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- 13 - "and careful s t a f f i n g as w e l l as the romalizecl consideration whick should be afforded such c r i t i c a l matters before ';hey are icitiated by , the CIA. "e. There may be a tendency i n some quarters t o opFose the j o i n t s t a f f i n g 2nd the fcrmalized consideration of such projects on security &rounds, Such reasoning would be fallacious, If t h e niemhers of the NSC 5412/2 Group and t h e l r dzsignatsd rep?e- sentatives cannot be t r u s t e d t o consjder such sub'Jecta collectively, then it is a sham t o tnlk about s e c u r i t y i n any context. 'If'. There may be a tmdency in -.,one quart=rs t o oppose t h e above proposal ( f o r edvan1.e Joint s t a f f i n g ) on the crounds that these clandestinu operations 5.n- volve "dirty business" and, accordlni-1j , key o f f i c i a l s of our Government would bs better ofi' if they had no knowledge of them. ?Ills reasoning i:; also fallacious. Key o f f i c i a l s of our Governnent, Including the Presi- dent, have agprcved the policy s P t forth i n NSC 5&12/2 and therefore they should not take at1 ostrich-like approach to important matters pertaining t o t h e imple- mentation of t h a t policy. . A t the present time t h e DD/P side of C I A is wheeling basis I n highly c r i t i c a l arcas involving the conduct of foreign relations, and all too frequently t h e Department of S t a t e knows l i t t l e or nothing of what the DDIP area is doing, leads t o situations which are almost unbelievable because the operations being carried out by the DD/P 8388 are sometimes i n direct confllc? with t h e normal operations being carried out by the T?epartinent of S t a t e i n its overt condcct of forzign affzirs." Dpera '% lng for t h e most p a r t on an autonomous and free- I n sornt? quarters t h f s On March la, 1957, the Special NSC 5Q12,/2 Group submitted a report t o the President? after consultstion tlitil and concurrence b3 t h e Director of Cen5ral Intelligence. I n l % s report t h e Group noted, i n t e r alia, that zragraph 4 I s t o be distlnguished from paragraph 7 of NSC 5412fi; t h a t paragraph 4 is concerned c h i e f l y wi'th providing support for, and approprl3fYc interchange of infor- maltion w i t h respect to, t h e execution of a a policy and guidance standpoint? of recocLmndcd covert procrams roved covert operations; thlat paragraph 7 is concerned chiefly w i t I+%-- \r .B consideration, from I