MEMORANDUM FOR THE PRESIDENT FROM [MCG. B.]

Document Type: 
Collection: 
Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 
CIA-RDP85-00664R000300110012-4
Release Decision: 
RIPPUB
Original Classification: 
K
Document Page Count: 
2
Document Creation Date: 
December 21, 2016
Document Release Date: 
June 20, 2008
Sequence Number: 
12
Case Number: 
Publication Date: 
February 25, 1961
Content Type: 
MF
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PDF icon CIA-RDP85-00664R000300110012-4.pdf71.37 KB
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STAT Approved For Release 2008/06/20: CIA-RDP85-00664R000300110012-4 THE WHITE HOUSE WASHINGTON STAT February 25, 1961 The more I see of ,the developing pattern of responsibility in the Department of State, the more I am inclined to share the view of Dean Rusk and Chester Bowles that the key job over' there will be the Deputy Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs. This has not been so in the past, but in the pattern which is now developing this officer will necessarily be a point of responsible action and coordination for many of the things in which State must take the lead, and must also work in close cooperation with the Defense Department and CIA. The man who fills this job will have to be an active and decisive person, quite different from the ordinary foreign service type. equally clearly it will not be easy to find anyone else who has the style and quality to succeed Allen Dulles. But here's a possible solution: 1) Bissell as Deputy Under Secretary for Political Affairs in the State Department could in fact keep a sharp eye on the covert operations for which he is, now responsible in CIA; 2) the broadest responsibilities in CIA are quite adequately carried now by Allen Dulles, and on the side of collection and analysis it seems to me quite likely that Bob Amory would be a first-rate successor. (Bob Lovett, who knows as much about our intelligence operation as any one man, thinks Amory would be better than Bissell for intelligence as distinct from covert The first choice of all concerned for this job, as you know, was Dick Bissell, but in the light of your own feelings about the future of CIA, you urged him to stay where he is, and he of course followed your advice. What I now wonder is whether you might find it wise to reconsider that decision. Of course, Bissell's work in CIA is extremely important, and operations.) State Dept. review completed. Approved For Release 2008/06/20: CIA-RDP85-00664R000300110012-4 STAT STAT Approved For Release 2008/06/20: CIA-RDP85-00664R000300110012-4 Awl~ Precisely because we are putting more and more responsibility on the Department of State, this post of operating executive officer is really crucial. Neither the Secretary nor the Under Secretary can do this intense day-to-day interdepartmental job. There are very few men in town who meet the specifica- tions, and none that I have heard of would be in Bissell's class. One final argument in favor of this shift is that Bissell and the State Department would be very good for each other: if Dick has a fault it is that he does not look at all sides of the question, and of course the State Department's trouble is that it is usually doing exactly that and not much else. .McG. B. Approved For Release 2008/06/20: CIA-RDP85-00664R000300110012-4