In both private meetings and in public speeches and television appearances, Allen Dulles, the director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) during the Eisenhower administration, remained remarkably consistent: He perceived the Soviet Union as a major threat to world peace—specifically to the stable relations that ought to have prevailed between the United States and its former enemies, especially Germany. Thus, the Soviet Union was a threat not only because it challenged and attempted to subvert U.S. supremacy in international relations but also because the Russians sought to rule through coercion, not cooperation. They wanted to dominate Eastern Europe, turning countries into Soviet satellites rather than reaching compromises and means of accommodation with neighboring nations.