PUBLIC AFFAIRS CHRONOLOGY

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP91G01170R003505680006-5
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: July 26, 2010
• Sequence Number: 6
• Content Type: MISC

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PUBLIC AFFAIRS
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PUBLIC AFFAIRS CHRONOLOGY
22 January 1946 Central Intelligence Group (CIG) was established by
Presidential Directive and first Director of Central Intel-
ligence was appointed. No one formally designated to
deal with public queries.
18 September 1947 The National Security Act of 1947 replaced the CIG with
the Central Intelligence Agency. No one yet designated to
deal with public.
14 May 1951 The first "CIA Spokeman," Col. Chester B. Hansen (a
former public relations aide to General Omar Bradley)
was appointed by the then DCI, General Walter Bedell
Smith. Hansen was charged with dealing with the press
and drafting DCI presentations to Congress.
29 September 1952 General Smith, testifying at a court hearing, stated that
there were Communists in the CIA and that these "adroit
and adept" persons probably had sneaked into all other
security groups. The statement precipitated a rare press
conference held the next day to clarify and modify the
statement.
7 October 1952 Col. Stanley Grogan, an Army public affairs specialist,
took over as CIA spokesman and his office was designated
the Office of the Assistant to the Director of Central
Intelligence. Serving in the position for 10 years, he dealt
with the McCarthy hearings, Agency operations in Iran
and Guatemala, the U-2 incident, the Bay of Pigs and the
Cuban missile crisis.
10 November 1963 After suffering a heart attack, Grogan was replaced by
Paul M. Chretien. During his tenure, the first book
critical of the Agency-The Invisible Government by
David Wise and Thomas Ross-was published. Also
Chretien retained Col. Grogan on a consultative basis and
added John A. Mellin to the office.
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28 April 1965 The new DCI, Vice Admiral William F. Raborn, named
Cdr. George F. Moran to replace Chretien. Moran acted
primarily as the personal aide to Admiral Raborn and the
maintenance of press contacts and the day-to-day opera-
tion of the office was left to Mellin and Grogan.
29 August 1966 Joseph A. Goodwin, an intelligence officer in the Direc-
torate of Plans (DDP) and a former Associated Press
editor and war correspondent, was named by then Direc-
tor Richard Helms to replace Moran as the Assistant to
the Director. During his period in office, the Ramparts
magazine charges concerning CIA infiltration of the
National Students Association were published. The re-
porting on the six-day war between Israel and the Arabs
won plaudits during Goodwin's tenure.
1 November 1971 Angus Thuermer, a former Associated Press correspon-
dent and veteran intelligence officer, was appointed
Assistant to the Director. The ITT-Chile story broke in
March 1972 and the Watergate break-in followed in
June. In addition, the New York Times stories alleging
CIA conduct of "massive illegal domestic intelligence
operation during the Nixon administration...... ap-
peared and the Glomar Explorer revelation followed.
13 June 1976 Shortly after George Bush replaced William E. Colby as
DCI, he appointed Andrew T. Falkiewicz, a career USIA
officer, as Assistant to the Director.
28 March 1977 Admiral Stansfield Turner, in his first appointment
after becoming Director of Central Intelligence, named
Herbert E. Hetu to head a new Public Affairs Office
with a mandate to inform the American public about the
role of the intelligence process.
24 July 1977 CBS 60 Minutes aired "Report on the CIA" marking the
first of several times cameras were to be allowed into the
Headquarters building.
24 January 1978 Executive Order 12036 reshaped the United States intelli-
gence structure and charged the DCI to "act, in appropri-
ate consultation with the departments and agencies, as
the intelligence Community's principal spokesperson to
the Congress, the news media and the public.... "
15 April 1978 Public Affairs acquired status of independent office.
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