NOTES ON 'THE MISSION OF THE CLANDESTINE SERVICES' BY JOHN A. BROSS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP78-06205A000100010024-2
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 27, 2016
• Document Release Date: March 6, 2014
• Sequence Number: 24
• Content Type: REPORT

- Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2014/03/06: CIA-RDP78-06205A000100010024-2
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Notes on "The Mission of the Clandestine Services"
by John A. Bross
The transition of the Clandestine Services of the Central Intelli-
gence Agency from the compartmented system of individual empires which
made up the Office of Strategic Services to today's unified professional
service was stressed by John A. Bross, Senior Planning Officer, DD/P, in
a talk given to students of the Clandestine Services Review Course in the
Auditorium on 28 November 1961. Mr. Bross contrasted the organiza-
tional structures of the two agencies, enumerated the decisions which led
to the change, and showed how the various Clandestine Services components,
almost in spite of themselves, are being forced into an increasingly close
interrelationship. He concluded with his personal interpretation of the
mission of the Clandestine Services.
OSS lacked three things: organizational relationships with other
agencies at headquarters, the coordination of empires and preserves with-
in itself, and a doctrinal basis. These led respectively to the inability
to receive and fulfill the requirements of other agencies, to an excess of
duplication and rivalry among the various OSS components, and to a complete
absence of the concept of service.
In the gradual reincarnation of OSS, three decisions were made which
laid the foundation for the emergence of a unified service. First, the
counterintelligence function was assigned to the Strategic Services Unit.
Then, in 1948, the charter for Covert Action' Activities was rewritten and
the new covert action component, the Office of Policy Coordination, was
attached to CIA for quarters and rations as it were. After four years of
competition and distrust between the intelligence collection compOnent and
the covert action section, the two were merged in 1952. This action
marks 'the beginning of the concept of a single integrated service.
The integration was, however, complete only on paper. Since CIA exists
not only on paper but also as "a dynamic, living organism which deals with
rapidly changing circumstances simultaneously in all different parts of the
world," actual integration has progressed more slowly. It has been brought
on as much by the conditions under which it operates as it has by centra-
lized planning.
The overlapping of the interests of area divisions has had much to
do with this. The interest of the Soviet Russia Division, for example,
in all parts of the world has necessitated interdivisional coordination.
So has the interest of the Near East Division in students studying
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Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2014/03/06: CIA-RDP78-06205A000100010024-2
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StiaIt I
In short, all area divisions have some proprietary interest in the
affairs of other divisions. As this interest increases with the growth
of international communications, it demands a parallel growth in coordina-
tion.
Likewise, the functional components are interrelated. The senior
staffs work together on assigning priorities, in preparing the Related
Mission Directives, and in evaluating the results of CIA's projects.
Furthermore, Intelligence Collection, through its liaison activities,
for example, furthers Covert Action, Covert Action Activities further
intelligence collection, and counterintelligence supports both.
Finally, there are the actions of personnel management in rotation
of personnel among different area divisions and different functional
components.
In conclusion, Mr. Bross said that in his opinion the Clandestine
Services had four missions: the collection of intelligence from or about
the Soviet Bloc, the related covert action mission to influence events
in the Soviet Bloc, the conduct of covert action operations designed to
affect political events in given countries, and the counter-intelligence
mission.
CSP.RPT
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2014/03/06: CIA-RDP78-06205A000100010024-2