"On This Date in History" Calendar
Publication of Brownell Committee Report - laid foundation for NSA.
13 June 1952: Publication of the Brownell Committee Report which laid the foundation for the establishment of NSA.
Excerpted from GWU - National Security Archive:
"The creation of NSA resulted from a December 10, 1951, memo sent by Walter Bedell Smith to James B. Lay, Executive Secretary of the National Security Council. The memo observed that "control over, and coordination of, the collection and processing of Communications Intelligence had proved ineffective" and recommended a survey of communications intelligence activities. The proposal was approved on December 13, 1951, and the study authorized on December 28, 1951. The report was completed by June 13, 1952. Generally known as the "Brownell Committee Report," after committee chairman Herbert Brownell, it surveyed the history of U.S. communications intelligence activities and suggested the need for a much greater degree of coordination and direction at the national level. As the change in the security agency's name indicated, the role of the NSA was to extend beyond the armed forces."
Learn more about the Brownell Committee in the NSA Cryptologic Almanac 50th Anniversary Series PDF at the link below.
