S E C R E T The following is a telegram from Mr. Murphy in Algiers to the State Department, dated September 3, 1943. De Gaulle has raised the issue regarding the control by the Com- mittee over military affairs, following recognition by the Allied Governments and the ensuing clarification of the Committee's position. He has sent to Giraud a very confidential memorandum asking the latter to approve a more clearly defined control of the Committee over the CINC and military activities and the limitation of military power to operations against the enemy and armed force organization. Continuing, the memorandum states that the powers exercised by the ClNC in accordance with French law establishing a "state of siege" should be turned over to the responsible civil administrators and that the Committee should control all secret services, amalgated under one direction. It is requested that the existence of the memorandum in question not be divulged as it was reported to me in the greatest secrecy. Further along this line, the possibility of having only one President of the Committee, which in this case would be De Gaulle, and the appoint- ment of a defense commissioner has been suggested. With respect to military authority, the divergence is being further emphasized by the insistence of Giraud that alone, he has the authority to speak for the army, and that in his personal capacity the rearmament furnished by the United States of America was given to him. The authority to designate civilian administrators in territories of metropolitan France as they are liberated and the question of the organization and control of resistance movements have been brought to the fore in the discussions of the Committee. The extreme elements of the Gaullist faction have, it seems clear, decided that the time has come S E C R E T - 1 - |