In 1950, at the start of the Korean War, Allen Dulles invited Braden to become his personal assistant at the Central Intelligence Agency. He accepted, and was assigned the codename "Homer D. Hoskins". His role was without portfolio, apparently assigned to Frank Wisner’s OPC but in reality working directly subordinate to Dulles. It was upon Braden’s suggestion that Wisner’s OPC and the then small and under-utilized International Organizations Branch be merged, allowing him to set up the new International Organizations Division (IOD) under the deputy director of plans (DDP).