history of State Department covert action policy

US law currently states:

Title 50, Section 413(b)(a): “The President may not authorize the conduct of a covert action by departments, agencies, or entities of the United States Government unless the President determines such an action is necessary to support identifiable foreign policy objectives of the United States and is important to the national security of the United States, which determination shall be set forth in a finding that shall meet the following conditions: (1) Each finding shall be in writing.”

Interesting, that. So I did a little checking. And found this nice little summary, which is well worth a read:

http://cryptome.org/ic-black4701.htm

This is the rest of the series: http://cryptome.org/ic-black.htm

It seems clear from this that the State Department played a vital role in shaping US covert policies in the early 60's, and one must therefore conclude in the late 50's as well, when John Foster Dulles was the Secretary of State.

In the 60's, with Bobby, it's almost like someone didn't trust the Kennedys. But they tried to carry on anyway...

http://fas.org/irp/ops/policy/church-chile.htm

Much like the current Mr. Obama, Bobby Kennedy may have found himself at the helm of an organization that wouldn't respond to his commands. Therefore instead of trying to reshape and reorganize the beast, he chose to go outside and bypass it entirely.

However John Foster Dulles was exactly the opposite, and if he had any questions he could always ask his brother. Both Dulles brothers would have been well versed with greasing the squeaky wheels of an unwilling bureaucracy, and for Allen in particular this must have been a bit of rather unsavory business at times.