The Fate of an Orphan: The Hawley Board and the Debates over the Postwar Organization of Medical Intelligence

Abstract

The US Army's medical intelligence program developed during World War II to meet the requirements for information on the medical threat facing soldiers deployed in the first truly global military conflict. The war served as a proving ground for the application of medical intelligence on a strategic, operational and tactical level. However, hasty postwar demobilization decimated many wartime intelligence programs, including medical intelligence. The US intelligence community recognized the utility of medical intelligence as part of the overall strategic scientific and technical intelligence program and sought ways to rebuild the program. During the post-World War II debates over the unification of the military services and the responsibilities of the nascent CIA, the ‘Hawley Board’ was one of several committees which studied the problems facing the medical intelligence program. Although there was broad consensus on the need for better coordination of medical intelligence, the intelligence community ultimately failed to adopt the recommendations of the Hawley Board. The principal reasons behind the failure of the Hawley plan were the re-emergence of prewar interservice rivalries, the dominant role of the Army medical intelligence program, and the lack of a joint military–CIA vision of a centralized medical intelligence service.

Notes

Robert B. Strassler (ed.), The Landmark Thucydides: A Comprehensive Guide to the Peloponessian War (New York: Touchstone 1998), Book 2.47–55, pp.118–22.

Gaylord W. Anderson, ‘Medical Intelligence’, in Medical Department, United States Army in World War II, Preventive Medicine in World War II, vol. IX, Special Fields (Washington, DC: US Government Printing Office 1969) p.252.

Ibid., p.253.

In 1940, the US Army technical services were the Quartermaster Corps, Corps of Engineers, Medical Department, Ordnance Department, Signal Corps, and the Chemical Warfare Service. Bruce W. Bidwell, History of the Military Intelligence Division, Department of the General Staff, 1775–1941 (Frederick, MD: University Presses of America 1986) p.305.

Anderson, ‘Medical Intelligence’ (note 1) pp.272–3.

Ibid., pp.272–3.

Roger R. Trask and Alfred Goldberg, Department of Defense 1947–1997: Organization and Leaders (Washington, DC: Historical Office, Office of Secretary of Defense 1997) p.3.

See for example, CIA, Directorate of Intelligence, Research Paper, ‘Soviet Civil Defense: Medical Planning for Postattack Recovery’, CIA/SOV 84-10101X, 25 July 1984, CIA Electronic Reading Room, ‘Princeton Collection’, http://www.foia.cia.gov (accessed 5 August 2004).

See ‘List of Intelligence Reports Produced by Office of Scientific Intelligence March 1949–December 1953, Clausen and Jackson, the DCI Historical Series, Organizational History of the Central Intelligence Agency, 1950–53, Annex L (CIA History Staff, May 1957) pp.1–22.

Memorandum, Headquarters, Twelfth Army Group, Medical Section, Subject: Use of Wooden Bullets, 17 August 1944, RG331, SHAEF Medical Division, File 371.1-1 ‘Medical Intelligence’, United States National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, Maryland (hereafter, NARA).

Saul Jarcho, ‘Historical Perspectives of Medical Intelligence’, Bulletin of the New York Academy of Medicine 67/5 (September–October 1991) pp.501–6.

Medical Intelligence Summary No. 18, 26 August 1944, Headquarters, Communications Zone, ETO, Office of Chief Surgeon, AFHRA, Maxwell AFB, Microfilm Collection, Reel A5067.

Memorandum, E.K. Wright to Chief, ICAPS, 16 October 1947, RG263, Entry 16, CIA Historical Review Program (HRP), HRP 89-2, Document 5564, NND-917075, NARA.

The Interagency Coordination and Planning Staff was a small staff that served under the Director of Central Intelligence, and advised him on matters related to planning and coordination of intelligence activities.

Wright, Memorandum for Chief, ICAPS, 16 October 1947 (note 12).

Memorandum, H.C. Doan, Subject: Medical Intelligence Meeting, Agenda, 14 November 1947, RG263, Entry 16, CIA, HRP 89-2, NND-917075, NARA.

Memorandum, R.H. Hillenkoetter to ICAPS, Subject: Medical Intelligence, 30 October 1947, RG 263, Entry 16, HRP 89-2, Document 5777, NARA.

Memorandum, Prescott Childs, Chief ICAPS to Deputy Director CIA, Subject: Medical Intelligence, 28 January 1948, RG263, Entry 16, CIA 1991 Release, HRP 89-2, NARA.

Letter, J.R. Tietjen to Capt. Doan, ICAPS, CIA, 18 November 1947, RG263, Entry 16, HRP 89-2, NARA.

Memorandum, Prescott Childs, ICAPS, to the Director, Subject: History of Medical Intelligence at CIA, 20 May 1949, Entry 16, HRP 89-2. Document 4608, NARA.

Steven L. Rearden, History of the Office of the Secretary of Defense, Volume 1, The Formative Years 1947–1950 (Washington, DC, Historical Office, Office of the Secretary of Defense 1984) pp.108–9.

Report of [Hawley Board] Subcommittee on Medical Intelligence, Tab A – Appointment of Subcommittee on Medical Intelligence, 2 June 1948, RG330, Entry 354, Records of the Armed Forces Medical Policy Committee-Intelligence, Box 32, NARA (hereafter Hawley Report).

Hawley Report (note 21) Tab E – Medical Intelligence Activities in the US Air Force.

Hawley Report (note 21) p.7.

On 25 May 1948, National Security Council Intelligence Directive No. 8 was issued. This directive assigned the CIA primary responsibility for collecting biographical data on foreign scientists.

Subcommittee on Medical Intelligence, Progress Report, Tab G., Report of Meeting with CIA Personnel, 14 April 1948, 14 April 1948, RG112, Accession #60A1242, Box 577, Folder 5, NARA.

Hawley Report (note 21) p.7.

Hawley Report (note 21) Tab I – Medical Intelligence Activities of the Committee on Medical Sciences, RDB.

Hawley Report (note 21) p.12.

Ibid., p.1.

Memorandum, [Hawley Board] to Secretary of Defense, Subject: Medical Intelligence of the Armed Forces, 2 June 1948, RG112, Accession #60A1242, Box 577, Folder 5, NARA.

Memorandum, Committee on Medical and Hospital Services of the Armed Forces to Secretary of Defense, Subject: Medical Intelligence of the Armed Forces, 2 June 1948, RG112, Accession #60A1242, Box 577, Folder 5.

Eberstadt Report Pertaining to CIA, Subject: Report Re: ER Report 14, B Pertaining to CIA, 31 January 1948, pp.53-57, Department of State, FOIA Electronic Reading Room, CIA Creation Documents, http://foia.state.gov (accessed 22 June 2003).

On 20 November 1947, the Intelligence Advisory Board was reorganized as the Intelligence Advisory Committee (IAC).

Verbatim Minutes of the Meeting of the Intelligence Advisory Committee, 17 December 1948, Entry 356, in D.S. Patterson and G.W. LaFantasie, Foreign Relations of the United States, 1945–1950 (hereafter FRUS), Emergence of the Intelligence Establishment (Washington, DC: United States Government Printing Office 1996) pp.897–8.

Clarence E. Smith, ‘CIA's Analysis of Soviet Science and Technology’, in G.K. Haines and R.E. Legett (eds.) Watching the Bear: Essays on the CIA's Analysis of the Soviet Union (Washington, DC: CIA Center for the Study of Intelligence 2003) p.110.

On 31 December 1948, the Scientific Branch, ORE was effectively abolished with the establishment of the Office of Scientific Intelligence under CIA General Order No. 13. This order granted OSI primary responsibility for scientific intelligence within CIA. History of the Office of Scientific Intelligence, no date, p.12, HRP 89-2, also Chart, Organization of OSI 1949, CIA Research Tool (CREST) CD-ROM, NARA.

Hawley Board (note 21) Tab I – Medical Intelligence Activities of the Committee on Medical Sciences, RDB; NSCID No. 10 on the ‘Collection of Foreign Scientific and Technological Data’, issued on 18 January 1949, provided policy and procedures for coordination of collection by the Department of State, the military services and CIA. Federation of American Scientists, http://www.fas.org/irp/offdocs/nscid10.htm (accessed 1 July 2003).

Memorandum, David Beckler, Chief Technical Intelligence Branch, RDB to Executive Council, RDB Medical Intelligence, 1 February 1949, Documents compiled by the Advisory Committee on Human Radiation Experiments, US Department of Energy, Washington, DC, 1995 Human Radiation Experiments Information Management System (hereafter, HREX) Document c0028, http://hrex.dis.anl.gov/ (accessed 22 June 2003).

Memorandum, Willard Machle, ADSI to DCI, Subject: Medical Intelligence – Conference with Dr. Richard L. Meiling, 4 February 1949, HREX, Document CIA c0025, http://hrex.dis.anl.gov/ (accessed 22 June 2003).

Childs, History of Medical Intelligence at CIA (note 19).

Hillenkoetter, Memorandum for Secretary of Defense, Medical Intelligence, 21 February 1949, RG263, Entry 15, CIA 1991 Release, HRP 89-2, Document 3298, NARA.

Memorandum, Forrestal to DCI Hillenkoetter, Medical Intelligence 5 March 1949, RG263, Entry 16, CIA 1991 Release, HR70-2, Document 3545, NARA.

Memorandum, Hillenkoetter to IAC Member Agencies, IAC Agenda – Medical Intelligence, 9 March 1949 RG 263, Entry 16, CIA 1991 Release, HRP 89-2, Document 3520, NARA.

Memorandum, Prescott Childs to the DCI, Subject IAC Meeting 18 March, 10 March 1949, RG263, Entry 16, CIA 1991 Release, HRP89-2, Document 3614, NARA.

Memorandum, Capt. H.C. Doan, USN, to Chief ICAPS, Medical Intelligence, 10 March 1949, RG 263, Entry 16, CIA 1991 Release HRP 89-2, NARA.

Prescott Childs, Draft Proposed NSCID on Medical Intelligence, 21 March 1949, RG 263,Entry 16, CIA 1991 Release, HRP 89-2, NARA.

Childs, History of Medical Intelligence at CIA (note 19).

Memorandum for the Files, Notes on Meeting of Standing Committee, 23 March 1949, Confidential, HREX CIA document c0025.

Memorandum, Prescott Childs, Chief, ICAPS to the DCI, from, Subject: Medical Intelligence, 22 March 1949, HREX CIA Document c0024, http://hrex.dis.anl.gov/ (accessed 22 June 2003).

Col. Charles Blakeney, Study on Centralization of Medical Intelligence, 4 April 1949, RG263, Entry 16, CIA 1991 Release HRP 89-2, NARA.

Childs, History of Medical Intelligence at CIA (note 19).

Memorandum for the Files RDB, Prescott Childs, Scientific Intelligence, Confidential, 4 May 1949, RG 263, Entry 15, CIA 1991 Release, HRP 89-2, NARA.

Memorandum for Standing Committee Members of the IAC, Prescott Childs, Report on the Meeting of 4 May, Subject ‘Scientific Intelligence’, 9 May 1949, RG263, Entry 15, CIA 1991 Release, HRP 89-2, NARA.

Memorandum, T.W. Hammond to Chief, ICAPS, CIA, Subject: Scientific and Medical Intelligence, 16 May 1949, RG 263, Entry 16, CIA 1991 Release, HRP 89-2, NARA.

Prescott Childs, Draft of Proposed Agreement Scientific Intelligence Committee, 23 May 1949, RG263, Entry 15, CIA 1991 Release, HRP 89-2, NARA.

Memorandum, Machle (ADSI) to DCI Hillenkoetter, Subject: ‘Inability of OSI to accomplish its mission.’ Document 399, 29 September 1949, FRUS, Emergence of the Intelligence Establishment, pp.1012–16, See also Ludwell Lee Montague, General Walter Bedell Smith as Director of Central Intelligence (University Park, PA: Penn State University Press 1992) p.175.

Director of Central Intelligence Directive 3/3 Scientific Intelligence, 28 October 1949, RG 263, Entry 15, NARA.

Memorandum for SIC Working Committees, Subject: Activities of SIC working committees H.M. Chadwell, SIC Chairman, 1 September 1950, RG263, Entry 15, NARA.

Memorandum, H. Marshall Chadwell, ADSI to DDI Loftus Becker, Report of the Ad Hoc Committee to Survey Existing Arrangements Relating to Production of Scientific and Technical Intelligence, 1 August 1952, RG263, Entry 15, HRP 89-2, NARA.

Montague, Bedell Smith (note 56) p.180.

Director of Central Intelligence Directive 3/4 Production of Scientific and Technical Intelligence, July 1952 RG263, Entry 15, HRP 89-2, NARA.

The Committee members were: Dr. Stanhope Bayne-Jones, General Alvin Gorby, Dr. Gaylord Anderson, Dr. Colin Macleod, and Dr. John Paul. Letter, Maj. Gen. Silas B. Hayes, MC, Deputy Surgeon General to Dr. Stanhope Bayne-Jones, Technical Director, Army Medical Research and Development Board, 10 September 1953, RG112, Accession #60A1242, Box 577, Folder 5, NARA.

‘Report and recommendations of the ad hoc Advisory Committee on Army Medical Intelligence Activities’, 16 February 1954, RG112, Accession #60A1242, Box 577, Folder 5, NARA.

Minutes of First Meeting, Ad Hoc Committee on Army Medical Intelligence Activities, 2 December 1953, RG112, Accession #60A1242, Box 577, Folder 5, NARA.

Minutes of Second Meeting, Ad Hoc Committee on Army Medical Intelligence Activities, 14 January 1954, RG112, Accession #60A1242, Box 577, Folder 5, NARA.

Letter, Maj. Gen. Silas B. Hays, MC to Stanhope Bayne-Jones, 31 March 1954, RG112, Accession #60A1242, Box 577, Folder 5, NARA.