THE  SECRETARY  OF  DEFENSE 
WASHINGTON 
JUL  6     1961 
MEMORANDUM  FOR  THE  PRESIDENT 
Subject:    The  Establishment  of  a  Defense  Intelligence  Agency 
(DIA) 
On  18  January  1961,   following  action  by  the  National 
Security  Council,   President  Eisenhower  approved  most  of  the 
recommendations  of  a  special  committee,    under  the  Chairman- 
ship of  Mr.   Lyman  B.   Kirkpatrick,   on  Foreign  Intelligence 
Activities  of  the  United  States  Government.     One  of  the  principal 
recommendations  was  that  the  Secretary  of  Defense  should  take 
appropriate  action  "to  bring  the  military  intelligence  organiza- 
tion within  the  Department  of  Defense  into  full  consonance  with 
the   concept  of  the  Defense  Reorganization  Act  of  1958."    The 
Kirkpatrick  recommendations  are  generally  supported  by  the 
findings  of  other  studies  which  have  been  made  within  DoD  over 
the  last  few  years  looking  toward  improvement  in  DoD  intelligence 
activities. 
On  the  basis  of  previous  studies  and  extensive  investigation 
of  the  various  DoD  intelligence  organizations,   it  was  found  there 
is  considerable  overlap  and  duplication  in  the  DoD  intelligence 
effort,    and,   as  a  result,   a  maldistribution  of  critical  intelligence 
resources.     Over-all  direction  and  management  of  DoDfs  total 
intelligence  effort  becomes  a  very  difficult  if  not  impossible  task. 
Indeed,   the  fragmentation  of  effort  creates  "barriers"  to  the  free 
and  complete  interchange  of  intelligence  information  among  the 
several  components  of  the  Department  of  Defense. 
This  problem  apparently  is  greatly  accentuated  by  the 
critical  interrelationship  of  intelligence  estimates  and  the  deter- 
mination of  military  requirements.     Today,   the  military  depart- 
ments develop  separate  intelligence  estimates  which  exert  a 
EXCLUDED  FROM  AUTOMATIC 
HEGRADING;  DOD  DIP  5200.10 
DOES  NOT  APPLY 
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substantial  influence  on  the  identification  and  justification  of 
their  own  force  requirements.     This  process  may  well  mean 
that  the  estimates  and  requirements  statements  of  the  separate 
Services  do  not  provide  the  optimum  basis  for  developing  the 
total  military  posture  of  the  United  States. 
The  principal  objectives  sought  were  to  eliminate  these 
deficiencies  and  to  strengthen  the  capacity  of  the  Department  of 
Defense  to  carry  out  its  principal  intelligence  mission  --  the 
collection  and  production  of  military  intelligence.     Upon  careful 
evaluation,   the  organizational  solution  which  seemed  to  offer  the 
most  promise  for  achieving  these  objectives  and  for  implementing 
the  many  Kirkpatrick  Committee  recommendations  applicable  to 
the  Department  of  Defense  is  the  creation  of  a  Defense  Intelligence 
Agency. 
This  solution  should  also  facilitate  DoD*b  support  of  the 
entire  national  intelligence  community.     In  particular,   the  DIA 
should  provide   improved  intelligence  support  to  the  Joint  Chiefs 
of  Staff  and  the  unified  combatant  commanders.     Moreover,   this 
solution  is  consonant  with  the  expressed  intent  of  the  Congress  in 
adopting  the  McCormack  Amendment  to  the  1958  Defense  Reorganiza- 
tion Act.     More  effective  management  and  allocation  of  critical  DoD 
intelligence  resources  should  be  obtained  with  considerable  savings 
in  personnel,   publications,   and  facilities. 
The  concept  and  plan  of  the  DIA  has  been  developed  on  the 
basis  of  recommendations  submitted  by  the  Joint  Chiefs  of  Staff 
and  endorsed  by  the  Secretaries  of  the  military  departments.     The 
DIA  will  be  responsible  for  the  operation  of  a  large  part  of  the 
intelligence  resources  now  assigned  to  the  separate  Services  and 
the  Joint  Staff.     It  will  also  review  and  coordinate  the  intelligence 
functions  retained  by  the  military  departments.     DIA  will  assume 
the  vital  task  of  supplying  military  intelligence  to  the  major  com- 
ponents of  the  Department  of  Defense,   the  United  States  Intelligence 
Board,   and  other  organizations  in  the  national  intelligence  community. 
It  will  not,   however,   interfere  with  conduct  of  the  intelligence 
activities  in  the  unified  and  specified  combatant  commands  which 
will  remain  under  the  operational  control  of  their  respective  com- 
manders.    It  is  contemplated  that  under  the  general  supervision  of 
top  seem
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DIA,   some  major  intelligence  activities;  such  as,  personnel, 
plant,  and  installations  security,  and  intelligence  training  will 
be  retained  by  the  military  departments. 
Nothing  in  DIA's  charter  or  terms  of  reference  affects 
any  of  the  functions  of  the  National  Security  Agency  (NSA). 
Five  alternative  locations  for  DIA  were  considered: 
(1)  Under  the  Joint  Staff; 
(2)  Under  one  of  the  military  departments; 
(3)  Directly  under  the  Chairman,  JCS; 
(4)  In  the  Office  of  the  Secretary  of  Defense,  and 
(5)  Under  the  JCS, 
After  consideration  of  the  possible  advantages  and  disadvantages 
of  each  of  the  first  three  alternatives,  none  appeared  to  offer  a 
viable  solution.     The  final  choice  lay  between  (4)  and^(5)0    Alterna- 
tive (4)  would  establish  a  large  operating  organization  in  a  staff 
office  of  the  Secretary  of  Defense  and  would  increase  the  number 
of  offices  which  report  directly  to  the  Secretary,     Moreover,  the 
DoD  intelligence  function  is  inextricably  linked  to  the  strategic 
planning  functions  of  the  JCS  and  to  the  combatant  responsibilities 
of  the  unified  commanders.     On  balance,  I  have  concluded  that  the 
best  solution  is  to  place  DIA  under  the  Joint  Chiefs  of  Staff. 
On  30  June  1961,  at  the  request  of  Dr,   Killian,  a  formal 
briefing  on  DIA  was  given  to  the  Foreign  Intelligence  Activities 
Board,     Yesterday,  Dr.  Killian  stated  that  he  and  other  members 
of  the  Board  were  favorably  impressed  with  the  proposed  plan  and 
recommended  its  early  adoption. 
fui  5  "%
Ai  r   Force 
TOTAL 
*w  -  -t*tr*  ^"va 
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Attachment  I  I 
Financial  Summary 
Army 
Personnel    and  O&M 
Procurement 
Total 
I ncrease 
in          
Strength     (in  mi  1 1  ions) 
285,000 
Increase  in 
FY  62  NOA 
1618 
-££2 
2170 
Navy  and  Marine  Corps 
Personnel  and  0$M 
Procurement 
Total 
131,000 
619 
800 
1419 
Personnel  and  0&M 
Procurement 
Total 
63,327 
329 
425 
754 
Personnel  and  0&M 
Procurement 
Total 
479,327 
2566 
1777 
4343 
This   document  must   not  be 
reproduced  wi thout   permission 
of  the  originating  office 
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