of
striking the United States a lethal atomic blow.
  There is a strong possibility the USSR will strike that blow.
  Minimum stockpile objectives must be physically on hand within
continental U.S. by mid-1954.
  All stockpile objectives have been under review by the Munitions
Board since May 1949 at the request of the NS'RB. In the light of the
work so far completed, it appears that revised stockpile objectives
will be equivalent to about $6 billion when all are finally reviewed.
This $6 billion figure includes larger stockpiles of copper and alumi-
num than the presently established interim purchase targets for these
two major metals.
  Minimum stockpile objectives provide for only the probable loss of
foreign sources of raw materials and will supply only about 1/3 of U.S.
requirements for strategic and critical materials in a 5-year war
period. An additional 1/3 will come from imports from accessible for-
eign sources, and the final 1/3 is expected to come from domestic
production in war.
  Continued functioning of the national economy at a high level will
result in high demands for large quantities of strategic and critical
materials in the pre-war period, a substantial part of which will
normally be directed to non-essential and frivolous uses.
  At the present time the NSRB and the Bureau of the Budget are pre-
  paring ,for the President, as a result of his request in January 1950,
a
review of the entire stockpile program. This review covers supply and
requirements estimates, strategic assumptions, present status of each
material in terms of requirements, and procurement and storage ac-
tivities. When this review is completed, it will add significantly to
present knowledge of the stockpile program and its relationship to
military and civilian requirements and strategic plans, It will provide
a proper basis for estimating future budgetary requirements and the
estimate of $6 billion referred to in this discussion will be subject to
revision,
Current Stockpile Programs as oJ December 31, 1949:

Materials on hand in stockpile   .0.......          ;    $1.2 billion
Materials scheduled for delivery in Fiscal Year'1950  0.4
Materials scheduled for delivery after Fiscal Year 1950   0.5
Budget request for Fiscal Year 1951........               0.5
Unfinanced beyond Fiscal Year 1951 Budget request     1.2
   Total value of Stockpile Objectives....... .... .$3.8 billion


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