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." 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."

Life When Houston was born in 1913, his father, David F. Houston, was the Chancellor of Washington University in St. Louis. From September 1939 until February 1943, Houston worked at the law offices of White & Case on Wall Street in New York City.

Creating the CIA In 1945, after the conclusion of the war and the disestablishment of the OSS, Houston became the General Counsel for the newly established Strategic Services Unit (SSU), which had absorbed the primary clandestine functions of the OSS.

Houston's office also oversaw the investments that CIA made both for its retirement funds, and to create fiscal sustainability for covert operations, so that the CIA did not have to consistently request funds from the executive branch or congress.