#976 – Fletcher Prouty with David Ratcliffe

Understanding The Secret Team
The National Security Act of 1947
President Truman abolished the OSS, created the National Intelligence Group
A new branch of the service: the Air Force, a single Department of Defense
Intelligence ... wasn't coordinated, new ways of gathering intelligence
CIA is created to coordinate the intelligence of the rest of the government
An atom bomb ... has no real value until it's been delivered
We were made a defensive nation by the Department of Defense
OSS members, well-trained in covert work, came into CIA
OPC (Office of Policy Coordination), was to preserve certain assets
The creation of the National Security Council
President, Vice-President, Secretaries of State and Defense, no others
Directive "10-slant-2" (10/2) recognized ... covert action
In 1948, the Allen Dulles, William Jackson, Mathias Correa Report
Dulles ... saw that report as, you might say, his own Mein Kampf
The single primary character of the CIA is Allen Dulles
There is no law that says it is a covert operations agency
President Truman wrote, greatest mistake, to create the CIA
Shifting NSC oversight from directing to approving plans
OCB was the Operations Coordinating Board, a part of NSC
OPC was the residual OSS organization, from World War II
Dulles was able to circumvent the law, to have clandestine capability
NSC found itself, approving reactive covert operations
Gulf of Tonkin, North Vietnamese, had been provoked, they did not initiate
Deputy Director Plans, just our euphemism for covert operations
His brother, Secretary of State, the dominant vote in the NSC
Only one, NSC had directed the CIA to involve itself in Tibet
The intelligence community, was not homogenous
Futile to try to enforce the law, on either Defense or CIA or State
There exists a Secret Team that is out of control
Covert operations in Customs, Treasury, even in FAA
It's not CIA all the time, they say it was the CIA
Experienced military intelligence officers, work with the CIA
Military officers ... say pilots ... will be assigned to CIA
Reserve military, employed as civilians by CIA, called to active duty
CIA men, call him Commander Jones, he works for CIA
All of a sudden went into this guise of defense
General Westmoreland, had no place to go in Vietnam and win the war
General Krulak, devised a war plan, to march on Hanoi, and end the war
Offense is the core of war, the antithesis of, a Department of Defense
They are unable to assimilate, nuclear weapons into war planning
We can still go on the offense, we are doing it economically
Evolution of warfare, ended with the explosion of the hydrogen bomb
CIA could promote, counterinsurgency or covert operations
We had to create this Manichaean devil so we created Communism
Then you can justify having a navy, air force, and an enormous army
I was, "to provide military support of clandestine operations of the CIA"
National Security Council Directive #5412 of March 15, 1954
Dulles said, "I want an office that has access to a system in the Pentagon"
That agency might not even know that employee was our man
Colonel Lansdale, a full colonel in the Air Force, that was his cover story
A member of the office of the Secretary of Defense, his home is really CIA
We bought hundreds of airplanes for the CIA, technically for the Air Force
Millions and millions of dollars, never went through Air Force procurement
Units in the Army that were supporting CIA, there were 605
A lot of these people worked right up into the White House
Eisenhower, did not want the CIA to create a capability that was on-going
The secret of covert operations is the control of money
Reimbursement is very important, it keeps bills from appearing in public
Reimbursement, can be used, without explaining that it was for salaries
Congress,