MEETING OF THE PSYCHOLOGICAL STRATEGY BOARD

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80R01731R003300160019-3
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: T
• Document Page Count: 12
• Document Creation Date: December 19, 2016
• Document Release Date: July 11, 2005
• Sequence Number: 19
• Publication Date: September 26, 1951
• Content Type: MF

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26 September 19,1
SUBJW, Tt Meeting of the Psychological Strategy Board
1. On your behalf I attended a meeting at the Psychological Stra-
tegy Board on Tuesday, 25 September 1951, at ten o'clock, The purpose
of this meeting was to review the agenda which will be presented at a
meeting of the Board to be held at two o'clock on Thursday, 27 Sepptem>
ber I9,l. Attached is a copy of the agenda and supporting documents.
Also present were: Mr. Gordon Gray and Messrs. McCarthy, Phillips, Davis,
and Sherman of the PSB staff; Messrs. Sergeant and McWilliams of the
Department of State; Generals Magruder and Balmer and Colt Hopkins of
the Department of Defense and JCS.
2. ROLE OF THE, P B is the first item on the agenda and most of the
discussion revo v Ground this point; more specifically, to the language
at the very bottom of page 1 (PSB D-1, attached), "recommending to the
NBC the adoption of such additional policies as may be deemed advisable,"
The State Department representative, r. ?McWilliams, apparently felt that
this language was too broad in view of the fact that the NSC has cogni-
zance of matters with which the P5B is not concerned; whereas, the Ian..
guage as written would permit the PSD to make recommendations to the NSC
on any question, Mr. Gray stated that the language was only intended to
permit the PSB to make recommendations in respect of matters related to
the national psychological effort in either of two ways s
a. Recommendations that NSG develop policy.
b. Recommendations that NSC adopt specific policy submitted by
theme.
After considerable discussion, Fr. Gray staged that the language would be
revised somewhat along the following lines:
NSC review(s) completed.
TcOPOSE1IL S
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a. In general, a staff member would act as chairman of panels
hereafter constituted and would consult the panel members from inter-
ested depaztents rather than calling the panel to sit "en b" as
has been the case heretofore*
b. The covert aspects of determinations will in the future be
handled by the PSB staff.
a. Panel members should be of sufficient calibre - individuals
o are informed on departmental views but also in a position to
exercise cote flexibility in approaching a problem. Too often in
government poor results have derived from inter'-govorcntal confer-
ences wherein member: have been under instructions;
(1) To wrroe to nothing until departmental consent is ob-
tamed;
(2) To voice oily the departmental position and to refuse to
yield on points departing fron that position,
On the contrary, panel members should be in a position to reconcile
departmental views in the coon interest, In general., panel m era
should be uninstructed but not uninformed. This does not mean, haw
ever., that panel members will not have an opportunity to conciliate
their personal views with those of the department which they repre-
sent,.
7 if a seeable to 1)1)CI? DADPC proposes to name 25X1
(with r~~ I as alternate) as the CIA representative on panel C.
25X1
r
for Policy Coordination
Attachment3l 1
COPY -~.OE.,LCOPIES
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PSt.d iii-2
PSYCHOLOGICAL ,STRA,T.-.UY dOARD
i1INUTS
2.30 p rn, -- Li:30 p.m., ionday ^.ta ust 130 195
Director's Office;'sychological Strategy board building
Members:
Lt. General ?i, i3edell. Smith, Director of Central intelligence,
Acting Chairman
Mr. Janes C. 'v~ebb, Under .3ecretary of State
?iro Robert Lovett., Deputy Secretary of Defense
Others-
Mr0 Gordon Gray, Director, ;:'sychological Strategy board
Cola Armand nopkina, JCS Representative
L-Aajor General John L4agruder, Department of Defense
Mr.- Prank ~vai.sn .r, Central intelligence Agency
Air. Charles E Johnson, Acting i::xeciitive Secretary' ='sychologica
Strategy board
Mr, Robert G~ Lfteland, Secretary
PROGIM"S itEPORT by THi IDI1b3CTOR (PSts D-1)
1. in addition to ;pis statement in krofress Report the Director
(PSii Dml), Hr. Gray co;n:aented that efforts are being made to recruit
individuals for.. permanent apoointrent to the staff of the Psychological
Strategy board, (?St.). He noted that Task Panel "A" (i'S,i De1/1) was the
outgrowth of a ineeti-tf at the white liotise in which Assistant Secretaries
of State Rusk and Barrett had aarticipated0
PROCEDUR'S IC-' CONDUCT U? j0 "~ -t') 610.11;CS '
2;, The ioard agreed that it wonild meet only when there are important
proble;ns to disdi.iss. The Acting Chairman and the Director will schedule
meetings on a rotation basis at any one of the three Agencies at the ,
convenience of the asoardo The members are free to bring their alternates
as they deem desirable,,
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3 In the matter of briefing, Or. Gray su ,ge, ter? that his staff
brief the members' alternates a few days before meetings of the joard..
The alternates i ouuld then brief the *aenbers in advance of i3oard meet-
ings. General :_ pith and Yir, Lovett favored this procedure, eir,.
Lovett ?irged the t papers be held to a inanimum for security reasons U
Nara ebb stated. that he had not decided how to handle the briefing
problem,
h. To prevent problems being place(' before the .ioard for decision
until the members have had a chance to study them,, it was the consensus
that the Director should determine whethi.r a problem is within the
competence of the ooard and whether it i? neces.,ary for the -PSI) staff
to present its views to the ?St.i, ?
L1JT O' P1 Ll yi` [ii' INT 'ItSY TO 't''iiu t;0 ^i1) (PS,i L-2)
rir. Gray. in presenting his vie rs on List of ?roblems for the
Director and Staff in Order of ~lork Prio ~i {t'S is D Z2_)7 called the
board's attention to paragraphTT-Ti whit} he states his concern that
the xsoard shoulc. not assume too many prof lems wi shout careful considera-
tion. He said this document is an effort. to tra..slate I'SC papers into
action. It is necessary to convert i'SC policies into specific objectives
and formulate plans which will achieve these objectives. As the problems
listed in Sections II-A,, I1-o and II.d on page 2 are so:;,ved, the remain-
ing problems will become clearer? The stiff intends -,o give top priority
to the substantive problems I through II-C, which fall generally into a
category of psychological strategy planninP not previously initiated.
Section 11-D will then be considered,. Seet,ion'iI-L will be considered
concurrently innsmucb as these problems are largely concerned wit'-
relationships, Mr,, Gray explained that it Is not necessary to recon;. i.le
differing definitions as to what psychological operations mean because
the same work is necessary tinder either conc :,pt~ Consegnently, it was
decided to list the problems facing the P513 ,o provide the Board with
specific terms of reference which would enabii it to get on with its
work. Therefor(., the list of problems (Mo b,2) illustrates the area
of interest of the r'Sss and the Staff, At the ,same time it provides
for i'lro Gray the uasis for planning:; a f iuactia~_:Lng staff organization,
6., General Smith said that the list of problems appears to be
monumental. He asked "sr, Gray how he expected to accomplish these
projects and st!11 attack current problems. 111r. Gray replied that the
Staff intends to use ad hoc groups whenever necessary on new problems,
senera:l Smith s.: id that in iris opinion the -1':>ta.ff' would require
many reinforcements to accomplish the work oatlined in PSra D-2. He
believed that completion of the problems listed would require two
years of effort by the P S6 Staff and that there was not that much time
available, He said that the problems listed in Sections I-A (!1), I-A (5),
and I-A (7) are enough to keep the Pats staff busy for quite some time.
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In addition, .z he looked over the list of problems, it appeared that
many others were going to require work by the staff in the very near
future. He nc-ted, ati an example, that the problem in Section !I-K-
h.ad nbt yet been assigned a work priority. however, it is a problem
which :nest be net right now,
70 elro ,=ebb said that the xCremlin has a special group which
devotes all of its efforts to maximize the strength of the USSR to
fractionate and weaken that of the united States, He hoped that the
members would conceive the function of the i'3o as drawing together
U0 S. efforts, in the same way as the Kremlin group does for Russia,
:'?oroover, he believed. the eoar_i. should discuss further many of the
proolens listed in FS D-2 before the Staff completes its work and
reaches a f ina.l position on the problems, lie said surveys take time
and that we should not overlook each ioard members ignorance of the
work of other agencies, lie looked upon the t'Sd as a central place
for the ambers to meet, discuss problems and mate policy, The k U3
should be a cc-ntral place where guidance would be available. It
would Rive i'ir. Webb the feeling that here is a group of knowledgable
Government Officials who an meet our major problems in the psycho-
logical area,
60 i4r? Lovett said ',~.hat this list is an encyclopedic approach
and gives the board somet,-,ing; to shoot at. He suggested that the
ioard approve the documen (PSd U-2) as an identification of problems
which call for discrimination as to which should be undertaken first,
He suggested that the rsoa-9d undertake as a matter of urgency the
problems listed in Section I-A (4), I-A (5) and I.A (7)~ This will
enaule the bo~..rd to find out what is being done by Government agencies,
what general directives they are following and what they plan to do.,
.4r0 .Jeob agrecd with a?lra Lovett and said that if these three problems
were worked out, the PSb would then know what the agencies in the U0 S,
Government are working on., It could bring together whatever additional
resources are necessary to achieve our goals and could make the neces-
sary plans f. o-.- any ?~aps which might be found to exist, General Smith
agreed with; aa) the above., b) that the staff of the Board should under
take the nece.-sary work i-.i connection with these three points; and c)
that the t3onrd should consider it a later date the other problems
listed in the document, Asir, Gray said that the list will naturally
be subject to constant reiision0 He suggested that the staff, in
addition to the study of Sections IAA r (h), I-A ? (5) and I=A c (7),
be allowed to take up any urgent matter which the Board might direct,
SECTION IIGD of t'v13 J-2
90 The A3oard discussed at length the problem stated in this
section of the: paper? It was the consensus of the hoard that the
Russians are ,jlanrxing, sons disruptive action to embarrass us0 rossibly
they will rea,'firm their disarmament suggestions and intensify their
peace drive,
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It will have the same old sugar coating-and will attempt to show that
the United States is preventing disarmament in the world. The
Shvernik letter possibly gives a guide to the Russian attitude. No
doubt the Russians will say to small countries "if you don?t.go along
with us and accept our position, you must bear the consequences".
The Board agreed that the United States must take action to most these
Russian maneuvers both abroad and in the United States.
SECTION II-E of PSB D-2
10. Mr. Gray said that he planned to have a Special Assistant
handle the relationships of kSB with congressmen and representatives
of private agencies who are interested generally in psychological
developments. He does not anticipate any problems in this connection.
The main thing will be to keep others from doing things we don?t want
than to do rather than the need to encourage cooperation by outsiders.
Mr. Webb asked Mr. Gray if he intended to.use other executive. agencies
of the Government to talk to representatives of private groups. Mr.
Gray said that he would use Government agencies but that it would be.
necessary to have someone available in PSB to talk with them so than
they feel they are being given consideration. General Smith-believed
it would be devirable for Mr. Gray to have such an officer to deal
with interested private agencies. Mr. Lovett said that the Department
of Defense would handle most inquiries itself but that it would push
off general inquiries to the PSB. It was the consensus of the Board
that the procedure outlined by Mr. Lovett should be followed.
ORGANI?ATION, FUNCTIONS, AND BUDGET (PS )
11. The Board?s consideration was limited to page 5 of PSB
document D'3. In explaining this estimate, Mr. Gray said that he ex-
pects that the staff will be increased somewhat to meet the problems
the PSB must handle. However, he believed that any increase would be
reasonable and in no case would the staff be increased to anywhere
near double the size called for in the document. The Board agreed
that the necessary funds would be provided from appropriate Agency
budgets.
OTHER BUSINESS
12. Mr. Gray discussed two papers as examples of problems which
contain psychological implications. He asked that the members caution
their Agencies to make available to the PSB copies of papers of im-
portance to the work of the Board and its Staff. The members agreed
that they would instruct their agencies to cooperate in this matter.
T 0 P S E C R E T
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13. General Smith discussed the question of preventing un-
controlled activity in the psychological field now that the yS33
has been organized. He said that there is a need to develop an
over-all psychological strategy plane Other Agencies and the
Army,, which is concerned only with the tactical, military phase of
operations would then be able to carry out assigned missions.
General Magruder stated that he would discuss the Army's role with
Mr, Lovett (who had left the meeting) and that the Department of
Defense would handle the matter internally, He said that the
Services would deal with the board through the JSPD which was
established for this purpose. General Magruder said that two papers
are being prepared concerning the Army2a interpretation of its func-
tion and that copies will be submitted to the "IS13. It was the con-
sensus that an over-all psychological strategy plan should be
developed so that all activity in the Government is in consonance
with it.
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PSB-M-1 /-
2 July 1951
PSYCHOLOGICAL STRATEGY BOARD
Minutes'
of
Meeting held in Director's Conference Room,
Central Intelligence Agency, 2 July 1951
Lieut. General W. Bedell Smith, Director of Central
Intelligence
Mr. Robert Lovett, Deputy Secretary of Defense
Mr. Edward Barrett, for the Under Secretary of State
Mr. Gordon Gray, Director, Psychological Strategy Board
Mr. Allen Dulles, Central' Intelligence Agency
Mr. James 0.. Reber, Central Intelligence Agency
Central Intelligence Agency
FUNCTIONS OF THE BOARD AND STAFF
1. Initial discussion was based on the agenda proposed in
the memorandum of 1 June 1951 from Mr. Dulles to the Director of
Central Intelligence. In view of Mr. Gray's appointment, discus-
sion of the proposed interim procedure (TAB A of that memorandum)
was not necessary. The proposed functions and organization of the
Staff (TAB B) was passed over as it was considered a non-contro-
versial paper. The basic difference of view brought out in General
Magruder's and Mr. Sargeant's papers was discussed. briefly but no
decision or recommendation was made. It was agreed that Mr. Gray
should have an opportunity to discuss the matter with various
interested people before forming an opinion.
2. General Smith stated his view that the principal factor
missing in our psychological set-up at the present time is a
"master plan" similar to the plan of the Combined Chiefs of Staff
in the last war when it was decided to concentrate first on Germany
and then turn on Japan. He pointed out that everything else would
logically flow from such a plan and that economic programs, covert
missions, and VOA policies should be related to it.
S-E-C-R-E-T
PSB -M-1
2 July 1951
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2 July 1951
3. General Smith felt that the PSB and its Staff should work
on the preparation of this master plan and act as a high-level pro-
ject review board to allocate missions to the various agencies and
to survey the effectiveness of operations in progress.
FUNDS, SPACE, AND PERSONNEL
4. The Board agreed that Mr. Gray and his Staff should be
physically located on "neutral ground" apart from any one of the
participating agencies.
5. It was understood that of CIA would assist Mr.
Gray in working out with Mr. Finan of the Bureau of the Budget and
representatives of State and Defense the necessary arrangements
regarding funds- and office space for the Board and Staff. General
Smith agreed to try to make certain slots available for the immediate
hiring of some high-level consultants to be assigned to the PSB.
RELATIONS WITH OTHER GROUPS
6. The relation of the Board to the NSC was discussed briefly,
and it was understood that the Board would occupy a position some-
what similar to that of the Senior Staff, reporting directly to the
NSC. Coordination with the Joint Chiefs of Staff would be effected
through their representative with the Board, Admiral Stevens. .
'T. The supporting role of the O/PC Consultants and Mr. Barrett's
Psychological Operations Coordinating Board was mentioned and the
possibility was raised of combining these two groups while preserving
separate overt and covert staffs. It was agreed, however, that no
change should be made at the present time inasmuch as both groups
were operating satisfactorily
SCOPE OF "PSYCHOLOGICAL OPERATIONS"
8. The point was made that the scope of the Board's responsi-
bility is very broad and covers every kind of activity in support
of U S. policies except overt shooting and overt economic warfare.
S -E -C -R-E -T
PSB -M-1
2 July 1951
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