Foreign Relations of the United States, 1950–1955, The Intelligence Community, 1950–1955

161. Memorandum From Director of Central Intelligence Dulles to the President’s Special Assistant (Jackson)¹

Washington, September 25, 1953.

SUBJECT

• Russian Satellite Minorities

REFERENCE

• Memorandum from Mr. Jackson to the members of the PSB, dated 1 September 1953²

1. We agree with your suggestion that a thorough review of our present policy toward the Soviet nationalities should be made. It appears that most of the decisions reached affecting the development of psychological warfare against the USSR may not have given the most appropriate emphasis to the exploitation of the non-Russian ethnic groups within the Soviet Union. As I understand the matter, the old State Department policy has rested in large part upon the contention that a showing of interest, on our part, in the non-Russian peoples will arouse the antagonism of the Great Russians, who would interpret our actions as designed to dismember the Soviet Union, and could, for that reason, be turned against us propagandistically as well as exploited within Russia as a strong appeal for internal unity and support of the Kremlin regime. Within the framework of this approach a policy of non-predetermination or ultimate self-determination has been adopted and adhered to by all covert asset facilities under our control. Since Beria’s liquidation,³ and in view of the latest developments in the Soviet Union, however, we feel that re-evaluation of our present position is desirable. The purpose of such a review should be not to abandon the policy of non-predetermination, but rather to extend its application to permit fuller exploitation of the vulnerabilities inherent in the Soviet system.

2. In this connection, it is my understanding that as a result of the proposed merger of the two PSB documents, i.e. D–40 and D–45,⁴ the Soviet nationalities issue will be once more reviewed by the new OCB working group. Their findings and recommendations will then be submitted either through the Department of State or Mr. George Morgan,⁵ to the NSC Planning Board. We can, therefore, expect that the final document will be presented to the NSC, and after its approval it will serve as policy authorization for implementation of activities in connection with this important issue.

3. I have one further observation to make in this connection, even though I appreciate that it is at the risk of going into certain details with which I believe you are quite familiar. The old policy upon which we have been basing our actions and certain of our more important operations, has never, to the best of my knowledge, achieved formal “governmental status”. By this I mean that the policy has never been threshed out at the higher policy levels of Government or gone into with sufficient thoroughness, and certainly I do not think it has been gone into by the present Administration to the depth that I consider warranted by a matter of such importance. I know that you are well acquainted with the various sharply-conflicting points of view which make this such a controversial issue both within the ranks of the Soviet emigration and also in American public opinion (including congressional opinion). One of the unfortunate results of this controversy is that in the present atmosphere and in the absence of a sufficiently authoritative policy determination, the governmental officials charged with responsibility for the execution of the policy are subject to criticism and attack to a degree which is unnecessary, and which would, in my judgment, be minimized if we had a sufficiently clear and high-level determination of policy.

Allen W. Dulles

⁶

1. Source: Central Intelligence Agency, History Staff, Job 83–00764R, HS/CSG–2291, Box 1. Secret; Security Information. Drafted by [name not declassified] on September 15 and rewritten by Wisner on September 16. Copies were sent to the Under Secretary of Defense, the Under Secretary of State, the Director of the Foreign Operations Administration, Robert Cutler, and George Morgan.
2. Not found.
3. Lavrenty Beria, head of Soviet internal security, was arrested in the Soviet Union in July 1953. His execution was publicly announced December 23, 1953.
4. PSB D–40, April 23, is in National Archives, RG 59, S/S–NSC Files: Lot 62 D 333, PSB Documents. PSB D–45 is in Eisenhower Library, PSB Documents, Master Book of, Vol. IV, folder 1, Interim US Psychological Strategy Plan for the Exploitation of Unrest in Satellite Europe, NSC Registry Series, NSC Staff Papers, Box 16.
5. Acting Director, Psychological Strategy Board.
6. Printed from a copy that indicates Dulles signed the original.