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The Federal Security Agency (FSA) was an independent agency of the United States government established in 1939 pursuant to the "Reorganization Act of 1939" (P.L. 19, 76th Cong., 1st sess.). For a time, the agency administered the Social Security old-age pension plan, oversaw food and drug safety, administered public health programs, and federal education funding.

The Reorganization Act of 1939 authorized the president of the United States to devise a plan to reorganize the executive branch of government. Pursuant to the Act, President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued "Reorganization Plan No. 1 of 1939" on April 25, 1939. The reorganization plan was designed to reduce the number of agencies reporting directly to the president.

The Reorganization Plan created the cabinet-level Federal Security Agency. Included in FSA was the Social Security Board, the U.S. Public Health Service, Food and Drug Administration, the Civilian Conservation Corps, the Office of Education (later the United States Department of Education), the National Youth Administration and a number of other agencies.^[1] Its first director was Paul V. McNutt. Secretly, the FSA was also a cover agency from 1942 to 1944 for the War Research Service, a secret program to develop chemical and biological weapons.^[2]

President Harry S Truman attempted to make the FSA a department of the federal government, but this legislation was defeated.^[3]

In 1949, the United States Congress enacted the "Reorganization Act of 1949" (5 U.S.C. 901). Subsequently, President Dwight D. Eisenhower promulgated "Reorganization Plan No. 1 of 1953." The Federal Security Agency was abolished and most of its functions transferred to the newly-formed United States Department of Health, Education and Welfare (HEW).^[4]

Notes

References

• "The Begats. Boards & Bureaus." Time. April 13, 1942.
• Blake, I. George. Paul V. McNutt: Portrait of a Hoosier Statesman. Indianapolis: Central Publishing Co., 1966.
• Compilation of the Social Security Laws. Vol. I: Including the Social Security Act, as Amended, and Related Enactments Through January 1, 2005. 3rd ed. Committee on Ways and Means. U.S House of Representatives. July 18, 2005. ISBN 0160724856
• Culp, Betsey. "Whose Security? A Voice from the Past." San Francisco Call. February 22, 2005.
• "Oral History Interview with Oscar R. Ewing." Oral History Interviews. Truman Presidential Library. May 1, 1969.
• Reorganization Plan No. 1 of 1939. Social Security Administration. Accessed Jan. 22, 2007.
• Reorganization Plan No. 1 of 1953. Title 5: Appendix: Reorganization Plans. Title 5 - Government Organization and Employees. 5 U.S.C. 901. Enacted June 20, 1949. Transmitted to the U.S. Senate and U.S. House of Representatives, March 12, 1953.
• Series 4: "War Research Service. Committees on Biological Warfare, 1941-1948." Archives of the National Academies. National Academy of Sciences. Accessed Jan. 22, 2007.

External links

• Social Security Administration
• U.S. Dept. of Education
• U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services
• U.S. Food and Drug Administration