Office of the Historian

35. Minutes of a Meeting of the Intelligence Advisory Committee1

IAC–M–10
Washington, December 7, 1950.

Director of Central Intelligence Lieutenant General Walter Bedell Smith Presiding

MEMBERS PRESENT

  • Mr. W. Park Armstrong, Jr., Special Assistant, Intelligence, Department of State
  • Major General A. R. Bolling, Assistant Chief of Staff, G–2, Department of the Army
  • Rear Admiral Felix L. Johnson, Director of Naval Intelligence
  • Brigadier General Ernest B. Moore, acting for Director of Intelligence, Headquarters, United States Air Force
  • Dr. Walter F. Colby, Director of Intelligence, Atomic Energy Commission
  • Captain R. G. McCool, USN, acting for Deputy Director for Intelligence, The Joint Staff
  • Mr. Victor P. Keay, acting for Assistant to the Director, Federal Bureau of Investigation

ALSO PRESENT

  • Mr. William H. Jackson, Central Intelligence Agency
  • Dr. William L. Langer, Central Intelligence Agency
  • Mr. [name not declassified], Central Intelligence Agency
  • Mr. Ludwell Montague, Central Intelligence Agency
  • Mr. Lyman B. Kirkpatrick, Central Intelligence Agency
  • Mr. Allan Evans, Department of State
  • Mr. William C. Trueheart, Department of State
  • Colonel Hamilton H. Howze, Department of the Army
  • Dr. Samuel McKee, Jr., Department of the Army
  • Mr. Roy S. Tod, Department of the Army
  • Captain John M. Ocker, USN, Department of the Navy
  • Colonel Edward H. Porter, Department of the Air Force
  • Lieut. Colonel J. C. Marchant, Department of the Air Force
  • Mr. C. D. DeLoach, Federal Bureau of Investigation
  • Acting Secretary Mr. James Q. Reber, Central Intelligence Agency

[Omitted here is discussion of minutes of previous meetings, a comparative study of U.S.–USSR military and industrial strength, China, NSRB request for an estimate, and intelligence requirements re Spitzbergen.]

Watch Committee Terms of Reference (IAC–D–6)2

7. Action: Agreed that there should be a single Watch Committee in the Government properly operated with the full participation of the IAC members. This Committee should be the Watch Committee currently located in the Pentagon and headed by General Weckerling. General Smith stated that the Watch Committee headed by the CIA should be abolished and that the terms of reference before the members would, therefore, not need to be acted upon. He requested General Bolling to have distributed to the member agencies the terms of reference under which the present Watch Committee in the Pentagon is operating and arrange for such modification as may be necessary to provide the U.S. Government the service required. General Smith stated that it was his responsibility to see that there is an arrangement in the Government for carrying out the functions of a Watch Committee, that he did not consider it necessary for the CIA to head it, that this Committee should serve the entire Government and should accordingly be fully supported. He said that he was prepared to provide such financial or other support as was necessary for this Committee to fulfill his needs under the statute. It was understood that teletype facilities already exist which [Page 65] would ensure communication necessary to meet the needs of the DCI and the IAC members.

[Omitted here is discussion of the German Defector Exploitation Center and crisis estimates on Germany, Iran, and Indochina.]

  1. Source: National Archives, RG 59, INR Historical Files: Lot 58 D 776, Office of Libraries and Intelligence Acquisition, 1950–51, Box 18. Top Secret. No drafting information appears on the minutes. The meeting was held in the DCI’s Conference Room.↩
  2. Not found.↩