Historical Dictionary of United States Intelligence

2 December 1954, after which McCarthy lost his power base and his

podium for his anticommunist harangues.

McCONE, JOHN ALEX (1902–1991).Named director of central in-

telligence (DCI) on 29 November 1961, about six months after the

Bay of Pigsfiasco, John A. McCone brought an engineering back-

ground and a hands-on management style to his position as DCI.

As an outsider, McCone quickly began asserting his authority by

pressuring the White House to reaffirm the DCI’s role as the presi-

dent’s principal foreign intelligence advisor and coordinator of the

entire U.S. intelligence effort. He also reorganized the Central In-

telligence Agency (CIA) by, first, establishing a new Directorate of

Research (which a year later became the Directorate of Science and

Technology) on 19 February 1962, and, second, elevating the comp-

troller’s position and later moving the comptroller as well as those of

general counsel, legislative counsel, and audit staff into the Office of

the DCI. He also created the position of executive director, who now

actually runs and directs the CIAon a day-to-day basis.

DCI McCone, moreover, placed Operation Mongooseunder a

National Security Council (NSC) oversight group to prevent what

he termed “reckless” activity. As DCI and former chairman of the

Atomic Energy Commission (AEC), McCone also took an active part

in the committee of senior administration officials that prepared pol-

icy recommendations on arms controlissues. Finally, he undertook

several reforms to improve the quality of intelligence products and

make intelligence useful to the policymaker.

McCURDY PLAN.The McCurdy Plan refers to legislation proposed

in 1992 by Congressman David McCurdy, Democrat from Oklahoma

(and simultaneously by Senator David Borenof Oklahoma) to reor-

ganize the intelligence community (IC). The proposals would have

created a director of national intelligence (DNI) removed from the

Central Intelligence Agency (CIA); reduced the CIAto a human in-

telligence(HUMINT) organization; established a new office for na-

tional intelligence analysis; created a national imagery agency re-

sponsible for all phases of imagery activity (which actually occurred

with the establishment of the National Imagery and Mapping

Agency [NIMA] in 1996); assigned equivalent responsibilities in the

120 • McCONE, JOHN ALEX

05-398 (2) Dictionary.qxd 10/20/05 6:27 AM Page 120