THE WHITE HOUSE

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80B01676R000500010077-4
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 4
• Document Creation Date: December 12, 2016
• Document Release Date: June 20, 2002
• Sequence Number: 77
• Publication Date: May 4, 1961
• Content Type: PREL

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IMMEDIATE RELEASE May 4, 1961
Office,of the White House Press Secretary
REFERRAL TO NSC
NOT REQUIRED
TFi.E WHITE HOUSE
The President today issued an Executive Order establishing the
President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board,
Today's order reactivates, under broadened terms of ref: rence,
the President's Board of Consultants on Foreign Intelligence Activities
which was established by President Eisenhower in 1956, following a rec-
ornmendation of the Cofnmisaion on Organization of the F..ecutive Branch
of the Government. New appointments are being made to the Board be-
cause the resignations of the members of the prior Board of ConsiLqtants
were submitted to and accepted by President .Eisenhower before he left
office.
Composed of able and experienced individuals from outside the
Government, the reactivated Board will be responsible for conducting an
objective, in dependent review of the foreign intelligence and related ac-
tivities of the Government and for reporting periodically to the
''ra ide:c:
with respect to its assessment of the objectives and performance of those
activities by the Central Intelligence Agency and the several additional
civilian and military agencies engaged therein.
The respon3ibilities assigned to the President's Foreign Intelli-
gence Advisory Board are of a continuing nature and encompass the total
U. S, foreign intelligence effort.- They are to be distinguished from
the ad hoc and much more limited study that is presently being made by
General Maxwell Taylor.
The members of the Board in whose qualification and discretion
the President has the fullest confidence are as follows:
Dr, James R. Killian, Jr., Chairman
Chairman of the Corporatilon
Massachusetts Institute of Technology'.
Cambridge, Massachusetts
Dr. William O. Baker
Vice President, Research
Bell Telephone Laboratories
Murray Hill, New Jersey
`X t. General James H, Doolittle, USAF (,et, )
-'Chairman of the Board
Space Technology Laboratories, Inc.
Los Angeles, California
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Dr. William L. Langer
Professor of History
Harvard University
Cambridge, Massachusetts
The Honorable Robert D. Murphy
President
Corning Glass International
New York, N..Y,
General Maxwell Taylor, USA (Ret. )
President, Lincoln Center for the
Performing Arts, Incorporated
New York City, N, Y.
Mr. J. Patrick Coyne, former official of the Federal Bureau of
investigation and the National Security Council, will continue to serve au
Executive Secretary of the reactivated Board. .
It is contemplated that: in the near future the President may ap-
point additional individuals to membership on the Board,
The text of the Executive Order follows.
EXECUTIVE ORDER
ESTABLISHING THE PRESIDENT'S FOREIGN INTELLIGENCE
ADVISORY BOARD
By virtue of the authority vested in me as President of the United
States, it is ordered as follows:
Section 1. There is hereby established the President's Foreign
Intelligence Advisory Board. The function of the Board shall be to advise
the President with respect to the objectives and conduct of the foreign in-
telligence and related activities of the United States which are required in
the interests of foreign policy and national defense and security.
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Section 2, In the performance of its advisory duties, the Board
shall conduct a continuing 'review and assessment of all functions of the
Central Intelligence Agency, and of other executive departmer is and agen-
cies having such or similar responsibilities in the foreign i:.telligence and
related fields, and shall report, thereon to the President each six months
or more frequently as deemed appropriate. The Directcr of Central In-
telligence and the heads of other departments and agencies concerned shall
make available to the Board any information with respect to foreign intelli-
gence matters which the Board may require for the purpose of carrying out
its responsibilities to the President. The information so supplied to the
Board shall be. afforded requisite security protection as prescribed by the
provisions of applicable laws and regulations.
Section 3. Members of the Board shall be appointed from among
qualified persons outside the Government and shall receive such compen-
sation and allowances, consonant with law, as may be prescribed here-
after. Such compensation and allowances and any other expenses arising
in connection with the work of tbe Board shall be paid from the appropria-
tion appearing under the heading "Special Projects" in title I of the General
Government Matters Appropriation Act, 1961, 74 Stat. 473, and, to the ex-
tent permitted by law, from any corresponding appropriation which may be
made for subsequent years. Such payments shall be made without regard
to the provisions of section 3681 of the Revised Statutes and section 9 of
tie act'of March 4, 1909, 35 atat. 1027 (31 U. S, C, 672 and 673).
Section 4. Executive Order No. 10656 of February 6, 1956, is
hereby -revoked.
JOHN F, KENNEDY
THE WHITE HOUSE,
May 4, 1961.
more (over)
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The text of the letter from the President to the members of the
Advisory Board follows:
I am delighted that you have consented to serve as a member of the
President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board which is being reactivated
pursu:.aft to an Executive Order issued earlier today.
I am establishing this Board for the purpose of providing me period-
ically with independent evaluations of the objectives and conduct of U. S.
foreign intelligence activities and of the performance of the several agen-
cies engaged in foreign intelligence and related efforts.
It is my desire that the Board shoiltd meet periodically to analyze
objectively the work of the Government's foreign intelligence agencies.
While the review by the Board will be concerned with all U. S. foreign in-
telligence activities, I would expect particular attention to be devoted to the
performance of those civilian and military intelligence elements of key im-
portance to the Government in the fields of national security and foreign
relations. I am especially anxious to obtain the Board's views as to the
over-all conduct and progress of the foreign intelligence effort as well as
its advice as to any modifications therein which would enhance the acquisi-
tion of intelligence essential to the policy making branches of the Govern-
ment in the areas of national security and foreign relations.
It is my hope that you and the others whom I have invited to serve
on the Board will be able to meet with mein the near future to discuss in
detail the scope of the work which you have so generously agreed to under-
take.
I know that you and your fellow Board xiembers can make a real.
contribution to the national interest by your service with this body.
Sincerely,
JOHN F. KENNEDY
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