--- aliases: - "PFIAB" - "President's Board of Consultants on Foreign Intelligence Activities" - "President's Intelligence Advisory Board" category: "Intelligence & Government" tags: - Organization - Government - WhiteHouse - IntelligenceOversight - CIA - CovertAction - ColdWar summary: "White House board of private citizens created by Eisenhower in 1956 to review foreign intelligence and the CIA, renamed by Kennedy in 1961, abolished by Carter in 1977 and later re-established." start: 1956-01-13 location: "Washington, D.C." created: 2026-09-24 updated: 2026-10-26 relations: - type: founded with: "[[Dwight D. Eisenhower]]" reverse: true start: 1956-02-06 fn: 1 - type: head_of with: "[[James Killian]]" reverse: true role: "chairman" start: 1956-01-13 fn: 2 - type: member_of with: "[[James Doolittle]]" reverse: true start: 1956-01-13 fn: 2 - type: member_of with: "[[Joseph P. Kennedy]]" reverse: true start: 1956-01-13 fn: 2 - type: member_of with: "[[Robert Lovett]]" reverse: true start: 1956-01-13 fn: 2 - type: member_of with: "[[Clare Boothe Luce]]" reverse: true role: "member 1973 to 1977 and 1980 to 1986" start: 1973 end: 1986 fn: 7 - type: member_of with: "[[Maxwell Taylor]]" reverse: true start: 1961-05-04 fn: 2 - type: member_of with: "[[Clark Clifford]]" reverse: true start: 1961-05-15 fn: 2 - type: member_of with: "[[Gordon Gray]]" reverse: true start: 1961-05-15 fn: 2 - type: reported_to with: "[[Richard Helms]]" reverse: true role: "briefing on covert action operations" start: 1963-09-10 fn: 4 - type: head_of with: "[[Maxwell Taylor]]" reverse: true role: "chairman" end: 1970-04-30 fn: 2 - type: member_of with: "[[Nelson Rockefeller]]" reverse: true start: 1969 fn: 2 - type: member_of with: "[[Edwin Land]]" reverse: true start: 1969 fn: 2 - type: head_of with: "[[George W. Anderson]]" reverse: true role: "chairman" start: 1970-05-01 fn: 2 - type: head_of with: "[[Brent Scowcroft]]" reverse: true role: "chairman" start: 2001-10-05 fn: 8 - type: member_of with: "[[Ray Hunt]]" reverse: true start: 2001-10-05 fn: 8 - type: member_of with: "[[Stephen Friedman]]" reverse: true start: 2001-10-05 fn: 8 --- President [[Dwight D. Eisenhower]] created the President's Board of Consultants on Foreign Intelligence Activities by Executive Order 10656, issued on February 6, 1956, printed in the *[[Federal Register]]* on February 8 (21 Fed. Reg. 859) and effective from January 13, 1956. Its members were drawn from persons "outside government" chosen for their "ability, experience, and knowledge" in matters of national defense and security, and served without pay beyond travel and per diem. The order directed the board to review the foreign intelligence work of the government and the performance of the [[Central Intelligence Agency]] and to report to the President "twice yearly (or more often if needed)."[^1][^2] ### Board of Consultants A White House release of January 13, 1956, named the first members: [[James Killian|James R. Killian, Jr.]], president of the [[Massachusetts Institute of Technology]], as chairman; Admiral [[Richard L. Conolly]] (retired); Lieutenant General [[James Doolittle|James H. Doolittle]]; [[Benjamin Fairless|Benjamin F. Fairless]] of [[U.S. Steel|United States Steel]]; General [[John E. Hull]] (retired); [[Joseph P. Kennedy]], former ambassador to [[United Kingdom|Great Britain]]; [[Robert Lovett|Robert A. Lovett]], former [[Secretary of Defense]]; and [[Edward L. Ryerson]] of [[Inland Steel]].[^2] ### Kennedy and Johnson President [[John F. Kennedy]] issued Executive Order 10938 on May 4, 1961, "Establishing the President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board," with the function "to advise the President with respect to the objectives and conduct of the foreign intelligence and related activities." The board was to "conduct a continuing review and assessment of all functions of the Central Intelligence Agency" and report twice a year. Section 4 revoked Executive Order 10656.[^3] The White House announcement of May 4 listed Killian as chairman, with [[William O. Baker]] of [[Bell Labs]], Doolittle, [[William L. Langer]] of [[Harvard University]], [[Robert D. Murphy]], former Under Secretary of State, and General [[Maxwell Taylor|Maxwell D. Taylor]] (retired). J. Patrick Coyne continued as executive secretary. On May 15 two more members were added: [[Gordon Gray]], former [[Secretary of the Army]] and Eisenhower's assistant for national security affairs, and [[Clark Clifford]], special counsel to [[Harry S. Truman]].[^2] On September 10, 1963, [[Richard Helms]], the CIA's Deputy Director for Plans, briefed a panel of the board in a session recorded as "Board Panel on Covert Action Operations," classified Top Secret. The briefing covered operations in [[British Guiana]], [[Haiti]], [[Italy]], [[Bolivia]], [[Brazil]], [[Cuba]] and [[Vietnam]]. Operations against Cuba were described as shifting "from external raids to internal sabotage operations," at about ten such operations a month, and the record states that in British Guiana the agency had secretly financed, through the [[AFL-CIO]], a 79-day general strike against the government of [[Cheddi Jagan]].[^4] At a press conference on January 19, 1968, President [[Lyndon B. Johnson]] said of Clifford's chairmanship of the board: "when I became President... I continued him in that capacity as I did most of the men serving with President Kennedy."[^2] ### Nixon President [[Richard Nixon]] reconstituted the board by Executive Order 11460 of March 20, 1969. Its members included Taylor, Admiral [[George W. Anderson]] (retired), Baker, Gray, [[Edwin Land|Edwin H. Land]], [[Franklin B. Lincoln Jr.]], [[Franklin D. Murphy]], Robert D. Murphy, [[Frank Pace|Frank Pace Jr.]] and [[Nelson Rockefeller|Nelson A. Rockefeller]]. Taylor resigned as chairman effective April 30, 1970. Anderson, [[Chief of Naval Operations]] from 1961 to 1963 and ambassador to [[Portugal]] from 1963 to 1966, succeeded him as chairman effective May 1, 1970.[^2] ### Abolition and Re-establishment President [[Jimmy Carter]] abolished the board on May 4, 1977, by Executive Order 11984, whose operative text reads in full: "Executive Order No. 11460 of March 20, 1969, is hereby revoked."[^5] Executive Order 12863, issued by President [[Bill Clinton]], provided: "There is hereby established within the White House Office, Executive Office of the President, the President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board (PFIAB). The PFIAB shall consist of not more than 16 members, who shall serve at the pleasure of the President." One third of the members at any time were, "to the extent practicable," to serve terms of no more than two years, and the President was to designate a chairman and vice chairman from among them.[^6] [[Clare Boothe Luce]] served on the board for 1973 to 1977 and 1980 to 1986, according to the chronology in the Library of Congress finding aid for her papers, which also holds a board series (Boxes 729-790, 1974-1987, with classified material in the 1981-1987 folders) and a 1980 essay on abolition of the board.[^7] ### 2001 Appointments On October 5, 2001, the [[White House]] announced that President [[George W. Bush]] intended to appoint members "for a term of two years": Lieutenant General [[Brent Scowcroft]] as chairman, with [[Cresencio Arcos|Cresencio S. Arcos]], [[Jim Barksdale]], Robert Addison Day, [[Stephen Friedman]], [[Alfred Lerner]], [[Ray Hunt|Ray Lee Hunt]], [[Rita Hauser|Rita E. Hauser]], [[David E. Jeremiah]], [[Arnold Kanter|Arnold Lee Kanter]], James Calhoun Langdon, Jr., Marie Elizabeth Pate-Cornell, John Harrison Streicker and Peter Barton Wilson.[^8] ### Footnotes [^1]: Eisenhower, Dwight D. Executive Order 10656, "Establishing the President's Board of Consultants on Foreign Intelligence Activities," February 6, 1956. The American Presidency Project. https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/executive-order-10656-establishing-the-presidents-board-consultants-foreign-intelligence [^2]: Congressional Research Service. *The President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board: An Historical and Contemporary Analysis (1955-1975).* November 13, 1975, pp. CRS-9 to CRS-14. CIA Reading Room, CIA-RDP02T06251R000900290008-0, declassified June 4, 2012. https://archive.org/download/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp02t06251r000900290008-0/cia-rdp02t06251r000900290008-0.pdf [^3]: Kennedy, John F. Executive Order 10938, "Establishing the President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board," May 4, 1961. The American Presidency Project. https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/executive-order-10938-establishing-the-presidents-foreign-intelligence-advisory-board [^4]: White House, President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board, "Board Panel on Covert Action Operations," Top Secret, September 10, 1963. National Security Archive, Document 6. https://nsarchive.gwu.edu/document/32956-document-6-white-house-pfiab-board-panel-covert-action-operations-top-secret [^5]: Carter, Jimmy. Executive Order 11984, "President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board," May 4, 1977. The American Presidency Project. https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/executive-order-11984-presidents-foreign-intelligence-advisory-board [^6]: Clinton, William J. Executive Order 12863, "President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board." The White House, archived. https://clintonwhitehouse5.archives.gov/textonly/WH/EOP/pfiab/eo12863.html [^7]: Library of Congress, Manuscript Division, *Clare Boothe Luce Papers: A Finding Aid* (MSS30759), chronology and container list. https://tile.loc.gov/storage-services/service/mss/eadxmlmss/eadpdfmss/2003/ms003044.pdf [^8]: The White House, Office of the Press Secretary. "Personnel Announcement," October 5, 2001. https://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2001/10/text/20011005-8.html