In 1962 The Bureau of Operations and Command or the Bureau, was founded by President John F. Kennedy during the Cold War. Its original mission directive was to sustain Continuity of Government in the event of a sustained invasion and entrenched occupation by the Soviet Union on American soil. It was intended to provide effective "command and control" to remnants of the United States Armed Forces, and if necessary, coordinate them into an insurgency.
Director Myron Faulike creatively interpreted his mandate and used agency funds to identify threats to the United States beyond the Soviets. This put him at odds with General Deems, responsible for funding the Bureau, who considered this line of inquiry pointless and wanted to slash funding and redirect it to other projects.
It would have been a mistake.
In 1963 The Bureau was activated following the alien attack on Groom Range, which devastated the base and wiped out its staff and garrison within half an hour. There were six survivors, including Director Myron Faulike, who rallied all available assets at Site X and assumed command over military forces at his disposal. The activation of the Bureau was necessary, as the alien invasion was preceded by a global communications blackout (and unintentionally preventing a global panic).Site X became the temporary center of US strategic command, as Faulke was unable to contact the President or anyone else in Washington D.C.
As one of the last remaining elements of the United States' continuity of government capable of resisting the alien invasion, Faulke directed the activation of people pre-flagged for XCOM recruitment. The lengthy list included the military, clandestine services, DIA, even regular civilians. What they had in common was that they weren't even aware of XCOM's existence until the call came. The valiant defensive effort against the Zudjari and ultimately the revelation of the real motives behind their invasion allowed XCOM to stall and eventually defeat the invasion through surgical strikes using captured and reverse-engineered alien weapons.
XCOM followed the Zudjari defeat with an extensive cover-up, destroying all evidence of an alien invasion and paving the way for the formation of a global, successor organization known as XCOM.