Central Intelligence Group

Central Intelligence Group
Agency overview
Formed22 January 1946 (1946-01-22)
Preceding agency
Dissolved18 September 1947 (1947-09-18)
Superseding agency
JurisdictionNational Intelligence Authority
Agency executive
  • Rear Admiral Sidney Souers, Director of Central Intelligence

The Central Intelligence Group (CIG) was the direct successor to the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), and the direct predecessor to the Central Intelligence Agency.[1] The official duties of CIG are quoted by Assistant Executive Director Shields:

The Central Intelligence Group is a recently created interdepartmental organization in which the State, War, Navy, and sometimes other departments participate. It coordinates all activities of the Government involved in obtaining and analyzing information about foreign countries which this country needs for its national security. It also furnishes interdepartmental analyses of this type of information or use by Government officials.[2]

The supervising authority of the CIG was the National Intelligence Authority.[3]

With the official end of World War II, newly elected President Truman and members of the US Congress decided to officially dissolve the vast intelligence agency of the OSS.[4] The OSS has been specifically a wartime organization, and the war was over.[5][6]

Wild Bill Donovan is noted as having "exploded" upon the news that he only had two weeks to dissolve the OSS, and pressured the government to maintain some of the organization's strategic structures.[4]

CIG formally came into being with 1181/5, the President's directive of 22 January 1946, wherein the President authorized CIG to: "...perform for the benefit of said intelligence agencies, such services of common concern as the National Intelligence Authority determines can be more efficiently accomplished centrally."[4][7]

The activation ceremony of this intelligence agency two days later involved the President of the United States of America, Harry Truman, calling Rear Admiral Sidney Souers and Fleet Admiral Willian D. Leahy to the White House, and presenting them both with black cloaks, black hats, and wooden daggers, before reading aloud the Presidential directive outlining their new duties.[4]

Organizational structure

Source:[8]

  • Office of Collection and Dissemination
  • Office of Security
  • Office of Reports and Estimates
  • Office of Operations
  • Office of Special Operations
  • Interdepartmental Coordinating and Planning Staff
  • Executive Staff
  • Office of Research and Evaluation

References

  1. ^ "History of CIA - CIA". www.cia.gov. Retrieved 2024-06-25.
  2. ^ Edwards, Sheffield. "Memorandum to Chief of Naval Intelligence" (PDF). NCISA History Project.
  3. ^ "Historical Intelligence Documents: From COI to CIG - CSI". www.cia.gov. Retrieved 2024-07-07.
  4. ^ a b c d Michael, Warner (1995). "The Creation of the Central Intelligence Group" (PDF). Studies in Intelligence. 39: 111–120. Retrieved 2024-06-25.
  5. ^ Lee Ferran. "Before the CIA, There Was the "Cloak and Dagger Group of Snoopers"". InsideHook. Retrieved 2024-07-07.
  6. ^ "Ask Molly: The National Security Act of 1947 - CIA". www.cia.gov. Retrieved 2024-07-07.
  7. ^ "Directive on Coordination of Foreign Intelligence Activities | The American Presidency Project". www.presidency.ucsb.edu. Retrieved 2024-06-25.
  8. ^ Vandenberg, Hoit S. "ORGANIZATION CHART FOR CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE GROUP" (PDF).