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A Look Back ... Allen Dulles Becomes DCI
President Dwight
Eisenhower called on Deputy Director of the Central Intelligence (DDCI) Allen
Dulles to lead the United
States’ intelligence effort during the
darkest times of the Cold War. At the time, it seemed impossible to outsmart
the Soviet Union. The Soviets caught our spies
and were very careful about protecting their secrets. The Iron Curtain seemed
impenetrable. During DCI Dulles’ tenure, intelligence advancements were made
that helped draw back the curtain.
From Spymaster Hero to DCI
During World War II,
Dulles joined the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) and served as the OSS chief in Bern,
Switzerland.
From that key neutral outpost, Dulles collected important intelligence from
German sources and negotiated an early surrender of German forces in Italy. OSS
Director William Donovan made sure these accomplishments made it into the
American press, and Dulles became famous in America as a spymaster and wartime
cloak-and-dagger hero.
After the war ended in
1945, Dulles returned to his law practice but was consulted about the creation
of Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). In 1948, Dulles was asked to chair an
early reform study of the organization. DCI Walter Bedell Smith brought Dulles
in to oversee operations in 1951 and then made him his deputy director a few
months later. When the newly inaugurated Eisenhower made Dulles DCI on February
26, 1953, it seemed to fulfill his destiny.
Rollercoaster Tenure
Dulles served longer
than any DCI, from February 1953 to November 1961. His tenure is often said to
be a “golden age” for CIA.
It was a time of
derring-do, when the public viewed the CIA as a patriotic organization of
people fighting our Cold War enemies. It was an era of innovation in technical
collection.
Above all, it is
remembered as the hey-day of successful espionage against the Communist Bloc.
Dulles presided over the Agency during one of its most active and interesting
periods.
Because President
Eisenhower sought to manage the Cold War and to contain the USSR without massive spending on U.S.
conventional forces or risking nuclear war, he authorized Dulles and CIA to
confront communist expansion and influence throughout the world. Dulles
accomplished this and more by:
- Conducting vigorous “hearts and minds” campaigns
for people under communist domination;
- Creating and funding Radio Free Europe
and Radio Liberty, which were broadcast to the Soviet bloc and were hugely
successful programs; and
- Supporting a network of anti-Soviet social,
labor, cultural, and student groups in Europe
and elsewhere, as well as scholars, publications, and research
institutions.
Technical collection
successes accomplished under Dulles include:
All of these
accomplishments helped keep the Cold War cold. They gave President
Eisenhower—and his successors—intelligence about Soviet strategic capabilities
and provided timely information about developing crises and hot spots.
Leaving Behind a Legacy
Dulles’ most lasting
legacy is perhaps the Agency’s Headquarters campus itself. For most of his
tenure as DCI, Dulles worked hard with congressmen and contractors to achieve
his dream of a collegial, campus-like headquarters for his beloved CIA. So it
is fitting that the memorial of Dulles in the Original Headquarters
Building lobby has the
inscription, “His Monument is Around
You.”
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Posted: Mar 27, 2009 12:26 PM
Last Updated: Mar 27, 2009 12:27 PM
Last Reviewed: Mar 27, 2009 12:26 PM