(2006-0998-F) William Crowe - PFIAB

The materials in FOIA 2006-0998-F are a selective body of documents responsive to the topic of the FOIA. Researchers should consult the archivist about related materials. Admiral William J. Crowe, Jr. was appointed by President William Jefferson Clinton to the President’s Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board (PFIAB) on January 20, 1993. He served as Chairman of PFIAB from 1993 to 1994. In 1994, Crowe was chosen by President Clinton to be Ambassador in London. He remained in that post until 1997. Born in La Grange, Kentucky, in 1925, William James Crowe grew up in Oklahoma City, the son of a lawyer. He graduated from the Naval Academy in 1946. He received a master's degree from Stanford University in 1956 and a PhD in political science from Princeton in 1965. During a 47-year military career he commanded US forces in the Middle East, was the Commander in Chief of NATO forces in Southern Europe, led the US Pacific Command and served as President Reagan’s Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff from 1985 to 1989. In that period he led US troops through crises that included the 1986 air strike on Libya and the showdown in the 1980s with Iran over the control of the Persian Gulf. He declined a request from President George H.W. Bush to serve a second four-year term as chairman. During his retirement he condemned the military's anti-gay bias and criticized the build-up to the first Gulf War. He also served as chairman of two boards charged with investigating the bombings of the US embassies in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam. In 2004, he was among 27 retired diplomats and military commanders who said publicly that the Administration of President Bush did not understand the world and was unable to handle “in either style or substance” the responsibilities of global leadership. He received the Defense Distinguished Service Medal four times, and President Clinton awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Admiral William J. Crowe passed away October 18, 2007. The President’s Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board (PFIAB) was created by President Dwight Eisenhower in 1956. Executive Order 10656, signed February 6, 1956, created the President’s Board of Consultants on Foreign Intelligence Activities. Eisenhower believed that this board of respected and knowledgeable citizens could provide him with unbiased and candid appraisals of United States’ intelligence activities. President John Kennedy, by the signing of Executive Order 10938 on May 4, 1961, renamed the Board of Consultants, the President’s Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board. Though the name was changed, the board continued to operate in much the same fashion. Executive Order 11460, signed by President Richard Nixon on March 20, 1969, again changed the name of the PFIAB to the President’s Advisory Intelligence Board. President Jimmy Carter abolished the board in March of 1977. Carter did however, retain the Intelligence Oversight Board. The IOB was created by President Gerald Ford in 1976 following a post Watergate investigation by Congress into potential illegal activities of the intelligence agencies. The IOB was tasked with reporting potential illegal activities to the Department of Justice for review. As Ford told Congress in 1976, “I believe [the changes] will eliminate abuses and questionable activities on the part of the foreign intelligence agencies while at the same time allowing them to get on with their vital work of gathering and assessing information.” President Ronald Reagan modified the role of the IOB in 1981 and re-established the PFIAB in 1985 by signing Executive Order 12537. President William Jefferson Clinton combined the IOB and the PFIAB, making the IOB a committee rather than an independent organization. President George W. Bush radically modified the role of both the IOB and the PFIAB following the creation of a Director of National Intelligence. The newly named President’s Intelligence Advisory Board was designated to oversee the intelligence collection activities of any Federal agency engaged in the collection of intelligence or the production of intelligence policy. President Barak Obama more clearly defined the role of the PFIAB and strengthened the IOB with the passage of Executive Order 13516. Under President Clinton the PFIAB had between eleven and twelve members, by law it could be no more than sixteen, whose terms were established by the President. Members were chosen for their independence, knowledge, and experience. The members of the President’s Intelligence Advisory Board serve as unpaid observers of United States intelligence community. Much of their work is highly secret in nature though Presidents have chosen on occasion to make the Board’s reports, or portions thereof, public. The members of the Board are appointed by the President and the Director serves at the leisure of the President. Automated Records Management System [Email] (ARMS) records responsive to this FOIA originate in the following agencies: Office of the White House (WHO) and Default e-mails belonging to no specific agency. These e-mails are primarily administrative in nature relating to Crowe’s appointment and service on the PFIAB.