The Dulles–Jackson–Correa Report (also known as Intelligence Survey Group (ISG) and the Dulles Report) was one of the most influential evaluations of the functioning of the
United States Intelligence Community
United may refer to:
Places
* United, Pennsylvania, an unincorporated community
* United, West Virginia, an unincorporated community
Arts and entertainment Films
* ''United'' (2003 film), a Norwegian film
* ''United'' (2011 film), a BBC Two f ...
, and in particular, the
Central Intelligence Agency
The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gathering, processing, ...
(CIA). The report focused primarily on the coordination and organization of the CIA and offered suggestions that refined the US intelligence effort in the early stages of the
Cold War.
History
National Security Act of 1947
As
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
ended, the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
had to decide what to do with regard to its Intelligence structure. Not wanting to relive another
Pearl Harbor
Pearl Harbor is an American lagoon harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, west of Honolulu. It was often visited by the Naval fleet of the United States, before it was acquired from the Hawaiian Kingdom by the U.S. with the signing of the R ...
, and with the growing threat of the
Cold War, the United States decided to establish an Intelligence agency that operated continually rather than only during times of war and conflict. The
National Security Act of 1947 (signed by President
Harry S. Truman
Harry S. Truman (May 8, 1884December 26, 1972) was the 33rd president of the United States, serving from 1945 to 1953. A leader of the Democratic Party, he previously served as the 34th vice president from January to April 1945 under Franklin ...
on July 26, 1947) implemented a permanent, non-military, Intelligence agency called the
Central Intelligence Agency
The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gathering, processing, ...
, an agency that evolved out of the
Office of Strategic Services (OSS). The CIA was not to be part of the military command structure, nor was it to have a domestic role or police power and was to be under the control of the newly established position of
Director of Central Intelligence. In addition to creating the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), the National Security Act of 1947 established the
United States National Security Council
The United States National Security Council (NSC) is the principal forum used by the President of the United States for consideration of national security, military, and foreign policy matters. Based in the White House, it is part of the Exe ...
(NSC). The National Security Council was composed of the President, Vice President, Secretary of State, Secretary of Defense, Director of the Central Intelligence Agency (now titled, Director of Central Intelligence), and other key members to advise the President on national security and foreign policy matters.
The National Security Act of 1947 also modified the structure of the United States military. The Act created the Department of the
Air Force
An air force – in the broadest sense – is the national military branch that primarily conducts aerial warfare. More specifically, it is the branch of a nation's armed services that is responsible for aerial warfare as distinct from an ...
from the existing
United States Army Air Forces
The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...
as a response to the emerging significance of
air power. In addition, the National Security Act merged the War Department and the Navy Department under one department known as the
Department of Defense Department of Defence or Department of Defense may refer to:
Current departments of defence
* Department of Defence (Australia)
* Department of National Defence (Canada)
* Department of Defence (Ireland)
* Department of National Defense (Philipp ...
. Although Admiral
James Forrestal
James Vincent Forrestal (February 15, 1892 – May 22, 1949) was the last Cabinet-level United States Secretary of the Navy and the first United States Secretary of Defense.
Forrestal came from a very strict middle-class Irish Catholic fami ...
and the Navy were originally opposed to having a unified Department of Defense, integration allowed for top-level coordination efforts between all three branches and provided a continuing voice for the military as the Secretaries of the three military branches were permanent members on the National Security Council.
The First Hoover Commission
The First Hoover Commission is also known as the
Eberstadt Report
The Eberstadt Report, officially known as the Task Force Report on National Security Organization, was a study conducted by the United States government which evaluated the structure and operations of the United States Department of Defense and Uni ...
and the Task Force on National Security Organization of the First Hoover Commission. Between 1948 and 1949 the U.S. government conducted two investigations into the national intelligence effort as a response to the changing role of the U.S. federal government. Congress passed the first investigation, the First Hoover Commission, unanimously while the second, the Dulles–Jackson–Correa Report, was conducted through the NSC per President Truman's request.
[Proposals for Intelligence Reorganization, 1949-2004](_blank)
/ref>
Former President Herbert Hoover
Herbert Clark Hoover (August 10, 1874 – October 20, 1964) was an American politician who served as the 31st president of the United States from 1929 to 1933 and a member of the Republican Party, holding office during the onset of the Gr ...
was chairman of the 12-member bipartisan Congressional Commission on Organization of the Executive Branch, which was established prior to the passage of the National Security Act of 1947. As part of the Commission, the Task Force on National Security Organization (led by Ferdinand Eberstadt) examined the effectiveness of the intelligence agencies and reviewed federal bureaucracy. After a series of hearings, the Hoover Commission
The Hoover Commission, officially named the Commission on Organization of the Executive Branch of the Government, was a body appointed by President Harry S. Truman in 1947 to recommend administrative changes in the Federal Government of the Unit ...
submitted a 121-page report written by Eberstadt's task force on January 13, 1949. The Eberstadt Report found that the National Security Act of 1947 soundly constructed the national security organization; however there remained organizational and qualitative inadequacies in national intelligence and the Central Intelligence Agency. The report's biggest criticism concerned the lack of coordination efforts between the CIA, the military, and the State Department that resulted in duplication efforts, and subjective and biased intelligence estimates.
Other key findings of the Eberstadt Report were:
* The CIA must be the central organization of the national intelligence system.
* Within the CIA, at the top echelon, a board should be created with the responsibility of conducting intelligence evaluation.
* A civilian DCI with a long office term is favorable.
* All clandestine operations should be integrated into one CIA office under NSC supervision.
* During times of war, clandestine operations should be the responsibility of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) is the body of the most senior uniformed leaders within the United States Department of Defense, that advises the president of the United States, the secretary of defense, the Homeland Security Council and the ...
(JCS).
* The CIA's internal structure and personnel system was not organized properly and that departmental responsibilities should be clearer and proper personnel selection and training systems must be established.
* Supported secrecy of the CIA budget to provide administrative flexibility and anonymity.
* Rejected the possibility of handing the FBI's counterintelligence
Counterintelligence is an activity aimed at protecting an agency's intelligence program from an opposition's intelligence service. It includes gathering information and conducting activities to prevent espionage, sabotage, assassinations or ...
responsibilities over to the CIA.
* An increase in medical and scientific intelligence is necessary.
Despite the efforts of the Eberstadt Report to modify the national intelligence organization, the Dulles–Jackson–Correa Report, submitted to the NSC on January 1, 1949, overshadowed the Task Force on National Security Organization's findings.
Purpose of the Dulles-Jackson-Correa Report
The purpose of the Dulles Report was to "evaluate the CIA's effort and its relationship with other agencies." NSC officials and DCI Roscoe H. Hillenkoetter thought that it was important to review the development of the intelligence system since World War II in order to determine how the NSC should exercise its routine oversight of the CIA. With the development of the industrial war machine and the emergence of a Cold War, America was vulnerable to potentially catastrophic attacks. With the realization that intelligence would serve as the first line of defense, the NSC thought it was necessary that the newly formed CIA's performance was as efficient as possible.
Membership
* Allen Welsh Dulles
Allen Welsh Dulles (, ; April 7, 1893 – January 29, 1969) was the first civilian Director of Central Intelligence (DCI), and its longest-serving director to date. As head of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) during the early Cold War, he ...
** April 7, 1893 – January 28, 1969
** Princeton University
Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the ...
, B.A. 1914, M.A. 1916
** George Washington University
The George Washington University (GW or GWU) is a Private university, private University charter#Federal, federally chartered research university in Washington, D.C. Chartered in 1821 by the United States Congress, GWU is the largest Higher educat ...
, LL.B. 1926
** US Diplomatic Service, Department of State, 1916–26
** Head of Office of Strategic Services (OSS) post in Bern, Switzerland, 1942–45
** Deputy Director for Plans, CIA, January 4, 1951 to August 23, 1951
** Deputy DCI August 23, 1951 to February 26, 1953
** Acting DCI February 9–26, 1953
** DCI February 26, 1953 – November 29, 1961
** Member of President's Commission on the Assassination of President Kennedy, 1963–1964
* William Harding Jackson
William Harding Jackson (March 25, 1901 – September 28, 1971) was a U.S. civilian administrator, New York lawyer, and investment banker who served as Deputy Director of the Central Intelligence Agency.(Reference: "The Central Intelligence Agen ...
** March 25, 1901 – September 28, 1971
** Princeton University, B.A. 1924
** Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...
, LL.B. 1928
** New York Lawyer and Investment banker
** US Army, 1942–1945
** Intelligence staff of General Omar Bradley, 1944
** Deputy DCI October 7, 1950 to August 3, 1951
** Part-time special assistant and senior consultant to DCI, Aug 1951- Feb 1956
** Special Assistant to President Dwight D. Eisenhower
Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower (born David Dwight Eisenhower; ; October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969) was an American military officer and statesman who served as the 34th president of the United States from 1953 to 1961. During World War II, ...
, various assignments in national security field, 1956–57
* Mathias Correa
** US District Attorney for the Southern District of New York, 1941- 1943
** Former assistant to James V. Forrestal when Forrestal served as the Secretary of the Navy
The secretary of the Navy (or SECNAV) is a statutory officer () and the head (chief executive officer) of the Department of the Navy, a military department (component organization) within the United States Department of Defense.
By law, the se ...
during World War II
Objectives
The objective of the Dulles Report was to report discrepancies with the organization and procedure of the CIA and make appropriate recommendations. In addition, the Dulles Report was to examine other government departments and agencies with activities that relate to national security, and make recommendations that would increase operation and overall coordination between agencies and departments (something that the Eberstadt Report did not do).
Findings
Dulles, Jackson, and Correa submitted their findings to the NSC on January 1, 1949 in a 193-page report. Echoing many of the shortcomings addressed in the Eberstadt Report, the Dulles report gave 56 recommendations and, in general, was mainly critical to the CIA and the DCI. It stated that the CIA was not effectively meeting the conditions for which the Agency was established.
''The principal defect of the Central Intelligence Agency is that its direction, administrative organization and performance do not show sufficient appreciation of the Agency's assigned functions, particularly in the fields of intelligence coordination and the production of intelligence estimates. The result has been that the Central Intelligence Agency has tended to become just one more intelligence agency producing intelligence in competition with older established agencies of the Government departments.''
Another finding was that the CIA was "the weak link in the system" due to shortcomings in direction from the DCI (Hillenkoetter). In essence, the Dulles Report was accusing Hillenkoetter of not effectively coordinating intelligence efforts among agencies and departments with national security interests. In addition to a lack of coordination efforts, the Dulles Report found that the CIA was failing with its production of national intelligence, and in particular, National Intelligence Estimates (NIE). To correct this problem, the report suggested creating an "Estimates Division" that would be composed of a select group of individuals with a high-level of experience that would review specialized intelligence to create the NIE. In addition, "all of the principle intelligence agencies were to participate in and approve them," making them the most authoritative and available to policymakers.
Covert operations was another focal point of the Report. With little open source information available from communist nations, the US would have to use clandestine operations to obtain vital information. The Dulles Report suggested the incorporation of covert and clandestine intelligence into one single office within the CIA, therefore the Office of Special Operations (OSO), responsible for clandestine intelligence collection, and the Office of Policy Coordination (OPC), responsible for covert actions, should integrate into a single division.
The personnel situation at the CIA was of concern to the Dulles Report as well. In particular, internal security, high turnover rates of employees, and a large number of military personnel were of concern. The Dulles Report suggested that the DCI should be of a civilian status and that military personnel should resign their positions in order to add to continuity and to maintain independence from other agencies
Changes to the Intelligence Community
The implementation of the Dulles–Jackson–Correa Report recommendations began in the late 1950s after President Truman forced DCI Hillenkoetter to resign due to the latter's failure to foresee the North Korean invasion of South Korea in June 1950. On October 7, 1950, President Truman appointed Lt. General Walter Bedell Smith
General Walter Bedell "Beetle" Smith (5 October 1895 – 9 August 1961) was a senior officer of the United States Army who served as General Dwight D. Eisenhower's chief of staff at Allied Forces Headquarters (AFHQ) during the Tunisia Campai ...
("Beetle Smith") as the new DCI who in turn hired William Harding Jackson
William Harding Jackson (March 25, 1901 – September 28, 1971) was a U.S. civilian administrator, New York lawyer, and investment banker who served as Deputy Director of the Central Intelligence Agency.(Reference: "The Central Intelligence Agen ...
as his Deputy Director of Central Intelligence (DDCI). Using recommendations from the Dulles Report, DCI Smith quickly reorganized the CIA's Office of Reports and Estimates (ORE) into three units. The first unit was to focus on national intelligence and became known as the Office of National Estimates.The Beginning of Intelligence Analysis in CIA — Central Intelligence Agency
/ref> The second unit, the Office of Current Intelligence, had a current intelligence role, and produced the daily bulletin for the President. The Last unit, the Office of Research and Reports, was to conduct a basic intelligence function and focus on intelligence analysis that was more strategic in nature and beyond the scope of any of the established intelligence agencies. The reorganization greatly reduced confusion that had previously occurred regarding the analytic mission of the CIA.
DCI Smith demonstrated the type of leadership the Dulles Report required of that position. Perhaps Smith's greatest contribution to the Intelligence Community as DCI was that he used his latent authority to lead the intelligence establishment rather than go along with what other agencies had been doing. In essence, the Dulles Report's recommendations, and DCI Smith's execution of these recommendations became the blueprint for the future organization and the operation of the CIA.
See also
* Central Intelligence Agency
The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gathering, processing, ...
* National Intelligence Estimate
* Director of Central Intelligence
* Allen Welsh Dulles
Allen Welsh Dulles (, ; April 7, 1893 – January 29, 1969) was the first civilian Director of Central Intelligence (DCI), and its longest-serving director to date. As head of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) during the early Cold War, he ...
* William Harding Jackson
William Harding Jackson (March 25, 1901 – September 28, 1971) was a U.S. civilian administrator, New York lawyer, and investment banker who served as Deputy Director of the Central Intelligence Agency.(Reference: "The Central Intelligence Agen ...
* Roscoe H. Hillenkoetter
* Walter Bedell Smith
General Walter Bedell "Beetle" Smith (5 October 1895 – 9 August 1961) was a senior officer of the United States Army who served as General Dwight D. Eisenhower's chief of staff at Allied Forces Headquarters (AFHQ) during the Tunisia Campai ...
* Armed Forces Security Agency
The National Security Agency (NSA) is a national-level intelligence agency of the United States Department of Defense, under the authority of the Director of National Intelligence (DNI). The NSA is responsible for global monitoring, collectio ...
References
Further reading
* Changing the Guard: The Politics of U.S. Intelligence Reform, by Brent Durbin
* Intelligence: From Secrets to Policy, by Mark Lowenthal
* Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA, by Tim Weiner
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dulles-Jackson-Correa Report
Central Intelligence Agency
United States National Security Council
Cold War history of the United States