Office of the Historian

394. Letter From Director of Central Intelligence Hillenkoetter to Secretary of State Acheson0

Washington, August 19, 1949.

My Dear Mr. Secretary: As you know, the National Security Council in NSC 501 approved the recommendations of the Secretary of Defense and yourself regarding certain changes in the organization of the Central Intelligence Agency. Among those changes was a directive to consolidate all “covert and semi-covert field intelligence and related operations” in a single branch to be called “The Operations Division.” To carry out this directive, the attached organization plan with the attendant list of functions for its components has been evolved.2

This proposed reorganization has received the full concurrence of all interested parties in the Central Intelligence Agency (including the Offices of Policy Coordination, Special Operations, and Operations).

In this proposed plan the functions of the various offices are preserved, and their responsibilities are unchanged. However, to bring NSC 10/2 into consonance with the new directive contained in NSC 50, the former paper will necessarily have to be revised slightly, particularly, in that part relating to the autonomous character of the Office of Policy Coordination within the Central Intelligence Agency.

[Page 1000]

An advance copy of the attachments to this letter has been furnished to Mr. George F. Kennan3 in order that he may have an opportunity to go over it before you may desire to receive a briefing from him.

I should like respectfully to request your concurrence or your comments on this proposed plan in order that, if agreeable to you, I may present it to the entire National Security Council, through the Executive Secretary, as a report on the progress which the Central Intelligence Agency is making in carrying out the decisions in NSC 50.

With kindest regards, believe me.

Sincerely,

R.H. Hillenkoetter 4

Rear Admiral, USN
  1. Source: Central Intelligence Agency Records, Job 86-B00269R, Box 5. Top Secret.↩
  2. Document 384.↩
  3. Not attached to the source text. A copy is attached to an August 16 memorandum from Hillenkoetter to Souers. (National Archives and Records Administration, RG 273, Records of the National Security Council, NSC 10/2)↩
  4. Reference is to an August 16 memorandum from Hillenkoetter to Kennan, et al. (Central Intelligence Agency Records, Job 86–B00269R) See the Supplement.↩
  5. Printed from a copy that bears this typed signature.↩