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Pseudonym: Playdon, William D.

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Definition:

Tracy Barnes, Chief of the Political and Psychological Staff (PP Staff), Directorate of Plans.

Category:

pseudonym

Status:

Documented

Discussion:

Tracy Barnes was a senior CIA official referred to as the A/DDP/A, which stood for Assistant Deputy Director for Plans for Action (or more broadly, Assistant Deputy Director for Plans). His role was a key leadership position within the Directorate for Plans (DDP)—now known as the Directorate of Operations—which was the CIA's branch responsible for covert operations and foreign intelligence. Key career details of his A/DDP/A Role (1960–1962): Barnes served as one of the Directorate’s two Assistant Deputy Directors, the other being Richard Helms. In this capacity, he was a central figure in major Cold War initiatives, most notably as a primary coordinator for the Bay of Pigs invasion in 1961. Role in Operation PBSuccess: Earlier in his career, he was placed in charge of the CIA effort to topple President Jacobo Arbenz in Guatemala in 1954. Psychological Strategy Board: During the Korean War, he served as the deputy director of this board, focusing on paramilitary and psychological operations. Domestic Operations: From 1962 to 1966, he headed the Domestic Operations Division before retiring from the agency.

Sources:

104-10061-10115: LIST OF NAMES RE KENNEDY ASSASSINATION INVESTIGATION.

"Playdon" is identified by CIA to HSCA as short for "William D. Playdon", which is identified as a pseudonym.

Foreign Relations of the United States, 1952-1954: Guatemala Current Section: Persons and Pseudonyms

Tracy Barnes is identified as "(Playdon, William D.), Chief of the Political and Psychological Staff, Directorate of Plans, Central Intelligence Agency".

Lander, OSS, p. 230: http://lander.odessa.ua/doc/OSS%20-%20The%20Secret%20History%20of%20America's%20First%20Central%20Intelligence%20Agency.pdf

"Barnes was a young attorney at the War Production Board, educated at Harvard and Yale, who had completed two SO missions behind the lines in France...Barnes was CIA base chief in Frankfurt, 1954-1956, and station chief in London, 1957-59. He was CIA liaison with the State Department during the Bay of Pigs operation, then became chief of the agency's so-called Domestic Operations Divsion. He resigned from the government in 1968 to become special assistant to the President of Yale University (note: Kingman Brewster)." Also note that Kingman Brewster was supportive of the Black Panthers and opposed to the Vietnam War - see Geoffrey Kabaservice, "The Guardians" (Owl Books, 2005) at p. 421: Henry Kissinger "mused aloud that Brewster was the one man whose assassination would benefit the United States."

104-10165-10049: LUIS CONTE AGUERO

8/22/61 memo from Acting Chief of WH Division Raford Herbert to A/DDP/A (Barnes, possibly Richard Helms), describing AMCORE-2/Luis Conte Aguero as an "unsalaried propaganda agent", and "the Cuban commentator with the prestige of Edward R. Murrow and the rating of Jack Paar (Time magazine, April 1960)."

Contributors:

Bill Simpich