247. Memorandum From the Secretary of State’s Special Assistant for Intelligence and Research (Armstrong) to Secretary of State Dulles1
SUBJECT
- Board of Consultants for the Central Intelligence Agency
Mr. Allen Dulles informed me today that the White House will soon announce the appointment by the President of a Board of Consultants on Foreign Intelligence Activities, with broad authority to keep itself informed and to advise the President on matters falling within that field.2 Subject to final acceptance in the case of some individuals, the following are expected to make up the Board:
- Gen. John E. Hull, USA, (Ret.)
- Adm. Richard E. Connolly, USN, (Ret.)
- Gen. James Doolittle, USAF, (Ret.)
- Mr. James Killian, President of MIT
- Mr. David Bruce
- Mr. Benjamin Fairless, U.S. Steel Corp.
- Mr. Morris Hadley
Mr. Allen Dulles pointed out that all of the above, except Mr. Fairless, have had extensive experience in the use of intelligence or on committees that have made detailed surveys in the intelligence field. This move, at least in part, is intended to blunt the drive manifesting itself on the Hill to set up a joint committee in Congress to supervise foreign intelligence activities.
- Source: National Archives, RG 59, Central Files 1955–60, 101.21/12–2255. Official Use Only. Copies were sent to Murphy, Henderson, MacArthur, and Bowie. A handwritten notation on the memorandum by Dulles’ secretary Phyllis D. Bernau reads, “Sec. saw.”↩
- The President’s Board of Consultants on Foreign Intelligence Activities was established by President Eisenhower’s Executive Order 10656, February 6, 1956. It was succeeded by the President’s Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board (PFIAB), established by Executive Order 10938, May 4, 1961, in the wake of the failed Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba and increased attention to the role and activities of the intelligence community.↩