Lawrence R. Houston

Lawrence "Larry" Reid Houston was General Counsel for the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), the Strategic Services Unit (SSU), the Central Intelligence Group (CIG), and was the first General Counsel for the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). He helped create the legal framework for the agency and held the title of "legal architect of the CIA". As both the architect and leading authority in the field, he played a foundational role in shaping the practice of "intelligence law." As The New York Times wrote in his obituary: "His business was keeping the secret agency out of trouble in an open democracy." While serving in this role, Houston represented the interests of the CIA in procuring the contract for the Lockheed U-2 stealth aircraft, and also during the Senate testimony of Francis Gary Powers surrounding the U2 crash. Houston also famously denied Joseph McCarthy any access whatsoever to CIA employees in the era of McCarthyism, and especially during the events that occurred during the "John Paton Davies affair."