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- 11 - subject the Soard made %e following comimts and recom~enf~ation : "IV. P o l i t i c a l and Psychological Cperations "Poll.tica1 and psychological operations of the black (and gray) order a1.e now i n t e g r a l p z r t s ~f th? foreign operations of t h i s government and, as suck, a f f e c t importantly t h e implernentatior:, ar-3 cven t k e 1 shaping, of our fnreign and military pcllaies "Ne have familiarized ourselves w i t h the? pro- cedures prescribed i n National Securi+,y Council paper 5412/2 f o r dealing with 3hese s e n s i t l v c opera- t i o n s and believe them t o be sound. We do not, however, subscribe t o the methods presently beJn;: employed I n t h e implementation of these procedures. As far as we have been able to determltie there I s no real j o i n t s t a f f i n g of any c l a n d e s t i w project, within the intent, of the governing National Securlty Council document, p r i o r t o its presentation t o t h e Special Under Secretary group established t o revlew such projects. Approval itself, j n t h e usual case, is a very informal process. And, thereafter, it seems t o us, projects become almost too exclusively t h e re- s p o n s i b i l i t y of the Central Intelligence ACcncy. some of these projects and of the necessity for cloaking them i n the highest degree of secrecy, Nevertheless , because of t h e i r far reaching i n t e r - national influences and t h e i r potentially s i g n i f i - cant inpacts on much of our national planning, w e are concerned about the extremely informal and somewhat exclusive methods used in t h e i r present hand ling. I "We are aware of the extremely d e l i c a t e nature of "We urse t h a t present practices be regularized to insure t h a t i n a l l appropriate instances these clandestine projects receive the benefit of proper o i n t s t a f f i n g and formalized approval and t h a t both he S t a t e and Defense Departments be kept abreast of' t h e developments of these projects on a need-to-how basls and, of course, under t i g h t l y psrderj security procedures , I "Further, we f e e l that, after careful securl t y checking and proper briefing the Chief of every United S t a t e s Foreign Ivllssion, t o the extent t h a t he may elect, should be acquairtec; with all such operations being conducted i n h i s arA?z - unlesr the Committee of TJr..dor Secretaries provided by National .-