Richard Mervin Bissell Jr. (September 18, 1909 – February 7, 1994) was an American Central Intelligence Agency officer responsible for major projects such as the U-2 spy plane and the Bay of Pigs Invasion.
[6] In July 1947, Bissell was recruited by W. Averell Harriman to run a committee to lobby for an economic recovery plan for Europe.
[8] Bissell and his wife Ann moved to Washington, D.C., where they associated with a group of journalists, politicians, and government officials who were later termed "the Georgetown Set".
[9] Originally formed in 1945–1948 by a cadre of Office of Strategic Services (OSS) veterans of WWII—Frank Wisner, Stewart Alsop, Thomas Braden, Philip Graham, David K. E. Bruce and Walt Rostow—the politically influential Georgetown Set drew its membership from the Georgetown neighborhood within the upper northwest section of the capital.
[10] The group would grow to include George Kennan, Dean Acheson, William Averell Harriman, Desmond FitzGerald, Joseph Alsop, Tracy Barnes, Ben Bradlee, John F. Kennedy, Clark Clifford, Charles "Chip" Bohlen, James Angleton, Felix Frankfurter, James "Scotty" Reston, Allen Dulles and Paul Nitze.
[11][12] While Bissell was working for the Ford Foundation, Frank Wisner persuaded him to join the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).
[13] The U-2 spy plane was a great success and within two years Bissell was able to say that 90% of all hard intelligence about the Soviet Union coming into the CIA was "funneled through the lens of the U-2's aerial cameras".
[14] However, because of the shroud of secrecy erected by the CIA around the U-2 spy plane as its source of information, the "bomber gap" hysteria in some American circles was not easily put to rest.
[18] After Frank Wisner suffered a mental breakdown in September 1958, Bissell replaced him as the CIA's Deputy Director for Plans.
The DDP branch of the CIA was responsible for covert operations, such as the prior overthrow of Mohammad Mosaddegh and Jacobo Árbenz.
In fact, Bissell assembled the same team as the one used in Guatemala: Tracy Barnes, David Atlee Phillips, Jacob Esterline, William "Rip" Robertson, E. Howard Hunt and Gerry Droller (aka "Frank Bender").
[24] The covert action plan to overthrow Castro was presented to President Dwight Eisenhower at an Oval Office meeting on 17 March 1960, and he quickly authorized it.
Soon, other crime bosses such as Carlos Marcello, Santo Trafficante Jr. and Meyer Lansky became involved in the assassination plots against Castro.
[27] Robert Maheu, a veteran of CIA counter-espionage activities, was instructed to offer the Mafia $150,000 to kill the Cuban prime minister.
"[31] On 18 November 1960 in Palm Beach, Florida, President-elect John F. Kennedy was briefed by Bissell and CIA Director Allen Dulles on the JMARC proposal.
[34] In late January 1961, President Kennedy asked the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) to vet the JMARC proposal.
After deliberating, the JCS concluded that if the invaders were given four days of air cover, and if the Cubans living in the Trinidad area joined the rebellion, and if they could establish a guerrilla presence in the Escambray Mountains, then the operation had a "fair chance" of succeeding.
As CIA officer David Atlee Phillips and others noted, the revised plan rendered nearly impossible the "fallback option" of the invaders retreating into the mountains if the initial landing went badly.
"[40] In other words, he and Bissell realized that the invasion, as designed, was likely to fail, but they expected Kennedy to agree to additional military support needed to prevent a negative outcome.
General Lemnitzer called for the brigade to march into the Escambray Mountains, but Bissell explained this was not an option as their route was being blocked by 20,000 Cuban troops.