In light of the Korean War, Congress passed in October 1951 the Mutual Security Act and created the Mutual Security Agency (MSA) to better coordinate civilian assistance with military assistance. The MSA absorbed both the Marshall Plan (replacing ECA) and Point Four (with the Technical Cooperation Administration becoming an agency within MSA).
In 1953 at the end of the Korean War, the incoming Eisenhower Administration established the Foreign Operations Administration (FOA) as an independent government agency outside the Department of State to consolidate economic and technical assistance, including both the MSA and the TCA, on a world-wide basis. The new majority in Congress also required a 25 per cent reduction in staff, which fell mainly on TCA, as in general the Foreign Operations Administration adopted the organization and procedures inherited from the Marshall Plan.
In 1955, foreign aid was brought back under the administrative control of the Department of State and FOA was renamed the International Cooperation Administration (ICA).