On October 24, 1952, “The eight-page directive that [President Harry] Truman had signed made SIGINT [signals intelligence] a national responsibility and designated the secretary of defense as the U.S. government’s executive agent for all SIGINT activities, which placed NSA [National Security Agency] within the ambit of the Defense Department and outside the jurisdiction of the CIA. Truman gave the NSA a degree of power and authority above and beyond that ever given previously or since to any American intelligence agency, placing it outside the rubric of the rest of the U.S. intelligence community. Truman also ordered that the new agency’s powers be clearly defined and strengthened through the issuance of a new directive titled National Security Council Intelligence Directive No. 9 ‘Communications Intelligence.’ ”
– Matthew M. Aid, The Secret Sentry, Page 44