The_Info_Web/20 - ORGANIZATIONS/GOVERNMENT/USA/President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board.md

aliases	category	tags	summary	start	location	created	updated	relations
PFIAB President's Board of Consultants on Foreign Intelligence Activities President's Intelligence Advisory Board	Intelligence & Government	Organization Government WhiteHouse IntelligenceOversight CIA CovertAction ColdWar	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.	1956-01-13	Washington, D.C.	2026-09-24	2026-09-24	type with reverse start fn founded Dwight D. Eisenhower true 1956-02-06 1 type with reverse role start fn head_of James Killian true chairman 1956-01-13 2 type with reverse start fn member_of James Doolittle true 1956-01-13 2 type with reverse start fn member_of Joseph P. Kennedy true 1956-01-13 2 type with reverse start fn member_of Robert Lovett true 1956-01-13 2 type with reverse start fn member_of Maxwell Taylor true 1961-05-04 2 type with reverse start fn member_of Clark Clifford true 1961-05-15 2 type with reverse start fn member_of Gordon Gray true 1961-05-15 2 type with reverse role start fn reported_to Richard Helms true briefing on covert action operations 1963-09-10 4 type with reverse role end fn head_of Maxwell Taylor true chairman 1970-04-30 2 type with reverse start fn member_of Nelson Rockefeller true 1969 2 type with reverse start fn member_of Edwin Land true 1969 2 type with reverse role start fn head_of George W. Anderson true chairman 1970-05-01 2 type with reverse role start fn head_of Brent Scowcroft true chairman 2001-10-05 7 type with reverse start fn member_of Ray Hunt true 2001-10-05 7 type with reverse start fn member_of Stephen Friedman true 2001-10-05 7

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)."¹²

Board of Consultants

A White House release of January 13, 1956, named the first members: James Killian, president of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, as chairman; Admiral Richard L. Conolly (retired); Lieutenant General James Doolittle; Benjamin Fairless of U.S. Steel; General John E. Hull (retired); Joseph P. Kennedy, former ambassador to United Kingdom; Robert 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 (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, Franklin B. Lincoln Jr., Franklin D. Murphy, Robert D. Murphy, Frank Pace and Nelson 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

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, Jim Barksdale, Robert Addison Day, Stephen Friedman, Alfred Lerner, Ray Hunt, Rita Hauser, David E. Jeremiah, Arnold Kanter, James Calhoun Langdon, Jr., Marie Elizabeth Pate-Cornell, John Harrison Streicker and Peter Barton Wilson.⁷

Footnotes

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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. 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 ↩︎