Office of the Historian

137. Memorandum From the Director of Central Intelligence (Souers) to the National Intelligence Authority0

Washington, February 2, 1946.

SUBJECT

  • Proposed Tentative Organization of the Central Intelligence Group
1.
The President’s letter of January 22, 1946,1 requires the assignment of accessory personnel and facilities from the Departments of State, War and the Navy in order to form a Central Intelligence Group.
2.
An initial personal authorization and an outline of organization should now be approved so that the Group may be activated and proceed [Page 321] with the pressing problems now confronting the National Intelligence Authority. The problems requiring earliest attention are:
a.
The production of daily and weekly summaries of the most significant intelligence and operational information related to national security and foreign policy for the use of the President, the members of the National Intelligence Authority, and certain additional limited distribution.
b.
Conducting a survey of existing facilities for collecting foreign intelligence information, with a view to determining how these facilities may be better coordinated and improved.
3.
The proposed organization is set forth in the enclosed directive2 which has been prepared for your approval. It provides the necessary tentative charter and sufficient personnel to activate the organization and begin operating.
4.
It is recommended that the members of the National Intelligence Authority approve and sign the enclosed directive.
Sidney W. Souers 3
  1. Source: National Archives and Records Administration, RG 59, Records of the Department of State, Records of the Bureau of Intelligence and Research: Lot 58 D 776, History of the National Intelligence Structure. Confidential.↩
  2. Document 71.↩
  3. Not printed; see the Supplement. The enclosure was a draft of NIA Directive No. 2. For text of the directive as issued, see Document 141.↩
  4. Printed from a copy that bears this typed signature.↩