JFK Requests New Academy Of Diplomats

President Kennedy has proposed the creation of a "National Academy of Foreign Affairs" to train all civilian government employees serving overseas. The proposed academy would operate on a graduate level, independent of existing government departments.

Robert E. Lee, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State, said yesterday that the School would not compete with existing Universities, although it would undertake research projects. It would replace the State Department's Foreign Service Institute, but would not supplant West Point or the other service academies.

Would Be Built Near Washington

Lee told the CRIMSON that Administration plans call for an institution with a faculty of 600, drawn mostly from the academic world, and an enrollment of 500. Built in or near Washington, it would serve the more than 20 government departments and agencies that deal with foreign affairs.

These would include the Central Intelligence Agency, the United States Information Agency, and the Defense Department, among others. The Peace Corps would not use the new academy except for executives' training.

Its curriculum would include language and special-area studies, as well as advanced seminars. New students would be expected to follow set programs lasting from several weeks to a year, and veteran diplomats would return for periodic refresher courses to the academy, as they now do to the Foreign Service institute.

A chancellor and a board of regents, appointed by the President, would administer the academy. Lee estimated that it would cost about $6 million a year to run.

Request in Presidential Message

The President embodied his request for the school in a three-part package he sent to Congress last Monday. Besides the draft legislation, he enclosed a memorandum from Secretary of State Dean Rusk setting forth the objects of the academy and letters to Congressional leaders.

The bill to create the academy goes first to the Foreign Affairs Committee of the House and the Foreign Relations Committee of the Senate. Lee said that he hoped for early hearings, so that the academy could be authorized before the end of the year.

The President's action was based on the conclusions of reports by former Secretary of State Christian A. Herter '15 and by a committee under James A. Perkins, then with the Carnegie Foundation