REMARKS OF WILLIAM J. CASEY DIRECTOR OF CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AT THE SEC ANNUAL AWARDS CEREMONY SENATE CAUCUS ROOM, RUSSELL BUILDING WASHINGTON, D. C. THURSDAY, 19 NOVEMBER 1981

• Document Type: FOIA
• Keywords: SPEECHES
• Keywords: CASEY
• Keywords: SPEECHES
• Keywords: CASEY
• Collection: FOIA Collection
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 0005288322
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 7
• Document Creation Date: June 22, 2015
• Document Release Date: January 30, 2009
• Case Number: F-2007-01107
• Publication Date: November 19, 1981

REMARKS OF WILLIAM J. CASEY
DIRECTOR OF CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE
AT THE
SEC ANNUAL AWARDS CEREMONY
SENATE CAUCUS ROOM, RUSSELL BUILDING
WASHINGTON, D.C.
APPROVED FOR RELEASED DATE:
12-08-2008
 It gives me great pleasure to be here today at this awards ceremony
and I greatly appreciate your inviting me, Mr. Chairman.
The SEC is very special to me. Chairman of the SEC was the first
major position I held in Government and I relished every minute of it_
When I was Chairman, and still today, I thought the SEC was the essence of
what an outstanding government agency should be: small in numbers, a great
spirit, high morale, innovative and dynamic, an extremely able and dedicated
staff, with a high degree of independence and loyalty. I made. close and
lasting friendships with many of those I worked with at the SEC. Such fine
and outstanding careerists as Phil Loomis, Irv Pollack, Hugh Owens,
Alan Levinson, Aaron Levy and, of course, Stan Sporkin, whom I'm so glad to
work with again.
I remember fondly the friendships I made with my predecessors and
successors, particularly Manny Cohen, Ray Garret and Ralph Demler. I remember
when I came to the SEC I didn't know much about the enforcement process and
thought I should have a fresh and experienced look at it. I enlisted
Manny Cohen, Ralph Demler, a distinguished Pittsburgh lawyer who had been
Chairman during the.Eisenhower Administration, and Jack Wells, an old friend
and a great lawyer from New York. I really wanted a fresh look, so when
they came in for their first meeting, I said Jack Wells knows less and has
had less experience in enforcement than you two, so let's make him chairman-
The Agency's role has always been to protect the interest of investors
and to insure the efficiency and the public confidence, essential to keeping
 our capital market system the best in fie world. This awards ceremony does
honor to the great strength of this organization and the people that serve
it. As it has been said time and time again, chairman and commissioners
come and go, but the staff remains. I'm living proof of that. Even in
these particularly lean and difficult times; the staff has closed its ranks
and is prepared to go forward and continues to do the best job it can under
the circumstances. Looking back at all my government service, no tour of
duty satisfied me more than my tenure at the Commission. I loved the
problems, I liked the people.I worked with inside and outside the agency
and was always extremely pleased with the way in which the staff was eager
to contribute to resolving any and all problems as they would arise. The
work was always performed capably, with a minimum amount of internal
disagreement. I can assure you that my love for this agency has and will
continue. I will continue to give the support that it needs and deserves.
This agency has the style our whole Federal government needs today. In
order to continue to perform in the present austere environment, government
will have to determine its priorities and resolve the issues before it
promptly. Government can only succeed if its decisionmaking process is
well-oiled and effectively functioning. We no longer have the luxury in
government to operate with redundancies. We must select the most capable
people and place them in places of leadership and decisionmaking. Their
decisions must be relied upon and implemented as quickly as possible.
Effective leadership, at all levels, looks at the factors, gather, knowledgeable
views and decides. It decides promptly and is ready to change course as
experience dictates. It moves, stays flexible and doesn't let staff get
 stuck in cement. I know that in the years since I left the agency, a lot
of emphasis throughout government has been placed on management. I,
of course, believe that any organization must be well-managed but that
management for its own purposes without having a specific objective can,
become an excuse for nonperformance. The great strengths of this agency
have always been its leanness, its dedication to purpose, its high caliber
of staff and nonpartisanship in effectuating decisions. Those assets, I
might say are quite similar to those of the. organization I now head.: They
must be maintained, nourished and effectively. and appropriately used.
No matter what the future holds, each of you are having a great privilege
and a great experience in working with the SEC.
Much is asked of people in government today. When I go up to Capitol Hill
these days, Congressmen ask what they can do to help our intelligence
apparatus. I put at the top of the list, get rid of the pay cap. Lean
and efficient government requires good leaders. It is remarkable how many
able and proven people resist the temptation of higher pay in the private
world. In the CIA,career service, a person can retire at 50, This was
provided because of the risk and pressure of much of the work. As a
result, two-thirds of our senior employees are eligible for retirement.
They can take their pension and increase their income by embarking on a
second career. khat ho ids them is their dedication and devotion to what
they are doing- But it's not fair for all of them, no matter what their
experience and what responsibility they carry, to be paid the same. It's
crazy to have an army in which every colonel is paid as much as the
 Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. At some point it gets to you to
know that people who came into the service ten years after you and who
carry far less responsibility get the same pay. It is unfortunate that
we allowed ourselves to be frozen into that situation for so long but I
can assure you, as Ed Meese assured those with whom Stan Sporkin received
his special award two weeks ago, that the President is keenly aware of this
inequity and means to correct it.
Another inequity which needs to be corrected is the exposure of
career employees performing public service as they see it from personal
liability which could jeopardize their peace and security and that of their
family. I hope that pending legislation to deal with this inequity will soon
Perhaps you would be interested in a few words about my our present
activities. Let me tell you that the CIA is another great outfit, in spirit
and morale, in dedication, in training and'skill and in it's can do attitude
and effectiveness. Let me also tell you that, no matter what you read or
hear in the media it has absolutely no interest or desire to spy on Americans.
It's only interest'and purpose is to get timely and accurate foreign
.intelligence and make solid judgments on developments out there in the
world that can threaten or otherwise harm the national security and the
national interests of our country.. We do live in a dangerous and increasingly
interdependent world and our safety, our property, and our continuing
contribution to world peace can depend on reading it right.
 To meet this need my predecessors have developed over the last thirty
years a marvelous apparatus which is in personal contact with centers of
information and decision all over the world. They have created intricate
and expensive gadgets which use photography, elecrronics, acoustics and
other technological marvels to gather facts by roving the skies, listening
to the air waves, probing under the seas and sensing the atmosphere. They
have gathered more Ph.D's and other advanced degrees than any university to
sift, interpret and analyze the Niagara of facts which this apparatus
produces.. The bottom line to all this are the national estimates on a wide
array of political, military, economic and technological matters for which
I am responsible and in which I must see that the diverging views of the
chiefs of our military, diplomatic and economic intelligence agencies are
made available to the President, the NSC and other policymakers when issues
totc;hich these estimates are relevant are being considered and decided.
That's what I do with myself these days and I find it challenging and
absorbing and I;find the system and the talent available to get this done,
while not perfect, highly effective as I did the system and talent developed
at your institution.
In conclusion, let me again assure you that, as I have in the past; I
shall be maintaining a very keen interest in this great institution. I am
always very proud when I read about the outstanding performance and achievements.
of this agency. 1.was very fortunate to have been a part of it. I am
pleased to be succeeded by a man as highly motivated and widely experienced
as John Shad. With the fine leadership that is now in place, and with the
 spirit and dedication that is contagious in your building, I know you will
continue to reach new heights. God bless each and everyone of you.