Message to the Congress Transmitting the final Report on the Mutual Security Program.

[Released June 12, 1962. Dated June 11, 1962]

To the Congress of the United States:

Transmitted herewith is the final Annual Report on the operations of the Mutual Security Program for the period ending June 30, 1961 The report was prepared under the direction of the Administrator of the Agency for International Development as Coordinator of the foreign assistance program, with Participation by the Department of State and the Department of Defense.

This report marks the end of one decade in our aid programs and the beginning of another; the transition from what was primarily a decade of defense to a Decade of Development. The past decade has seen the strengthening of many of our friends and allies so that they have been enabled not only to thrive without our grant assistance, but also to bear an increasing share of the responsibility of helping the less-developed nations.

Fiscal year 1961 can perhaps best be characterized as a year of re-evaluation for the foreign assistance program. A Presidential Task force was set up early in 1961 to review the program thoroughly--from basic policy to future objectives. The work of this Task force, and subsequently the constructive efforts of the Congress, resulted in the foreign Assistance Act of 1961, which created the Agency for International Development and in effect inaugurated the Decade of Development.

For the new decade, new tools have been forged to implement the changes in program emphasis toward economic and social progress through self-help, long-range development, and a shift from grant assistance to loans. These objectives can be realized, however, only if the strength and will of the free world against overt aggression and subversion from within is maintained. We must continue, therefore, to carry forward an effective military assistance program to sustain the safeguards and defensive arrangements necessary for the peaceful development of the free world.

JOHN F. KENNEDY