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Title 50 — War and National DefenseRelease 119-73not60

§3 Duties of Council

Title 50 › Chapter 1— COUNCIL OF NATIONAL DEFENSE › § 3

Last updated Apr 5, 2026|Official source

Summary

The Council of National Defense must run investigations and advise the President and department heads on how to prepare the country for defense. That advice covers where to locate railroads near the frontier for quick troop and supply movement; how branch lines can serve military, industry, and commerce; use of waterways and seagoing transport; organizing military and naval mobilization; boosting home production if foreign trade is cut off; tracking and reporting on available supplies; and telling makers what the military needs so resources can be gathered fast.

Full Legal Text

Title 50, §3

War and National Defense — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

It shall be the duty of the Council of National Defense to supervise and direct investigations and make recommendations to the President and the heads of executive departments as to the location of railroads with reference to the frontier of the United States so as to render possible expeditious concentration of troops and supplies to points of defense; the coordination of military, industrial, and commercial purposes in the location of branch lines of railroad; the utilization of waterways; the mobilization of military and naval resources for defense; the increase of domestic production of articles and materials essential to the support of armies and of the people during the interruption of foreign commerce; the development of seagoing transportation; data as to amounts, location, method and means of production, and availability of military supplies; the giving of information to producers and manufacturers as to the class of supplies needed by the military and other services of the Government, the requirements relating thereto, and the creation of relations which will render possible in time of need the immediate concentration and utilization of the resources of the Nation.

Legislative History

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

Codification The words “extensive highways and” which preceded “branch lines of railroad” omitted on authority of act Nov. 9, 1921, which transferred powers and duties of Council relating to highways to Secretary of Commerce.

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

50 U.S.C. § 3

Title 50 — War and National Defense

Last Updated

Apr 5, 2026

Release point: 119-73not60