Office of the Historian

64. Letter From Secretary of Defense Marshall to Director of Central Intelligence Smith1

Washington, April 13, 1951.

Dear General Smith:

Reference is made to your memorandum of 26 December 1950, transmitting a general statement of the support needed by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) from the Department of Defense.2

The military agencies accept the commitment for furnishing one or two officers each to CIA to aid in the preparation of national intelligence estimates.

Your request for special consideration in obtaining military personnel for use in clandestine intelligence and covert operations entails budgetary, personnel and training implications which must be considered by the three Services in their manpower plans. If you will furnish the Department of Defense with more detailed breakdown with respect to the numbers of enlisted and officer personnel desired from each of the Services, the qualifications desired in such personnel, and the rate at which you desire they be supplied, I will be glad to consider the matter further.

With respect to the use of certain facilities at Army, Navy and Air Force installations, the Joint Chiefs of Staff will welcome discussion of the details of such requirements and be receptive to any reasonable demands which will further the national security.

[1 paragraph (12 lines) not declassified]

The assignment of CIA representatives to the military staffs in theaters of operations will be dependent upon the relationship between those representatives and the theater commanders. This is now under consideration in NSC 10/3 proposed by CIA.3

With reference to your request that you be kept fully informed of operational decisions and plans of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, I am informed that the policy of the Joint Chiefs of Staff on this matter has been transmitted to you in JICM–1205 of 25 September 1950.4

Permanent liaison between elements of the Central Intelligence Agency and the Joint Chiefs of Staff, including a method of furnishing [Page 137] advice and guidance on essential elements of information, appears to be established through frequent working-level contacts with the Service intelligence agencies and the representative of the Joint Chiefs of Staff on the Intelligence Advisory Committee. Should any deficiencies exist under this arrangement, I would appreciate having them brought to my attention.

As the remaining proposals made in your memorandum will be directly affected by the decisions reached with respect to revision of NSC 10/2 and NSCID 5,5 it is believed advisable to defer a definite reply until final action on the proposed revisions has been taken.

Faithfully yours,

G. C. Marshall
6
  1. Source: Central Intelligence Agency, Executive Registry, Job 95–G00278R, Box 1, Folder 9. Top Secret.↩
  2. Document 36.↩
  3. For the draft text of NSC 10/3, see the attachment to Document 43.↩
  4. Not found.↩
  5. See Document 255 for the revision of NSCID No. 5.↩
  6. Printed from a copy that indicates Marshall signed the original.↩