Allen Welsh Dulles Biography

Appointed Deputy Director of the CIA

Appointed Deputy Director of the CIA

Appointed Director of the CIA

Dulles establishes a specialised CIA branch to organise covert operations against Castro.

Dulles oversees CIA recruitment of anti-Castro Cuban exiles in Florida.

Dulles oversees development of a covert air-training base in Guatemala.

Dulles leads the first detailed briefing of Kennedy on the Cuban project.

Assures Kennedy that invasion of Cuba will result in the overthrow of Castro

Dulles briefs a closed Senate Foreign Relations Committee session on the Cuban exile programme.

CIA helps Cuban exiles create the Cuban Revolutionary Council.

Dulles is briefed late on the invasion crisis, including men ashore, undelivered supplies and two ships lost to Cuban aircraft.

Serves on the Cuba Study Group even as CIA leadership comes under criticism for the failed invasion

Kennedy forms the Cuba Study Group to review the failed invasion.

Defends CIA organization and planning before post-invasion reviewers

Dulles leaves the CIA after the Bay of Pigs failure and the administration's subsequent review of Agency leadership.

Appointed member of the Warren Commission by President Lyndon B. Johnson.

Dulles serves on the Warren Commission after leaving CIA leadership.

Continues as a member of the Warren Commission and remains involved in questions about CIA evidence supplied to the inquiry.