Allen Dulles

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Allen Welch Dulles (1893-1969) was a U.S. intelligence official who started in the Office of Strategic Services, was an active participant in the transformation organization of the Central Intelligence Agency, and then Director of Central Intelligence during the Eisenhower Administration. In many respects, as a coauthor of documents such as the Dulles-Jackson-Correa report and the National Security Act of 1947, he created and defined his own job. During the 1950s, his influence was enhanced by having his brother, John Foster Dulles, as U.S. Secretary of State.

At a time when the Director of Central Intelligence headed the United States intelligence community, Dulles was the longest-serving (1953-1961) person in that post. Dulles retired as a result of the Bay of Pigs covert action. After the failure of that operation, President John F. Kennedy exercised greater supervision of the CIA, although the agency stepped up its activity in Southeast Asia. He was replaced by a Republican, John McCone, with a general engineering background. Dulles' autobiography[1] is more noteworthy as a way of understanding the mindset of key people in the field than it is a detailed description of the CIA.

References

  1. Dulles, Allen W. (1963). The Craft of Intelligence. Harper & Row.