GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY PRESENTED AT THE CONFERENCE OF PACIFIC AND FAR EAST MILITARY ATTACHES HELD AT HONOLULU, HAWAII OCTOBER 24 - 31, 1947

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80R01731R001400140001-5
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 12
• Document Creation Date: December 15, 2016
• Document Release Date: September 6, 2002
• Sequence Number: 1
• Publication Date: October 1, 1947
• Content Type: SPEECH

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Conference of Pacific and Far East Military Attaches
Speaker:
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DATE: 14 ; 9 aEVIEWERII
GHTH. HR 70.2
DOCUMENT NO.
NO CHANGE IN CLASS. ^
o DECLASSIFIED
GLASS. CHANGED TOt TS 369
I::XT REVIEW DATE:
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GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE CENTRAL INTELLIMNCE AGENCY
Gentlemen:
The Director of Central Intelligence, Rear Admiral Roscoe Hillenkoetter,
has asked me to express his appreciation for the invitation to have represen-
tation at this conference, and to express his regret that he could not attend
in person. He has instructed me to tell you something about the Central Intel-
ligence Agency.
As you may recall, a representative of the Central Intelligence Group,
as it was then called, gave a presentation upon the organization and functions
of CIG at last year's conference of the War Department Intelligence Agencies
in the Pacific and Far East areas. During the past year, substantial develop-
ment of central intelligence has occurred. I shall endeavor to explain this
growth and development after first giving very briefly some background infor-
mation for thebenefit of those who were not here last year.
You are all aware, I am sure, that the Central Intelligence Group was
created in answer to a widespread demand for an effective national intelligence
coordinating body. This demand was long overdue.
We entered World War II with the Military Intelligence Service not fully
prepared, either in its accumulation of intelligence or the means of producing
and disseminating it. In the early stages, we had to depend largely upon our
allies. However, as in previous wars, a highly efficient organization was
developed before the fighting ended.
During thewar, the Office of Strategic Services performed important
operating functions in some theaters; but it was not a coordinating agency,
and its activities considerably duplicated those of the armed forces. Joint
intelligence coxmnittees were also created and made important progress in the
coordinating of intelligence policy. However, no single national coordinating
agency existed, but there was complete unanimity of opinion that intelligence
must hereafter form a keystone in the nationts first line of defense.
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Various plans were submitted by the major intelligence agencies, all
contemplating that the central agency would require strong coordinating
authority. The divergent views of all responsible federal agencies were
exhaustively studied before the decision was reached. Finally, in January
1946, the President established the National Intelligence Authority by letters
to the Secretaries of State, -'ar, and Navy. The NIA, thus established, had
four voting members--the three Secretaries of the Departments and the Presi-
dentts personal representative, Fleet Admiral Leahy. The President-s letter
also created the necessary staff organization for the NIA under the title,
"The Central Intelligence Group". The Departments were required to furnish
the necessary personnel and facilities to establish the Central Intelligence
Group, and it was placed under a Director of Central Intelligence, appointed
by the President and responsible to the National Intelligence Authority. The
Director was authorized and directed to act for the NIA in coordinating all
federal foreign activities relating to the national security to insure that
the overall policies and objectives established by this authority were properly
implemented and executed. In addition, NIA stated that recommendations approved
would, where applicable, govern the intelligence activities of the several
Departments represented therein. Therefore, a Directive by the NIA bound each
of the three Departments, and the chain of command was carefully and fully
observed.
In view of these relationships, the Director of Central I ntelli>ence had
to understand the viewpoints of the Departmental Intelligence Agencies and
also how they would be affected by directives of the NIA. Accordingly, an
Intelligence Advisory Board was established whose permanent members were the
heads of the Intelligence Agencies of the State, War and Navy Departments and
the Army Air Forces. Provision was also made to invite the head of any other
agency to sit as a temporary member of the Board on a matter affecting his agency.
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Each permanent Board member therefore had a dual function: In addition to
advising the
Director of Central Intelligence, each held the organic position
of Principal Intelligence Adviser to the NIA member directly over him.
The top structure for Central Intelligence that I have just described
continued in effect until the very recent past. The legal authority for its
existence was by virtue of the Presidential letter. However, the need for
its having a firmer legal basis was well recognized and therefore appropriate
action was taken to include a provision for the Central Intelligence function
in the National Security Act of 1947. Under Title I thereof, the Central
Intelligence Agency became legally established. Under the terms of the Con-
gressional Act, the Central Intelligence Group changed its title to the Cen-
tral Intelligence Agency on 26 September 1947 when Rear Admiral Hillenkoetter
was sworn in and took office.
With the enactment of the National Security Act, the National Intelligence
Authority ceased to exist and was replaced by the National Security Council.
The National Security Council now consists of the President, the Secretary of
State, the Secretary of Defense, the Secretary of Army, the Secretary of Navy,
the Secretary of the Air Forces, the Chairman of the National Security Resources
Board and certain additional members who may be designated thereto by the
President under certain conditions. The Act, therefore, in effect, merely
changes the title of the Central Intelligence Group to the Central Intelligence
Agency, reaffirms the original functions and states that the Agency, under the
direction of the National Security Council, shall discharge intelligence coor-
dinating functions substantially the same as those originally established by
the Presidential letter of January, 1946. In addition, the personnel, property
and records of CI G were transferred to the Central Intelligence Agency when
the Group ceased to exist last month. Following this, the National Security
Council at its first meeting, directed that all the National Intelligence
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Authority directives to the Central Intelligence Group be continued in full
force and effect until specifically repealed, altered or augmented by the
National Security Council.
It is also contemplated that the Intelligence Advisory Board will continue
to function as advisers to the Director of Central Intelligence. Just recently,
a new member was added to the Advisory Board. He is the Director of Security
and Intelligence of the Atomic Energy Commission, of which Mr. Lillenthal is
the Chairman. This step was of major importance as it assured coordination of
intelligence on Advisory Board level of all agencies having primary responsi-
bilities for national security.
On the operating level also, provision was made for complete coordination
of all intelligence related to Atomic Energy, by the transfer to CIA of the
Foreign Intelligence Section of the Manhattan Engineering District When that
organization was deactivated. Under the Director of Central Intelligence this
Section continues to function in close cooperation with the Atomic Energy Com-
mission. This assures the utilization of all facilities in the development of
intelligence in this important program.
With this background, we will now touch on the mission, functional respon-
sibilities and the internal organization of the CIA. Basically, the mission
of Central Intelligence is one of directed coordination of intelligence acti-
vities and the production of national intelligence. The four major functions,,
designed to produce the best national intelligence for the aid of the President
and appropriate officials are:
(1) Coordination of intelligence policies and intelligence
activities of the Government.
(2) Coordination of collection and dissemination operations
and dissemination of national intelligence.
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(3) Coordination of research operations and production
of national intelligence.
(4) Performance of common services for all agencies.
In order to discharge these functions the CIA has, in general, estab-
lished a separate office to carry out each major function. In keeping with
the idea that an office which coordinates should not also operate, a clear
separation has been made; i.e., a CIA office which performs coordinating
functions does not at the same time perform operating functions and vice versa.
I realize that the internal organization of the CIA is perhaps of little interest
to you. However, I have provided a chart showing the organizational breakdown,
and will take just a few minutes to explain very briefly the operations of the
major offices in order to show the close tie-in with the Departmental Intelli-
gence Agencies on the staff and operating levels.
An Interdepartmental Coordinating and Planning Staff called "ICAPS" for
short, plans the overall coordination of departmental intelligence activities
and works out recommendations for the National Security Council for he es-
tablishment of major policies and objectives. The members of ICAPS are repre-
sentatives of the Departments of State, Army, Navy and Air, designated by
them, but under the administrative control of CIA. This group, in coordina-
tion with the Departments and Agencies, developed the policies which resulted
in.the publication of the NIA Directives. These Directives were published
infrequently, but they still have far-reaching effect since they announce the
overall policies by which intelligence operations of all agencies are coordi-
nated. The one NIA Directive with which you gentlemen are directly concerned is
NIA Directive No.7 which provides for the coordination of collection activities
in the field. I will not elaborate on this as I believe you are all familiar
with it since it was circulated some time ago by the State, War and Navy
Departments under appropriate instructions. As I have already mentioned, this
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and all other NIA Directives remain in full force until further notice.
The Office of Collection and Dissemination or OCD, accomplishes the co-
ordination of collection and dissemination through a clearing house arrange-
ment which serves the intelligence requirements of all authorized Departments
and Agencies. The basic principals are simple. Each Department determines
its own requirement for intelligence information. If it is unable to satisfy
its own requirement completely from its own resources, the requirement is sub-
mitted to the Office of Collection and Dissemination. OCD maintains direct
contact with all agencies which may have intelligence material in their files
or which have field collection facilities. It coordinates the request received,
eliminates duplication, and assures that appropriate file search is made to
see whether or not the material is already in Washington. If not, OCD then
allocates a field collection mission to the appropriate agency or agencies.
The collected material comes to the Reading Center, OCD, from where it is
disseminated to the requesting agency as well as other interested agencies.
The Reading Center also reviews the daily intake from intelligence agencies
of the Government and assures that each item is available to every agency
having a proper need for it. It now processes more than 10,000 documents a
month, not counting multiple copies, and handles over 7,000 cables.
We now come to the Office of Reports and Estimates, or ORE, which is at
the very heart of the intelligence problem. This Office is responsible for
complete correlation and evaluation of intelligence relating to the national
security. Copies of all material received in the Reading Center go to ORE.
This includes intelligence studies produced by the intelligence agencies as
well as all raw information. ORE depends upon the agenciest finished intel-
ligence as the principal basis for CIA Studies. However, ORE researchers
must also read the daily intake of raw information for two important reasons;
first, ORE must be continually expert on the world situation and be alert
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to decide when a special estimate should be submitted to the President on
CIA initiative; second, ORE must be continually ready to prepare any intel-
ligence study or estimate upon call from the President or the National Secu-
rity Council. Close liaison is maintained with the Research Divisions of the
principal departmental intelligence agencies and ORE depends upon them for
help in the preparation of national intelligene estimates. All intelligence
reports prepared by ORE are coordinated with the intelligence agencies and
substantial dissent by any of them is noted in the published CIA report.
ORE prepares CIA daily intelligence summaries, weekly summaries, and
special evaluations for the information of the President, the National Secu-
rity Council and selected high-level offices. In addition, it systematically
produces intelligence studies based on the current situation and objectives
of the National Security Council. ORE has also taken over the production of
basic intelligence formerly included in the Joint Army-Navy Intelligence
Studies, called "JANIS", and in the War Department Strategic Intelligence
Digest, called "SID".
The CIA activities so far described have been staff or coordinating
functions rather than operating functions. However, the CIA is also charged
with performing, for the benefit of departmental intelligence agencies, such
services of common concern as can be more efficiently accomplished centrally.
For this purpose two operating offices have been established; the Office of
Special Operations, and the Office of Operations. The Office of Special Op-
erations has special security IrdUelns, of whic. I believe you are all aware.
Generally speaking, it performs for CIA all espionage services abroad for the
benefit of the appropriate federal intelligence agencies. I would like, how-
ever, to clarify several points with regard to this clandestine operation.
It was not designed; nor intended to replace existing covert operations of any
of the departments. It was designed, and is being developed to cover areas not
covered by the departmental services. In other words, it fills the gaps in
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the covert intelligence collecting network.
Another point that I should like to make clear is that, contrary to the
impressions of some, the secret or special operations are not synonymous with
central intelligence. Certainly, clandestine intelligence activity is a very
necessary operation, and it is necessary fbr the CIA to engage in it to some
extent. However, it is not the principal preoccupation of this agency as many
have been led to believe by some loose talk and unfortunate publicity.
It has been estimated that only about lOn of all intelligence is obtained
by clandestine methods. There are certain times, certain conditions, and cer-
tain critical periods when there is a wall of secrecy put down over various
critical areas, and you have to have some means of digging information out.
At the same time, of course, the information you want is the information -Which
the government concerned most wants to conceal. Clandestine methods offer the
only solution so it does, therefore, round out the intelligence collecting
network. It is a very important part of our intelligence operations; it just
should not be over emphasized. The great bulk of intelligence engaging the
time of the CIA and the departments results from the efforts of you gentlemen
who are operating in the overt field. You will note that Special Operations
is but one of the two operating offices of CIA. Your Special Operations prob-
lems shouldnot, therefore, be freely discussed with every CIA representative
you meet until you know he is from the Office of Special Operations.
All the other operating functions of a service nature are concentrated
in the Office of Operations. An example of this type service is the monitor-
ing of press and propaganda broadcasts of foreign powers. This monitoring has
-frequently brought the first information of important events behind the Iron
Curtain. The coverage is world wide; and daily transcripts covering varied
fields of subject matter are distributed at high speed to all authorized agen-
cies. Stations located throughout the world intercept
words daily
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in thirty-nine languages the dialects.
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Approximately 120,000 words are filed daily by tele-
type to 'ashington. More than 1,000 copies of mimeographed daily reports con-
taining about 75,000 words are distributed to Washi rigton addresses. Special
summaries such as the "World Reaction to the Marshall Plan" are prepared and
distributed as required.
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Still another common service of the Office of Operations is the exploita-
tion of foreign documents. All the
ocuments, formerly
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which is made up of the heads of the departments concerned with national
security. The Director of Central Intelligence has as advisers, the Chiefs
of the Departmental Intelligence Agencies. Getting down within the CIA
organization, we also find the same strong departmental representation in
each CIA office. The CIA personnel are obtained from two sources, first,
each department assigns a quota of key personnel to the Group for tours
of duty of about two years, thus assuring a coalescence of departmental views
and interests. This is the type of assignment that members of this audience
may some day hold. The other source of personnel is direct employment by the
CIA under Civil Service procedure. Generally speaking, the same departmental
representation is found among the civil service employees. I will cite the
case of the Office of Collection and Dissemination with which I am connected,
as an example of the balance maintained in the assignments of key personnel,
and the professionals of civilian status: The Assistant Director, OCD, is a
Captain, Navy; the Deputy, Colonel, Army. The Chief, Collection Branch, Colonel,
Air Forces; the Chief, Dissemination Branch, State Department representative.
In my own Branch, which is Requirements, there are two former Navy officers,
two former Air Force officers, and three former Army officers, all of them
holding reserve commissions.
I mention these facts because we believe it is important that you know
that CIA has been generally successful in providing for balanced departmental
representation in each of its major offices, so that the interests of each
service receives proper consideration. You may rest assured that follow
members of your own service, each of whom has a personal interest in that
particularservice, have a part in any action taken by the CIA which affects
your service.
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