NSC 5412/2 Special Group

The NSC 5412/2 Special Group, often referred simply as the Special Group, was an initially secret, but later public, subcommittee of the United States National Security Council responsible for coordinating government covert operations. Membership was defined in Eisenhower's Presidential Directive, NSC 5412/2, issued December 28, 1955, assigning responsibility for co-ordination of covert actions to representatives of the Secretary of State, the Secretary of Defense, and the President.^[1] The group continued at least throughout the Kennedy and Johnson administrations, and a similar concept may exist under other names as part of the current U.S. Executive Branch infrastructure.

The Federation of American Scientists list of national security documents for the Eisenhower administration does not show a directive 5412/2. It does however show a 5412/1 with a classified title (one of only three such documents for the entire administration).

A National Security Archive chronology of the Bay of Pigs Invasion indicates a membership in December 1960 of Allen Dulles, Chairman of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA); Gordon Gray, National Security Advisor; James Douglas, Acting Secretary of Defense; and Livingston T. Merchant, Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs.^[2]

The group was renamed as the 303 Committee after National Security Action Memorandum No. 303 on June 2, 1964. McGeorge Bundy, National Security Advisor, became Chairman for the committee.

The successor to the Special Group was the 40 Committee.^[3]

References

1. ^ Miller, James E. (2001). Foreign Relations, 1964–1968 Volume XII. United States Government Printing Office. http://www.fas.org/sgp/advisory/state/covert.html. 
2. ^ "Bay of Pigs: 40 Years After - Chronology". The National Security Archive. http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/bayofpigs/chron.html. 
3. ^ "Covert Action in Chile: 1963–1973". United States Department of State. http://foia.state.gov/Reports/ChurchReport.asp#A.%2040%20Committee%20Authorization%20and%20Control:%20Chile,%201969-1973.. 

• Prouty, L. Fletcher. The Secret Team: The CIA and Its Allies in Control of the United States and the World. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1973 (first edition), revised 1997. ISBN 0-13-798173-2.
• Prouty, L. Fletcher. The Secret Team: The CIA and Its Allies in Control of the United States and the World, revised edition. Newport Beach, California: Legion for the Survival of Freedom, 1997.
• Wise, David, and Thomas B. Ross. The Invisible Government. New York: Random House, 1964.

External links

• The Invisible Government e-text at The American Buddha Online Library, free registration required
• The Secret Team, 1997 edition, e-text at ratical.org
• Eisenhower Administration National Security Documents at Federation of American Scientists Intelligence Resource Program