MEMORAMDUM TO: THE DIRECTOR, CIA FROM WILTON B. PERSONS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80R01731R000900090024-2
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 8
• Document Creation Date: December 14, 2016
• Document Release Date: January 24, 2003
• Sequence Number: 24
• Publication Date: April 30, 1953
• Content Type: MEMO

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t ? i kiJDU'i TO: Ti F DIRH.C'2UR,
Ar ril 30, 053
itespectfully referred for your infodna-
t.on and for any comments ;ou n,itht see fit to
rake. Thank you for your cooperation.
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April 2c, 1953
I hate to r urip this back in your lap, but
the attached is waJ outside the terms of
reference of Bill Jackson's Co*mnittee.
? think that the a propriate people to see
it. are Allen Dulles and probably his new
Deputy, Lt. General Cabell, who wi"J know
which people in the Pentagon to take it
lip with.
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ASSOCIATE;
GEORGE B. GIFFORD, JR.
RALPH W. PQWER$
ATTORNEY AT LAW HYATTSVILLE, MARYLAND
MEMORANDUM FOR MAJOR GENFJY. L WILTON PE$,SON~,
SPECIAL ASSISTANT TO THE PRE9DIENT:
Subject: Proposal that the Eisenhower Administration
undertake a top-ievel study of the competency
and efficiency of the military and civilian
intelligence and counter intelligence
organizations of the United States, and the
feasibility of unification among these
4
organizations.
Attached is a memorandum; fpr President Eisenhower on this
subject which I am submitting on behalf of the National ,Couriter Intelligence
Corps Association, a non-political alumni group of some 5, 000 veterans
of the Army Counter Intelligence Corps. The Association has been
recommending a study of this sort since 1948 without succels. It seems
to us that the national security requires that at not too remote intervals
we conduct a study of this character to determinelwhether of not the
country is getting the maximum protection from its military and civilian
intelligence and counter intelligence agencies, and whether or not these
agencies are coordinating their work effectively and performing it not
only efficiently but also with a minimum of unnecessary duplication and
expense. Our Association stands reedy to play its part fully in any such
study and will be glad to furnish expert,personnel who we believe could
I
One proposal which we believe deserveg particularly careful
consideration from the standpoint both of greater efficiency and economy
is the unification (or integration) of the now separate operating counter
intelligence organizations of the Army, Navy, and Air Force. Based dn
our past experience, we think that a cuLreful study by unbiased experts
will reveal a good deal of unnecessary duplication in the present setup in
this respect.
Will you be good enough to see that the attached rriemorandum
is placed in the Presidentts hands.
April 9, 1953
NatiazaPo icy Committee,
!National Counter Intelligence
Corps Association
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ASSOCIATE:
GEORGE B. GIFFORD,JR.
RALPH W. PcWERS
ATTORNEY At LAW
MEMORANDUM FOR THE PRESIDENT:
Mr. President:
I am submitting this memorandum to you in my capacity as chairman
of the National Policy Committee of the National Counter Intelligence Corps
Association. The Association (the only one of its kind) is an alumni group of
some 5, 000 veterans of the Army Counter Intelligence Corps which, as you know,
is the Army organization charged with the job of counter espionage, counter
sabotage, and counter subversion. The Association is entirely non-political in
character.
The purpose of this memorandum is to recommend to you on behalf of
the Association that your Administration undertake a serious and objective study
of the adequacy and competency of the military and civilian intelligence and counter
intelligence organizations of the United States to determine the extent to which they
are meeting the important responsibilities which have been assigned to them, the
extent to which they are ready to meet greater responsibilities which would
devolve on them in the event of war, the extent to which they are coordinating
their work and performing it efficiently and with a minimum of unnecessary
duplication and expense, and the extent to which unification of these organizations
may be feasible.
not currently members of the nationts intelligence and counter intelligence
organizations. The study should naturally be made by highly qualified persons
Such a study should, we believe, be made primarily by persons who are
 Appr(
and should be carried on in well-guarded secrecy. But the agencies under
scrutiny must not be permitted to raise the bar of "secrecy" and "security" to
prevent or obstruct searching analyses of their ability and competency to perform
effectively and efficiently their assigned functions.
At its Chicago Convention in August 1948, the National Counter
Intelligence Corps Association unanimously adopted the so-called Spingarn
Resolution incorporating the above recommendation, together with certain
substantive recommendations for improving the military counter intelligence
organizations of the United States. The committee of which I am chairman was
set up at that time to implement these recommendations. At its Baltimore
Convention in August 1952, the Association again unanimously endorsed its
I
I
previous recommendations in this field. Incidentally, you were good enough to
send a personal telegram of greetings to our Baltimore Convention last year in
which, among other things, you requested to be furnished with a transcript of the
t
minutes of the convention. Your predecessor, President Truman, also sent a
message of greetings to the convention.
In 1948 the Association's recommendations were presented to the Joint
Chiefs of Staff which set up a special staff subcommittee to consider them. This
5s
subcommittee held a hearing at which we testified. On December 22, 1953,
i
General J. Lawton Collins, Chief of Staff of the U. S. Army, advised a member of
our Board of Governors (who is also a member of this committee) that the
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RALPH W. POWERS
HYATTSVILLE, MARYLAND
Association's recommendations had played a part in effecting several constructive
improvements in our military counter intelligence setup.
The following is quoted from General Collin ' letter ofDecember 2?, 1952,
I
"Among these ideas advanced by you in your resolutions,
the following- -either in whole or in part--are now in effect;
i
Establishment of a Centr4l CIC file,
Authority for civilian stp.tus of GIG personnel
Improvement of the CICIT/O&E ,
Improvement of the CIC tfaining program
"This progress is the result of cousidexable,.research,
planning, and implementation on the part of the Counter
Intelligence Corps. The fact that they coincide with many
features outlined in your resolutions of 1948,,is a,.tributt to
the sound thinking of both yourself ,and the staff of the.. Gaunter
Intelligence Corps Center. "
I note, however, that the study which we are recomm ipg would be much
broader than the field of the Army Counter Intelligence Corps. It would covgr t1e,
whole field of intelligence and counter inte ligence both military and civilian.
If you decide to have such s. study made, our Association stands rea y to
play its part fully and will be glad to furnish expert personnel whom, it is believed,
could make a real contribution to any such, study.
One proposal which we believe des rves particularly careful conside it q
from the standpoint of both greater efficiency and economy is the = unification (or
integration) of the now separate operative counter inte,ligence organizations of the
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RALPH W. POWERS
HYATTSVILLE, MARYLAND
.army, Navy, and Air Force. We think tat a careful study by unbiased experts
will reveal a good deal of unnecessary duplication in the present setup in this
respect.
I am attaching a paper prepared in April 1948 by a member of this
a
committee which was the basis for the adoption by our Association that year, and
again in 1952, of the recommendations anjl the request for a study referred to
With the beginning of a new Administration, and with the probability
that there will be many new officials in charge of our military and civilian
intelligence and counter intelligence activities, this seems to be,a particularly
appropriate time to launch the study suggested--a study which, in any event, should
be undertaken periodically at not too remote intervals,
Our Association believes that military and civilian intelligence and counter
intelligence functions are a job for highly trained professionals and not for amateurs,
however well intentioned, or for headline 4unters or political opportunists who seek
to make capital of highly publicized but often scantily documented charges. ' We
recognize that this delicate and important field is one for the surgeon's scalpel
rather than the butcher's cleaver.
We also fully appreciate that in this area considerationsfiof national security
must be balanced against the individual rights which have made o.r country great,-
and that the fundamental problem is to strike a wise balance between these some-
times apparently conflicting considerations, in a nation and world filled with the
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RALPH W. POWERS
HYATTSVILLE, MARYLAND
insecurities created by the great tensions of our times.
ij
We are also fully aware that our people
expec~ their security officers
(like their police), to be not only competent and efficient but also honest
and that they will not tolerate any MVD or Gestapo in tte United Mates.
that the purpose of all our security measure's is to protect
and fair,
We know
our literty, and that to
destroy liberty in the name of security would be to accomplish less than
i
nothing.
We are confident that the requirements of both security and liberty can be
reconciled by wise measures administered by wise men. We feel strongly that
our Government must be vigilant to make sure that its measures in this field and
the men who administer them are wise. rrhe study we are recolnmending would
represent an exercise of that vigilance.
I had the honor to serve under you in the Mediterranean Theater during
the last war (in 1943). In 1944 and 1945, 1 was Chief' of the Counter Intelligence
Corps for the Mediterranean Theater, and in 1945
Chief of the Counter Intelligence Corps inAustria.
Rgspect
ubmitted,
Nj.tio-n 1 Policy Committee,
N.t~ional Counter Intelligence
Corps Association
April 9, 1953
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