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I - 27 - Foll.ovlng ;vc:ipt cjf the ?nard's oral repert t n ?!x Presiclen5 OR Decembcr l::., 1958, tho Prasiderit, 'wfm-e t a l r l ~ z acti=:k!, requasted the views of' $he Special ?!SI= 5b12/2 Cr~oup or. ti19 ':3.m?dfs Zecommendation that (a) the Special Group, ests.t!llshed p u r c u m t t o paT.zgraph 7, NSC 5412/2, be Instructed t c assum: :-asp@tis!.bSlIt;~ fo;* mak3.ng periodic reviews and evaluations of siEn5ficant clandeskine co1.d war programs; (t) a study be made of the r::;lat:orish:p of the : Spqclsl Group t o thS CLC; and (c) NSC 5412/2 be re-e:r.zml.nzc: i n the l i g h t of these raccmmendatimr,. Further, on D2,::ernbcr 16, lg'j8 , '&e President Or3lly advised his Special Assistant :'or National S e c u r i t y . Affej.rs that i n the future h e wished t h e Special Grour t o bezln hold-ing v!eekl.y meetings and t o r e v i s and cva,lu?.te &ignif'icant coyart action. programs . thd Special Group was informed of the President's w i s ! x s , as cutllned above; (h) or! t h e R a m 3 date weekly meetings of !;he Sp"cia1 Group were i n s t i t u t e d ; ( c ) on January 21, 1959, t h e Group >xarnined ita xissioc and decldzd t o review all pro.1ects submitted by C I A f o r ? o l i y approval since issuance of NSC 5412/2; ( d ) on Ma.rch '4, 15!59, t h e Grou!) reviewed a s ' m a r j cf the actions wh3.ch I t had spprmed since its incspticjn; (e) on March 15, 1959, the Group reviewed Its procedures pi*epP.ratorj t o 'a mee:ing with t h e President's Board of Cons:.iltsnts cn Foreign Intelligence Activities; ( f ) on April 16, 1959, the Group met w i t h reeresentatives of t h e Board (Hull, Conolly anc! Darder.) a t which time the Board again,made c l e a r its vlew that, a l l CIA covert action proposals should be afforded advanced j o i n t s t a f f i n g by represents- t i v e s of t h e Special Group (e.3 distinguished, for example, from t h e soicalled "staffing" being performed f o r the Sp"c1al Assistant for Na?'onal Security. Affairs by a C I A employee on the s t a f f cf t h e I>? p u t y ill. i-2 c t CI r,!p 1 xns ) ; Presiueut 'Y s p e c l a i A s s L L b b d t l i X w National Security Affairs attend& a meeting of the Board and reported on current practices of the Special Group. whlck! had been made, but continued t o express concern over t!ie f a c t t h a t the only ~*etefl'ingt*of new covert action p,-oposals f o r the Special Assistant f o r Naticnal Affairs was bein,< performed by an employee of the C I A - a significant party i n i n t e r e s t t o a l l suck proposals - and concern over thz fact tha2 r e a l advanced joint s t a f f i n g of covert acfion pi-oposals by t h e e n t l r e Special Group was still lacking. ) ~ ..I , I.,. ' . ' In I t s oral report t o the'Presidznt c:! February 2, 1960, t h e Board nembers, speaking through Chairman Kul!., made t h e Pollowing comments on the subject: The following zctions ther? ensued: ( a ) on Januay; '7, 1953, (E) on J ~ l y 17, 1959, t h e (The Board acknowledged with ai:proval the progress I 'IC. Covert Operations "In the f i e l d of covert operations we ixlicvc t h a t at present t h e Special NSC 5412/2 G r o q ?.s better orga- nized and is functioning with greater ef.fectiver?ess than