◆ SpookStack

Part II Castro Must Go A. Organizing for Covert Action (January-March 1960) The first mention of a formal Agency structure to deal with the matter of Fidel Castro was noted by Colonel L. K. White, then Deputy Director for Support, in reporting on the DCI's morning meeting of 8 January 1960. White's diary noted: There was considerable discussion of the situation in Cuba,-and the Director requested Dick Bissell to organize a special task force to insure that we were attacking this situation from all possible angles. II The instruction was taken to heart, for on 18 Jan- uary 1960 the WH Division organized Branch 4 (WH/4) as an expandable task force to run the'proposed Cuban Op- , erations. The initial Table of Organization totaled , 40 persons, with 18 at Headquarters, 20 at Havana Station, and 2 at Santiago Base. 2/ Named to head the new Branch in Western Hemisphere Division, was Jacob D. Esterline, recently returned[:J.?] [ 1~-J7 ], and formerly one of the principals . - 32 -