The Operations Coordinating Board (OCB) was a committee of the United States Executive created in 1953 by
President Eisenhower's
Executive Order
In the United States, an executive order is a directive by the president of the United States that manages operations of the federal government. The legal or constitutional basis for executive orders has multiple sources. Article Two of t ...
10483 and tasked with
oversight of United States covert operations. Eisenhower simultaneously gave secret instructions specifying additional functions for the new entity. The board, which reported to the
National Security Council was responsible for integrating the implementation of national security policies across several agencies. An important part of its mandate was to act as the president's coordinating committee for the most incendiary secret foreign policy actions, such as
covert operations.
The board's membership was to include the
Under Secretary of State
Under Secretary of State (U/S) is a title used by senior officials of the United States Department of State who rank above the Assistant Secretaries and below the Deputy Secretary.
From 1919 to 1972, the Under Secretary was the second-ranking off ...
, who was to chair the board, the
Deputy Secretary of Defense
The deputy secretary of defense (acronym: DepSecDef) is a statutory office () and the second-highest-ranking official in the Department of Defense of the United States of America.
The deputy secretary is the principal civilian deputy to the sec ...
, the Director of the Foreign Operations Administration, the
Director of Central Intelligence, and the President's Special Assistant for Psychological Warfare. Also authorized to attend were the President's
Special Assistant for National Security Affairs and the Director of the
United States Information Agency
The United States Information Agency (USIA), which operated from 1953 to 1999, was a United States agency devoted to " public diplomacy". In 1999, prior to the reorganization of intelligence agencies by President George W. Bush, President Bil ...
.
History
The creation of the board was a recommendation of the Jackson Committee, chaired by
William Harding Jackson
William Harding Jackson (March 25, 1901 – September 28, 1971) was a U.S. civilian administrator, New York lawyer, and investment banker who served as Deputy Director of the Central Intelligence Agency.(Reference: "The Central Intelligence Agen ...
, set-up to propose future United States Government information and
psychological warfare
Psychological warfare (PSYWAR), or the basic aspects of modern psychological operations (PsyOp), have been known by many other names or terms, including Military Information Support Operations (MISO), Psy Ops, political warfare, "Hearts and M ...
programs. The same committee recommended the existing
Psychological Strategy Board The Psychological Strategy Board (PSB) was a committee of the United States executive formed to coordinate and plan for psychological operations. It was formed on April 4, 1951, during the Truman administration. The board was composed of the Un ...
be abolished.
The OCB was originally a separate body, but became an official part of the NSC with Eisenhower's issuance of Executive Order 10700 in 1957.
Abolition and Succession
The Operations Coordinating Board was abolished by
President Kennedy
John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), often referred to by his initials JFK and the nickname Jack, was an American politician who served as the 35th president of the United States from 1961 until assassination of Joh ...
on February 19, 1961 because it was thought that secret wars should not be overseen by so many officials. By that time, much of OCB's work was being continued by other bodies, such as the Planning Coordination Group (PCG), pursuant to presidential directive Covert Operations NSC 5412/12 in 1955, and by the Special Group.
[Annie Jacobsen, "Surprise, Kill, Vanish: The Secret History of CIA Paramilitary Armies, Operators, and Assassins," (New York: Little Brown and Company, 2019), p. 115]
References
External links
Executive Order 10483 - Establishing The Operations Coordinating BoardExecutive Order 10700 – Further Providing for the Operations Coordinating Board
United States National Security Council
United States national commissions
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