Copyright by Gregory Krauss 2007 - The University of Texas at Austin

As he frequently did though, Lister took matters into his own hands. Lister
asked Harriman to use his influence to create “a slot” that was “not geographically or
functionally limited.” 3 Lister proposed to use the slot to implement what he felt the
State Department needed: a “global, activist anti-Communist approach.” 4 This
approach, he wrote, would consist of “watching carefully for opportunities to take the
initiative against the Communists and keeping an eye out for areas or situations where
things are going against us now, or likely to do so in the future.” 5 It would mean
“employing a very flexible, informal and non-bureaucratic approach in suggesting
action, stimulating various bureaus and offices, and cooperating with them in the
implementation of these activities.” 6 Additionally, the approach would permit Lister
to serve as a backup where the bureaucratic structure failed to deliver. Lister wrote
that his goal was to be “doing those things which otherwise would just not get
done…” 7
Harriman apparently granted Lister his request, for Lister was soon assigned
to work under Clare H. Timberlake, then a recent Ambassador to the Democratic
Republic of the Congo. It is unknown what position Timberlake had at the time.
Lister’s memo to Timberlake on September 19, 1962, suggests just how disenchanted
Lister had become with the bureaucracy:
We should hover on the periphery, suggesting, innovating, intervening,
implementing, helping to implement, etc., without being tied down to the
bureaucracy, or expanding to the point where we become unwieldy, or putting
ourselves in the strait jacket of a tight definition of operation. There is a
crying need in the Department for just this kind of operation. We can play a
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