View source for NSC oversight of covert operations

From [[1955]], until at least 1981, oversight of United States [[covert operations]] was assigned to a series of sub-committees of the [[United States National Security Council]].

==Oversight of United States covert operations==

Under presidential directive NSC 5412/1, issued March 12, 1955, oversight of covert operations became the responsibility of the [[Planning Coordination Group]].<ref>{{cite web
|url=http://www.fas.org/sgp/advisory/state/covert.html
|title=Note on U.S. Covert Action Programs}}</ref>

===NSC 5412/2 Special Group===
Under presidential directive NSC 5412/2, issued December 28, 1955, responsibility for oversight of covert operations transferred to a National Security Council secret subcommittee with members representing the Secretary of Defense, the Secretary of State, and the President.  The group was identified as the '''NSC 5412/2 Special Group''', or simply as the '''Special Group'''.

A [[National Security Archive]] chronology of the [[Bay of Pigs Invasion]] indicates a membership in December 1960 of [[Allen Welsh Dulles|Allen Dulles]], Chairman of the [[Central Intelligence Agency]] (CIA); [[Gordon Gray (politician)|Gordon Gray]], [[National Security Advisor (United States)|National Security Advisor]]; James Douglas, [[United States Secretary of Defense|Acting Secretary of Defense]]; and [[Livingston T. Merchant]], [[Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs]].<ref>{{cite web
|url=http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/bayofpigs/chron.html
|title=Bay of Pigs: 40 Years After - Chronology
|work=The National Security Archive}}</ref>

===303 Committee===
The covert actions oversight group was renamed the '''303 Committee''' after [[National Security Directive|National Security Action Memorandum]] No. 303 on June 2, 1964.  [[McGeorge Bundy]], National Security Advisor, became Chairman for the committee.

The successor to the Special Group was the 40 Committee.<ref>{{cite web
|url=http://foia.state.gov/Reports/ChurchReport.asp#A.%2040%20Committee%20Authorization%20and%20Control:%20Chile,%201969-1973.
|title=Covert Action in Chile: 1963–1973
|publisher=United States Department of State}}</ref>

===40 Committee===
The '''40 Committee''' was a division of the [[President of the United States|Executive branch]] of the [[United States government]] whose mandate was to review proposed major [[covert operation|covert actions]]. In 1970 the 40 Committee played a major role in so called "Track I" efforts to prevent [[Salvador Allende]] from taking office following the [[Chilean presidential election, 1970|Chilean popular vote of September 4, 1970]].

The Committee was a successor to earlier covert oversight and planning groups, variously known as the Special Group 10/2, 5412 Panel, NSC 5412/2 Special Group, Special Group (until 1964), 303 Committee (to 1969), existing since 1954 at the latest.

===Operations Advisory Group===
On February 18, 1976, 40 committee was replaced by the '''Operations Advisory Group''', in accordance with [[Executive Order 11905]] issued by [[Gerald Ford]].  The new group was composed of the [[National Security Advisor (United States)|President's Assistant for National Security Affairs]], the Secretaries of [[United States Secretary of State|State]] and [[United States Secretary of Defense|Defense]], the [[Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff]], and the [[Director of Central Intelligence]].<ref name="state.gov">{{cite web|url=http://fpc.state.gov/documents/organization/39313.pdf|format=PDF|title=Proposals for Intelligence Reorganization, 1949-2004|publisher=[[United States Department of State]]}}</ref>

===NSC Special Coordination Committee===
The following year, on May 13, 1977 President [[Jimmy Carter]] issued Executive Order 11985 which updated the previous order such that the Operations Advisory Group thereafter would be known as the '''NSC Special Coordination Committee'''<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.fas.org/irp/offdocs/eo/eo-11985.htm|title=Executive Order 11985|date=May 13, 1977|publisher=Federation of American Scientists}}</ref>

===National Security Planning Group===
Under the Reagan administration, the Special Coordination Committee was replaced by the '''National Security Planning Group''' which included the Vice-President, the Secretary of Defense, the Secretary of State, the Assistant for National Security Affairs, and the Director of the CIA.<ref>{{cite news
|title=Covert Action and Accountability: Decision-Making for America's Secret Foreign Policy
|author=Loch K. Johnson
|publisher=International Studies Quarterly
|date=March 1989}}</ref>

==Notes==
<references/>

== References ==
* Prouty, L. Fletcher. ''The Secret Team: The CIA and Its Allies in Control of the United States and the World''. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1973 (first edition), revised 1997. ISBN 0137981732.
* Wise, David, and Thomas B. Ross. ''The Invisible Government''. New York: Random House, 1964.

== External links ==
* [http://www.ratical.org/ratville/JFK/ST/ The Secret Team], 1997 edition, e-text at ratical.org
* [http://www.fas.org/irp/offdocs/nsc-ike/index.html Eisenhower Administration National Security Documents] at Federation of American Scientists Intelligence Resource Program
*{{cite web
|url=http://www.brookings.edu/views/op-ed/fellows/kibbe20040808.htm
|title=A Loophole for Covert Operations
|author=Jennifer D. Kibbe
|date=August 8, 2004
|publisher=Fort Worth Star-Telegram}}