233. Memorandum From President Johnson to Director of Central Intelligence Raborn 1
SUBJECT
- Coordination of the United States Foreign Intelligence Effort
Our Government is making a substantial effort and is expending large sums of money to obtain timely intelligence vital to our national defense and security. This effort requires the most efficient possible organization of the activities of the various departments and agencies concerned. It is essential that these activities be conducted as an integrated endeavor best suited to meet both current and longer-term national intelligence needs. One of the essential objectives of this integrated effort is to give timely notice to me and to other officials of critical developments which have an important bearing on our national security.
In view of the urgent necessity for maintaining effective coordination of all U.S. foreign intelligence functions, I request that you serve as the Government’s chief intelligence officer, and that you pursue as a primary responsibility the task of coordinating and guiding the total U.S. foreign intelligence effort in accordance with National Security Council Intelligence Directive Number One of March 4, 1964.2
In the performance of your responsibility I shall expect you to work closely with the heads of U.S. Government departments and agencies having foreign intelligence responsibilities, with a view to assuring the proper coordination, correlation, evaluation and prompt dissemination of intelligence obtained from all sources. You are authorized and directed to establish, in consultation with member agencies of the intelligence community, such arrangements and guide lines as are necessary for this purpose. It is my wish that you receive from the departments and agencies concerned the full cooperation and assistance which are essential to the success of your coordinating responsibility.
I will continue to look to your efforts as a means of achieving significant improvements in the organization, management, and effectiveness of our over-all foreign intelligence system.
- Source: Central Intelligence Agency, Executive Registry; Job 80–B01580R, DCI/Admiral Raborn. Confidential. Copies were sent to Rusk, McNamara, and Clifford. In a memorandum to the President forwarding this memorandum to the President for his signature, Bundy recommended that the President sign it and send it to Raborn “as a reflection of your personal interest in his efforts to improve the organization, management and effectiveness of our over-all foreign intelligence system.” (Johnson Library, Bromley Smith Papers, BKS Chron)↩
- Not printed. (Johnson Library, National Security File, Agency File, CIA)↩