National Security Council Authorizes CIA Covert Actions
In one of its earliest actions, the National Security Council (NSC) authorized the CIA to conduct covert actions: In this case, secretly giving financial support to centrist and non-Communist political parties in the 1948 Italian elections.
Somewhat oddly, the National Security Council had authorized the CIA’s first covert action three days earlier on December 14, 1947.
Reportedly, the CIA spent over $1 million on this effort.
Congress later gave the CIA official statutory authority to conduct covert actions, on June 18, 1948.
Read: Tim Weiner, Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA (2007)
Learn more: Hugh Wilford, The Mighty Wurlitzer: How the CIA Played America (2008)
Read about the history of the NSC: John Prados, Keeper of the Keys: A History of the National Security Council From Truman to Bush (1991)
Watch a documentary on CIA covert actions: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uJZ8THm_0Jo