ANSWERS TO QUERIES ON THE HISTORY OF OSI

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP84-00022R000300090005-8
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 4
• Document Creation Date: December 9, 2016
• Document Release Date: June 18, 2001
• Sequence Number: 5
• Publication Date: June 16, 1952
• Content Type: MEMO

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....r* Oy?a~Zdum ? UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT
DATE: 16 June 1952
Jugh Ass s an- irec or, Scientific Intelligence
25X1A IoM
SUBJECT: Answers to queries on the history of OSI
. 1. I have listed here answers to your various questions. The
information necessary to give explicit answers is not yet complete.
I shall continue to work on such answers as are at present vague or
general.
2. ". . . how does OSI (a) get intelligence information,
(b) how is this information analyzed, (c) what is the final product,
and (d) who are the customers for it?"
See Appendix I. I have written a brief description of the
office as it existed on 1 May 1952. In June there began a
reorganization, which, however, does not alter the functions and
procedures described here; it separates policy from administrative
functions in the Operations Staff.
3. "There is a Sovmat Staff
this the successor of that in OSI?" (pg. 10)
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26 July 1950,
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was appointed chief and began
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recruitment. The Joint Chiefs of Staff had already authorized
Joint Intelligence Committee by directive 950/25 (no date yet found) to
work on the problem of captured enemy material. JIC directive 456/38,
approved 9 April 1951 (Armed Services Joint Intelligence Directive:
Captured Enemy Material), set up JTIIA. This directive was put in
operation by SR 380-350-1; OPNAV INST. 1386.2 and AFOIN-C/DD 350.09.
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The Joint Military Intelligence Agency began to function on 8 June
1951. Se report for full information.
4. "It is my impression that the first AE explosion by USSR
was well in advance of the time estimated that it could be produced."
(Pg. 31)
The Joint Nuclear Energy Intelligence Committee (JNEIC),
_/ The JNEIC later became the present Joint Atomic Energy Intelli-
gence Committee (JAEIC).
of which NED was chairman, estimated in 1949 that if the Soviets had
the skills of American scientists and engineers they could produce a
bomb in the spring of 1950. Lacking these skills, the Soviets would
take until mid-1953. Since there was no evidence available to the
committee at this time of penetration of the Manhattan Project or
the AEC, neither of these estimates took into consideration the
possibility of either penetration or outright betrayal.. It seemed
apparent to the committee when the first bomb explosion was detected
on 26 August 1949 that there must have been betrayal. CIA informed
the FBI of this opinion on 20 September 1949.
5. "If this [DCI 427 was approved 6 November 1950, why have
certain objectives not been determined after eighteen month's?" (pg. 33)
The phrase is "have not been finalized" and not "determined."
Pages*34, 35, and 36 of the history provide an answer. By the Security
Act of 1947, CIA has the responsibility for coordinating the intelligence
activities of the Government. Agencies in the intelligence field long
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before CIA was created had to agree upon objectives before they could
be finalized. In nuclear energy intelligence, the NED was the organ-
ization that antedated all the rest; therefore the task of coordination
was much simpler.
6. "Just what is the Department of Defense trying to do to the
sic?" (pg. 36)
The previous answer provides a clue. I would say that the
difficulty lay in Pride of Previous Origin.
7. Scientific Panel in Boston -- "I understand that. . . the
OSI is more skeptical." (pg. 39)
I should not say that this was true. I quote:
"A panel of eminent scientists known as the 'Boston Scientific
Advisory Panel' has been established under the auspices of 00/C to
consult and advise o/SI in its intelligence production activities.
This panel makes available to us on a round table discussion basis
some of the best scientific and technical brains in
and the associated industrial organizations."
From "Progress Report" undated, carbon copy, but covering
period up to December 1951. Files of AD/SI Office.
The men on the panel are associated with the American defense
effort. Once briefed on foreign intelligence, they can tie develop-
ments in with the developments in the United States and members of
0SI in the interpretation of findings. Any advisory committee has
limitations. These men are unpaid; they have fulitime jobs; they
cannot know the inner workings of CIA. The amount of time they
do or can contribute to CIA is very limited.
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8. "Visit of AD/SI n 1950.--Plans to establish
scientific representation were made in August 191+9. Is 1950 -vla
correct?" (pg. 49) a
The date is correct, as far as I can gather from documents. Two
different trips and two different matters are dealt with. On page 49
the author discusses the lack of organization in collection that led
4.
to the establishment of the Scientific Division in l9 %:; on
page 50 he discusses the formation of the Scientific Intelligence
team in January 1950. If in subsection 5., page 50, the first word,
consequently were changed to previously the confusion would bed
cleared away.
9. "Paragraph 1 'Misplaced,'" . . . . This might be rephrased."
Strike the word. it is not necessary. It refers to the
extraordinary difficulty of properly labeling, classifying--
bibliographically--and distributing the literature available. The
1~brary could explain the difficulty in its own terms.
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