◆ SpookStack

Approved For Release 2008/11~0§: CIA-RDP04M01816R000502010009-4 ~ have embarked on any program as sensitive as the East Coast mail intercept without first informing the President. Former associates of Allen Dulles stated that Mr. Dulles was most conscientious about keeping·President Eisenhower informed of ~. 4/ the operations of the CIA.- A former close associate of Mr. Dulles indicated that in about 1960 he was officially .advised by a Dulles assistant that Mr. Dulles had informed President Eisenhower of the CIA's mail intercept project. The absence of any conclusive evidence of presidential authorization should be considered in light of the well- observed, but seldom discussed, practice described as "plausi- ble deniability" or "presidential deniability:-" Knowledgeable witnesses have noted that there existed in high government circles a long-standing aversion to making written records of presidential authorizations of sensitive intelligence-related §.I operations. . It was thought that the co11duct of foreign 4/ Foreign intelligence matters were of great interest to President Eisenhower, and he frequently consulted with DCI Allen Dulles and his brother, Secretary of State John Foster Dulles, concerning such matters. 5/ An example of this practice is the handling of the U-2 matter. According to high level officials, President Eisenhower personally approved all U-2 overflights, including the one in which an American pilot was shot down over Soviet territory just before the 1960 Paris summit conference. One former Eisenhower aide had first-hand knowledge that President Eisenhower made his U-2 approvals orally, and that no written records of such authorizations were made. A roved For Release 2008/11/06: CIA-RDP04M01816R000502010009-4