Dispute Within The U.s. Government On The Transformation Of The Central Intelligence Agency (september 1944 1946 January),

Towards the end of World War â…¡, the OSS of the United States, as a wartime critical organization once irreplaceable in supporting America's war effort, was going to be liquidated. Similarly, the entire intelligence system was entering a transitional phase from wartime to peacetime keeping roles. It is during the exact phase that a controversy within the U.S. government broke out on how to establish a postwar central intelligence agency for the country. This is the very first time that the key departments of the U.S. government, including Departments of State, War and Navy, FBI, OSS, JCS etc. have debated about intelligence. The controversy lasted for one and a half years or so. Five proposals were submitted one after another during the controversy. The Executive Order 9621 was signed by Harry S. Truman, the President of the United States, on September 20, 1945. As a milestone, the Executive Order 9621 divided the controversy into two phases:The first phase from September 1944 to September 1945 was to focus on the key problem whether the OSS should be liquidated after World War â…¡ or not. That is, was it possible that the OSS might exist in peacetime with a little reorganization internally? However, the first stage of the controversy ended with the result of the liquidation of the OSS. The second, a more critical planning phase from September 1945 to January 1946, was focused on setting up a new central intelligence system. The final result of the whole controversy was the establishment of the NIA and the CIG. The American intelligence system entered into a brandnew period in peacetime since then. The establishment of the NIA and the CIG laid good foundations for the NSC and the CIA as we now know. This dissertation is composed of three parts:1. U.S. intelligence organizations leading up to and during World War â…¡. It is introduced that the main existing intelligence organizations up to World War â…¡ and how the idea of centralizing intelligence activities was put forward.2. The inevitability of the transition of the U.S. intelligence system from wartime to peacetime. The internal cause was that a vacancy appeared in the area of centralizing intelligence after the liquidation of the OSS. The changes of the whole world situation were the external causes.3. The departments, branches or organizations in the U.S. government debated about the establishment of a postwar intelligence agency. It was William J. Donovan, the Director of the OSS, who firstly put forward his proposal of setting up a permanent intelligence agency formally. Then, other main departments of the U.S. government submitted their plans. All of these came to an end with the establishment of the NIA and the CIG.