247. Editorial Note

On March 2, 1966, President Johnson issued National Security Action Memorandum 341 (Document 56), which “assigned to the Secretary of State authority and responsibility to the full extent permitted by law for the overall direction, coordination and supervision of interdepartmental activities of the United States Government overseas.” On March 8 the Central Intelligence Agency advised its field stations that the statutory responsibility of the Agency and the Director of Central Intelligence were not affected by NSAM 341 and that relationships with Ambassadors and other U.S. Mission components were unchanged (see Document 67). On September 30 CIA notified Deputy Under Secretary of State for Administration Crockett that it saw no useful purpose “at this time” in identifying which of its activities were interdepartmental within the context of NSAM 341 and that CIA was not prepared to participate in the Foreign Affairs Programming System (see Documents 95 and 97).

For a briefing memorandum prepared by CIA in September 1966 that outlined the agency’s relationships to the Senior Interdepartmental Group and the Interdepartmental Groups under NSAM 341, see Document 254. For CIA views on how cooperation worked, see Document 263.