Dr Richard Mervin Bissell, Jr (Brother S&B 1925)
CIA. Ford Foundation Groton School. Yale University.
CIA Head of Directorate for plans (DPP). Groton School (fellow pupiles were Joseph Alsop and Tracey Barnes). Yale University (History), turning down membership in Skull and Bones (Brother, William was S&B1925. London School of Economics. Yale University (Economics Ph.D.). Georgetown Set.
1962 - Following the bay of pigs failure, JFK offered him a job overseeing the A-12 (replacing U-2). Bissell turned down the offer and was replaced by Helms. Bissell became head of the Institute of Defense Analyses (IDA).
Sep 1961 to Feb 1962 - First Co-Director of the National Reconnaissance Office with Dr Joseph V. Charyk. Both appointed by President John F. Kennedy.
As Allen W. Dulles recorded at the time [re Bay of Pigs Invasion]: “We felt that when the chips were down, when the crisis arose in reality, any action required for success would be authorized rather than permit the enterprise to fail.” In other words, he knew that the initial invasion would be a disaster, but believed that Kennedy would order a full-scale invasion when he realized that this was the case.[2]
11 Mar 1961, Bay of Pigs - Kennedy rejected Bissell’s proposed scheme. He told him to go away and draft a new plan. He asked for it to be “less spectacular” and with a more remote landing site than Trinidad. It appears that Kennedy had completely misunderstood the report from the JCS. They had only rated it as high as a 30% chance of success because it was going to involve such a large landing force and was going to take place in Trinidad, near to the Escambray Mountains. After all, Fidel Castro had an army and militia of 200,000 men.[2] Bissell now resubmitted his plan. As requested, the landing was no longer at Trinidad. Instead he selected Bahia de Cochinos (Bay of Pigs). This was 80 miles from the Escambray Mountains. What is more, this journey to the mountains was across an impenetrable swamp. As Bissell explained to Kennedy, this means that the guerrilla fallback option had been removed from the operation.[2]
Mar 1961, JFK asked the Joint Chiefs of Staff to vet the JMARC project. As a result of “plausible deniability” they were not given details of the plot to kill Castro. The JCS reported that if the invaders were given four days of air cover, if the people of Trinidad joined the rebellion and if they were able to join up with the guerrillas in the Escambray Mountains, the overall rating of success was 30%. Therefore, they could not recommend that Kennedy went along with the JMARC project.[2]
Mar 1960, Eisenhower approved the CIA plan to overthrow Castro. The Strategy was organised by Bissell. Various schemes considered / rejected, which lead to the assassination of Castro plan.[2]
1954, he was placed in charge of developing and operating the U-2 spy plane (which could fly at 70k feet, travelling 4k miles. Flights started 4th Jul 1956.). NOTE: Lee Harvey Oswald had exposure to military secrets, such as the U-2 spy plane and radar identification systems. Gary Powers was shot down six months after his defection to the Soviet Union.[7]
Frank Wisner (Seven Society) suffered a metal breakdown (covered by Helms). As a result, Dulles decided that Bissell rather than Richard Helms should become the new head of DPP. Helms become Bissell’s deputy. DPP was responsible for what became known as the CIA’s Black Operations. This involved a policy that was later to become known as Executive Action (a plan to remove unfriendly foreign leaders from power).[2]
Jul 1947 - Recruited by W. Averell Harriman (S&B 1913) to run a committee to lobby for an economic recovery plan for Europe. The following year he was appointed as an administartor of the Marshall Plan in Geryman and eventually became head of the Economic Cooporation Administration (ECA). Bissell worked with the Office of Policy Coordination (OPC) in diverting counterpart funds of the ECA to OPC operations in Europe.[2][1,6][6]
Bissel worked for the Ford Foundation for a while but Frank Wisner (Seven Society), persuaded him to join the Central Intelligence Agency.[2]
Groton School - three fellow pupils were Joseph Alsop, Eugene Rostow (Brother Walt, was Rhodes 1936)) and Tracy Barnes (S&K 1934)[2]
Died 7 Feb 1994 (Aligns with ARRB!) from Heart Aliments. Age 84 Event + 30y2m17d (11,036 Days)
Born in Mark Twain House in Hartford, Connecticut.
[1] - FYI - WIKI - Richard M. Bissell Jr.
[1,6] - Safe for Democracy: The Secret Wars of the CIA (2006) by John Prados
[2] - Spartacus Educational - Richard Bissell
[3] - FYI - Wiki - National Reconnaissance Office
[4] - LawFare - Executive actions
[5] - Washington Post - Richard M. Bissell Obituary
[6] - RICHARD M. BISSELL JR. PAPERS MARSHALL PLAN SERIES 1947 to 1994; Boxes 1 - 2
[7] - Who Was Lee Harvey Oswald ? Wall Street Journal 22 Nov 1983
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