Office of the Historian

200. Director of Central Intelligence Directive No. 4/31

Washington, December 14, 1954.

COMPREHENSIVE NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE OBJECTIVES

1.
Pursuant to National Security Council Intelligence Directive No. 4,2 paragraph 1, the following comprehensive national intelligence objectives, generally applicable to all foreign countries and areas, are hereby established:
a.
Basic descriptive data as outlined in NIS Standard Instructions.
b.
Social, economic, and political stability and trends of development; susceptibility to foreign influence or coercion; vulnerability to subversion.
c.
Military capabilities and vulnerabilities, offensive and defensive, including economic, scientific and technical, and psychological factors.
d.
Capabilities to influence, coerce, or subvert other governments and peoples; capabilities for espionage, sabotage, and other clandestine operations in other countries.
e.
Foreign policy, including strategic concepts and intentions; international alignment, with particular reference to alignment with or against the US or the USSR; disposition and intention to interfere in the internal affairs of other states; preparation for and intention to resort to armed action against other states.
2.
Priority national intelligence objectives, with reference to specific countries and subjects, will be set forth in a separate DCID.
3.
DCID 4/1 “National Intelligence Objectives,” 5 February 1948,3 is hereby rescinded.
Allen W. Dulles
4
Director of Central Intelligence
  1. Source: National Archives, RG 59, S/P–NSC Files: Lot 62 D 1, NSC Intelligence Directives. Secret. DCID 4/3 and DCID 4/4 (Document 201) were attached to a single cover page, which indicated that both had been prepared by the Director of Central Intelligence in collaboration with members of the Intelligence Advisory Committee pursuant to National Security Council Intelligence Directive No. 4, and that they were approved on December 14.↩
  2. Text in Foreign Relations, 1945–1950, Emergence of the Intelligence Establishment, Document 422.↩
  3. Not printed. (Central Intelligence Agency, History Staff, Job 84–B00389R, HS/HC–600, Box 4)↩
  4. Printed from a copy that bears this typed signature.↩