PSYCHOLOGICAL STRATEGY BOARD MINUTES 2:30 P.M. - 4:30 P.M., MONDAY AUGUST 13,1951

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80R01731R003300160014-8
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: T
• Document Page Count: 6
• Document Creation Date: December 19, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 16, 2005
• Sequence Number: 14
• Publication Date: August 14, 1951
• Content Type: MIN

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PSYCHOLOGICAL S'T'RA.T. uY ,OARD
MIN U,rs
2:30 pmmo - 1j:3O P.M., ~?Aonday &ugust 13, 1951
Director's Office, sycholo 1-cal strategy ioard building
Members:
Lt. General .w',. ,3edell Smith, Director of Central Intelligence,
Acting Chairman
Mr. Jai-es G. ':tiebb, Under secretary of State
Afro Robert Lovett, Deputy Secretary of Defense
Others:
Mr. Gordon Gray, Director., X sychological Strategy board
Col. Armand bopkins, JCS representative
?iajor Genera. John Magruder, Department of Defense
errs, ii'rran?t '~a ? Grp General. intelligence Agency
Mfr, Charles Johnson, Acting :.xec>tive Secretary,, Psychological
Strate{;y board
i,r, Robert Gm Lfteland, Secretary
PROGPE 'S R,:~ FORT tiY TH.,
'I. in addition to his statement in ProdressReport by the Director
,u Dml), rir. Gray com:aented that efforts are being made to recruit
individuals for permanent appointment to the staff' of the Psychological
Strategy board, (i'So). He noted that Task Panel 11,11 (PSo D,=1/i) was the
outgrowth of a rneeti'i : at the 'ryhi.te Abuse in which Assistant Secretaries
of State Rusk and oarrett had oart_cipated0
P 1C~,?7tiR.': 70? CONDUCT 07 1OA fl dU3I P U'~ '
2, The board agreed that it .,Tonld meet only when there are important
problems to discuss,. The Acting Chairman and the Director will schec.ule
meetings on a rotation basis at any one of the three Agencies at the
convenience of the board. The members are free to bring their alternates
as they deem desirable,
NSC review(s) completed.
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3. In the matter of briefing, Or. Gray su?, e: tee? that his staff
brief the members' alternates a few days before meetings of the zoard,
The alternates k o,.Ad then brief the Tne:?nbers in advance of ,9oard meet-
ings, General .:;With and Mr, Lovett favored this procedure. 'irc
Lovett ?irged that ;papers be held to a sni.nimwn for security reasons,.
Mr. Aebb stated that he had not decided how t( . handle the briefing
problem.,
b To prevent problems being placed before the board for decision
until the members have had a chance. to study .hem$ it was the consensus
that the Director should determine whether a ;.xoblem is within the
competence of tt:e uoarc and whether it is necessary for the PSu staff
to present its iiews to the P5th,
L13T Oi' Pi Od ,,x; . o INT !.r~_3T TO Ter? oC AR:-J tPS,i D-2)
i4r, Gray, in presenting his views on List ,C eroblems for the
Director and Staff in Order of Work Priority :,Pus D-2)p called the
board's attention to paragraph j in which he states his concern that
the uoard should not assiulne too many problems. without careful considera-
tion. He said this docu?ren?I is an effort to translate NSG papers into
action. It is iecessary to convert iiSC polic:tes into specific objectives
and formulate pans which will achieve these o::ob jectivese As the problems
listed in Sections II= /s, II--o and II -v on page 2 are solved, the remain-
ing problems wiu.1 become clearer, . The staff Intends 6o give top priority
to the sui)stant..ve problems I through II-C which fall generally into a
category of psychological strategy planning not previously initiated..
Section IlxD will then be considered Section iI-ra will ire considered
concurrently inasmuch as those problems are largely concerned with
relationships, Mgr, Gray ex 3lained that it is rot necessary to recon?-Ile
differing defin:. tions as to what psychological operations mean because
the same work i- -- necessary -ender either concept, Conseqiently, it was
decided to list the prohl.ems facing the FSES to 'provide the Board with
specific terms of reference which would enable it to get on with its
work., Therefore, the list of problems (1`3o D-2) illustrates the area
of interest of ' he r.3,3 and the Staff,; At the name time it provides
for k1r, Gray the uasis for planning, a fumetion.ng staff organization
6., Genera'. "With said that the list of 0-oblems appears to be
monumental. He asked L`lr, Gray how he exoectec to accomplish these
projects and st..i1 attack:: current problems.fr. Gray replied that the
Staff intends to use ad hoc groups whenever necessary on new problems,:
general Smiths ,r Id that in his opinion the: jSd staff' would require
many reinforcemcarits to accomplish the work outlined in PS.n D-2.. He
believed that cumpletirn of the proble,mis listed would require two
years of effort: by the 1-1b staff and that there was nut that much time
ava l.ab.lee. He .;aid that the problems listed in Sections I-A (Li), I-A (5),
and I-A (7) are enough to keep the PSci staff busy for quite some time,
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In addition, r. .s he looked over the. list of problems, it appeared that
many others were going to req?lire work by the staff in the very near
future,, He noted, as an example, that the proolem in ;ectlon U -K
had not yet been assigned a work priority. However,, it is a problem
which nest be met riht now.
7. Or. -ebb said that the tre:nlin has a special group which
devotes all of its efforts to maximize the strength of the USSR to
fractionate and weaken that of the United States, He hoped that the
members would conceive the function of the '3d as drawing together
U. S. efforts in the same way as the Kremlin group does for Et'ssia.
i'ioreover, he believed the ooar~_' should discuss further many of the
problems listed in !S;3 D-2 before the Staff completes its work and
reaches a finI1. position on the problems. He said surveys take time
and that we should not overlook each board member's ignorance of the
work of other agencies. He looked upon the c'Sb as a central place
for the members to meet, discuss problems and. ind; e policy. The Pr:H
should be a central place where guidance would be available,, It
would Five tJir. Webb the feeling that here is a group of knowledgable
Government Officials who can meet our major problems in the psycho
logical area,
6o Or, Lovett said that this list is an encyclopedic approach
and gives the board something to shoot at. He suggested that the
.ooard approve the documen-'. (PSd U-2) as an identification of problems
which call for discrimination as to which should be undertaken first.
He suggested that the .uoa:'d undertake as a matter of urgency the
problems listed in Section I-A (It), I-A (5) and I-A (7). This will
enable the noe,rd to find out what is being done by Government agencies,
what general cirectives they are following and what they plan to do.
Hr0 Weob agreed with rir. Lovett and said that if these three problems
were worked o,.t, the r'Sb would then know what the agencies in the U. S~
Government arc working on, It could bring together whatever additional
resources are necessary to achieve our goals and could make the neces-
sary plans for any gaps which might be found to existo General Smith
agreed with; r:) the above, b) that the staff of the xsoard should under-
.take the nece:,sary work i:i connection with these three points; and c)
that the doarc should consider -it a later date the other problems
listed in the document, j'ir. Gray said that the list will naturally
be subject to constant revision. He suggested that the staffs in
addition to the study of ~3ections I-A - (!t), I=:l - (5) and I-A c (7)A
be allowed to take up any urgent matter which the board might direct,*
1
SECTION 17&-D of tl'So 0-2
9. The tioard discussed at length the problem stated in this
section of thc paper., It was the consensus of the .ooard that the
Russians are planning soma disruptive action to embarrass us, eossibly
they will rea:'firm their disarmament suggestions and intensify their
peace drive.,
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It will have the same old sugar coating and will attempt to show that
the United States is preventing disarmament in the world. The
Shvernik letter possibly gives a guide to the Russian attitudes No
doubt the.Russians will say to small countries "if you don't go along
with us and accept our position,- you.must bear the consequences".
The Board agreed that the United States must take action to meet these
Russian maneuvers both abroad and in the United States.
SECTION II -B of PS J3 D-2
10. Mr. Gray said that he planned to have a Special Assistant
handle the relationships of ?SB with congressmen and representatives
of private agencies who are interested generally in psychological
developments. He does not anticipate any problems in this connection.
The main thing will be to keep others from doing things we don't want
them to do rather than the need to encourage cooperation by outsiders.
Mr. Webb asked Mr. Gray if he intended to use other executive agencies
of the Government to.talk to representatives of private groups* Mr.
Gray said that he would use.Government agencies but that it would be
necessary to have someone' available in PSB to talk with them so that
they feel they are being given considerations General Smith believed
it would be desirable for Mrs Gray to have such an officer to deal
with interested private agencies. Mr. Lovett said that the Department
of Defense would handle most inquiries itself but that it would push
off general inquiries to the - 'SBO It wab the consensus of the Board
that the procedure outlined by Ai. Lovbtt should be`followed.
bRGANI7ATION, FUNCTIONS, AND r3UDGET (PSB D-3Y
11.? The: Board's consideration" iias limited` to page 5of PSB
docnnent.D-3a` In explaining this estimate, Mrs Gray said that he ex
pects_that the staff will be increased somewhat to meet the problems
the PSB must handled- However, he believed that any increase would be
reasonable. and in no case would the staff be increased to anywhere
near double the size called for in the document. The Board agreed
that the necessary funds world be providedfrom appropriate Agency
btidgets
OTHER BUSINESS
discussed two Papers-.aas examples of problems which
Gra
l2 'Mr
y
o
contain psychological iinplicatonsa He asked that the members caution
their Agencies to make available `to- the PSB copies of papers of m=
port8*ce to the work of the' Board- and its Staff. The members agreed
that they would- instruct their agencies' to cooperate in this matter.
sE'Cft`'E`T
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l3o General Smith discussed the question of preventing un-
controlled activity in the psychological field now that the eSi3
has been organized. He said that there is a need to develop an
over-all psychological strategy plan. Other Agencies and the
Army, which is concerned only with the tactical railitary phase of
operations would then be able to carry out assigned missionse
General Magruder stated that he would discuss the Army?s role with
Mr. Lovett (who had left the meeting) and that the Department of
Defense would handle the matter internally, He said that the
Services would deal with the Board through the JSPD which was
established for this purpose. General Magruder said that two papers
are being prepared concerning the Army?s interpretation of its func-
tion and that copies will be submitted to the ''SS. It was the con-
sensus that an over-all psychological strategy plan should be
developed so that all activity in the Governrnent is in consonance
with it,
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SIGNATURE RECORD AND COVER SHEET
SOURCE: PSS ~~
DATE OF DOCUMENT: 14 Au 1951
COPY NUMBER (S): 10;rl 12 of 50
NUMBER OF PAGES: 5 tot DOCUMENT NO. PSB M-2
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