CIA - EYES AND EARS OF U.S.

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP72-00450R000100260004-0
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 4
• Document Creation Date: November 11, 2016
• Document Release Date: June 4, 1999
• Sequence Number: 4
• Publication Date: June 12, 1960
• Content Type: NSPR

"REPRODUCED BY SPECIAL PERMISSION F
Approved For Release 1999/1 0/1 lAfRQR?,2-00452R6 100260004-0
JUNE 12, 1960
CIA-Eyes and Ears of U.S.
The Most Secret Government Agency Has
Extraordinary Powers To Do Its Job
UNITED STATES intelligence activities
throughout the world come into focus
around a unique agency of the Federal
Government-the Central Intelligence
Agency. It is the most secret and least-
known government body, but paradoxically
it is one of the most wide-open of the
world's great intelligence systems.
Its budget is secret, and how many
millions it spends is known to only a
handful of Congressmen and a few top
agency officers. The number of employees-
is likewise secret; there is not even a
list of them for accounting purposes. It
is organized under the National Security
Council and answers directly and only to
the President.
CIA is probably the only government
agency that has no press officer. It neither
confirms, denies nor comments on stories
about it that appear in the press. It never
alibis its mistakes, never explains its
methods of operation and never reveals its
sources of information.
Headed By Allen Dulles
By contrast, the life of the CIA's director
is an open book, especially when compared
to the chiefs of other intelligence systems
who are not even known by name. Pipe-
smoking, professorial Allen W. Dulles earns
$21,000 a year in the job, lives in a rented,
unguarded house in Georgetown and comes
to work about 8 o'clock every morning in a
chauffeur-driven car.
The yoiurger brother of the late John
Foster Dulles; Secretary of State, Allen
Dulles came to the CIA with a thorough
background in the ways of espionage. In
World War II in Switzerland he directed
a huge spy network of the OSS that op-
erated in Germany and Italy. A scholar
and lawyer by profession, he is a graduate
of Princeton and the George Washington
iaT,niversity School of Law.
Now 67, he plays tennis and swims on
weekends. He was married in Baltimore
in 1920 to Martha Clover Todd, and they
have three children. The Soviets call him
a sinister, evil man. President Eisenhower
calls him simply amazing.
Access To White House
Mr. Dulles enjoys a number of special
privileges which expedite his mission, one
of which is immediate access to the Presi-
dent. He has a white telephone on his
office desk and another in his home which
are direct open lines to the White House.
When the location of a new building for
the CIA was under consideration, Mr.
Eisenhow 1 be
than tw i v~ l>'d, t`li~'R+t of e
House.
By JOHN C. SCHMIDT
Part of CIA's Washington operations now
are located in the old buildings of the Pub?
lic Health Service-OSS headquarters in
World War II-just off the Rock Creek and
Potomac River parkway in Washington's
Foggy Bottom district. It is surrounded by
a. barbed-wire-topped fence, but during the
day the gates are open and unguarded.
Both Mr. Dulles's home and the CIA are
listed in the Washington telephone direc-
tory, and a sign out front identifies the
agency and displays its shield.
You can drive into the grounds without
being stopped, and even wire gratings on
lower windows of the buildings do not set
them apart from similar Federal commun-
ities in the nation's capital. The agency's
new $46,000,000 building in Langley, Va.,
due for completion next year, will also
be accessible to the public.
Given Personal Escort
The security line is drawn, however, as
soon as the visitor crosses the threshold
of any of the buildings. Armed, gray-
ahirted guards man all entrances, and the
visitor with legitimate business must write
his name, address and citizenship on a
form. A personal escort is provided to
wherever he must go from there.
Beyond the sentry stations is an un-
spectacular array of offices and corridors,
walk-in safes, filing cabinets marked
"Classified," filing cabinets marked "Not
Classified," signs advising when classified
waste is picked up and how it must be
prepared for disposal. A bulletin board
contains notices of cars for sale, apart-
ments for rent and a warning not to post
any classified information.
Employees entering and leaving must
show wallet-size plastic passes, no matter
if they must come and go 100 times a
day. Different kinds of passes permit ac-
cess to different areas. Inside, the typical
worker lives in a semi-vacuum, and does
not even know what the fellow in the
next office is working on.
A New Career Field
CIA's job, carried on in legalized se-
crecy, is described broadly as the col-
lection and evaluation of information re-
lating to national security. The people that
work at it represent a new career field
on the American labor scene. This is a
result of Mr. Dulles's leadership, for when
he assumed command, one of his an-
nounced aims was to create a permanent
place for intelligence in American govern-
ment.
categories in between that cannot even be
suggested. But there are few who come
even close to the classic cloak-and-dagger
type of spy. Today's spies are people
trained in geopolitics, languages, history,
electronics and foreign affairs.. They take
vacations, get sick leave and enjoy other
benefits of Civil Service.
While the upper echelons of CIA are
Allen W. Dulles, CIA director
since 1953, is the younger brother
of the late John Foster Dulles.
filled with older people-many with experi-
ence in the wartime OSS-the agency is
predominantly a young person's organiza-
tion and has a definite "Ivy League" look.
There are exceptions, but Eastern uni-
versities head the list of alma maters.
Modern agents gather their information
from many sources. While the days of
concealed microphones and coded messages
are not over, the vast majority of today's
items of intelligence are turned up in
foreign periodicals, technical papers and
reports from our own armed forces and
diplomatic corps. Even reports of the
W e y as like 'cle ks and U-2 pilots, w~45 8'rQ~1 4~-0
 zelea 999/10/13-;CIA-RDP72-004
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The CIA scar- .~cypdoIFSe sa
literature it can lay its hands on and _:
tr
l
t
that h
ans
es any
a
ave scientific content.
It monitors thousands of hours of foreign
,
radio news and
ro
"' '
a
anda br
d
st
p
p
g
oa
ca
s
each week. It produces its own intelligence
through a network of special agents whose
usefulness continues only as long as they
remain unknown.
The U-2 program is the best-publicized
example of CIA's intelligence gathering
operations and might go down with the
Trojan horse as one of the most celebrated
espionage feats of all time. Certain free-
dom was given to field commanders as
to the exact timing of these flights, but
the direction and control originated with
CIA, working with the President and other
top government officers.
The program was known only to a few
persons, even within the CIA, and until
May 1 was one of the best-kept secrets in
modern espionage. Its secrecy lingers on,
for when Mr. Dulles testified before Con-
gressional investigators ou the incident,
he had the authority to say whether or
not any of his testimony would be released.
None was.
Intelligence Estimates
As far as the public and even most. of
official Washington is concerned, Mr. Dulles
Is the tightest-lipped bureau head in gov-
ernment. He would be happier if both he
and his organization could remain out of
public notice altogether. But in a democ-
racy, founded on free speech and a free
press, this is scarcely possible.
Most of the reliable information about
CIA -- and an aide to Mr. Dulles says a
great amount of unreliable information has
been published - comes from speeches
and other public and semi-public appear-
ances that Mr. Dulles makes from time to
time. In a talk in New York earlier this
year, he spoke of how his agency makes
an intelligence estimate, one of its impor-
tant functions.
In the case of Russia, he said, the
CIA's job is to determine where the Soviet
Union stands in the missile and other mili-
tary fields, and where it is going in the
immediate future. He said analysis of any
Soviet weapons system involves judgments
on the capability of the Soviets to pro-
duce it, probable irrventories of the wea-
pon, the role Soviet military planning has
assigned to it, and what the Soviet high
command may expect of it in the future.
Briefs Security Council
In the early stages of any given weapon,
the CIA stresses capabilities. Then as more
facts become available, analysts estimate
its programming. Such a procedure is to!-
]owed for all types of weapons, As evi-
dence accumulates and patterns begin to
emerge, the analysts reach their estimate
of the likely construction program.
Apart from such estimates which cover
specific weapons and situations, the CIA
has the job of keeping the National Se-
curity Council alert to the general intelli.
gence situation all over the world. Mr,
Dulles does this at the council's weekly
meetings, attended by the President and
his principal advURV ~pej~ea
Mr. Dulles opens U RV
tins ~w``iEE~h a ele
 briefing on JJ~~aa~~pp~~n,,~~9r~g~s~~ oft as wee~ek im r t $~r ed ant' qq~~ t
h~Fikl tl?%"t of t~as~n ~ ~ I{llkfj,~~ee,, etl~t~h 1'f n00
and gives t
particular areas of the world that might power in the Kremlin, the French-British
be scheduled for discussion. Suez invasion.
He prepares this material at a meeting Its major publicized shortcoming was
the day before of the Intelligence Board, failure to foresee the entry of Red China
which consists of representatives of all the intr? the Korean War. Clues were available,
armed services, State Department. Atomic for example, that the Chinese army had
Energy Commission, FBI and the Joint stocked up on antibiotics shortly before the
Chiefs of Staff. invasion, which might have told the analysts
Mr, Dulles never shrinks away from giv. 'what was coming.
Ing "split papers" in his reports'. If his Forewarning of surprise attack was, in
analysts disagree on a point, he presents fact, the reason President Truman in 1946
both sides to the policy makers, believing wanted intelligence activities centralized
this to be more useful than a watered- for the first time in the country's history,
down compromise version. He brings to, He directed formation of the National In-
gether and presents the judgments of in. telligence Authority to plan, develop and
telligence officers in all departments and coordinate all the government's foreign in-
interprets them for the President and the telligence operations.
National Security Council. Members of the authority assigned per-
All Data Coordinated sonnel and funds from their respective
de- partments and formed the Central Intelli-
21 ths-
Another concise daily summary dealing with the gence nse two bodies as functioned for operating component.
world's trouble spots. It is prepared for and eeSeptember, a47, they were 21
super-
and in Security thu Council
the President and consists of a few offset- seded by the National i
the
and
pages, usually accompanied by a the Central ellgateio y Agency. Both were
map, labeled ' Top Secret." It con- the intelligence ~ p created by the National Security Act of
tains information you might read in your that year.
paper next day, next week, or possibly
never. Few Curbs On Agency.
In carrying out these and other duties, Rear Adm. Sidney W. Souers, USNR.,
the CIA staff coordinates and evaluates was the first head of the Central lntelli-
not only its own intelligence but that pro. gence Group, and was followed by Gen.
duced by all government branches, includ- Hoyt S. Vandenberg, USAF. Rear Adm.
ing the military. It searches out data on Roscoe H. Hillenkoetter headed the group
the buildup of industry in foreign coun- at the time of its conversion to the CIA
tries, agricultural conditions, economic and served until October, 1950. Gen. Walter
trends, propaganda techniques and popu- Bedell Smith served from that time until
laxity of national leaders. Mr. Dulles - the first civilian to head the
Constant Vigil Kept group - took over February 26, 1953.
In order-Tor any intelligence operation
CIA does not duplicate the functions of to be effective, it must be powerful and
existing intelligence gathering units of the it must be secret. To assist the CIA in
armed services and the State Department. carrying out its role, the National Security
Rather it makes... use of all these and Act provides that the agency shall have
brings their findings together under one access to all intelligence in possession of
roof. It is no Gestapo, in that it has no the government, with certain limitations. It
police, subpoena or law enforcement pow. charges the director with responsibility for
ers. There is a statutory limitation on the protecting intelligence sources and agency
number of retired military officers who can methods from "unauthorized disclosure."
fill certain positions, to keep the organiza- The Central Intelligence Agency Act of
tion civilian in character. 1949 permits the director to spend money
In explaining why the CIA is important on a voucher certified by him alone, with-
and necessary, Mr. Dulles has cited the out regard to the laws and regulations per-
%xample of Pearl Harbor. He has asserted taining to expenditure of other government
that if America had had the intelligence money. The example is often cited that
machinery in 1941 that it has today, Pearl Mr. Dulles is the only man in government
Harbor would never have happened. But who could write a check for $1,000,000 and
then there was no organization to pull to. not have to explain what he wanted it for.
gether all the scattered reports of Japanese
military activity immediately before the at. Accused By McCarthy
tack. This is not quite correct, for although
Today, a constant vigil is maintained and CIA appropriations are hidden in the budg-
CIA considers as, one of its most important ets of other Federal departments, a special
functions the flagging of any critical situa- committee of six senators and six repre-
t.ions. An Intelligence Advisory Committee sentatives sits with Mr. Dulles and goes
stands ready 24 hours a day to meet and over how much he spends and-in general
examine any evidence pointing to a crisis, terms-for what.
and to make an immediate report to the The CIA has been investigated at least
President. twice, once after Senator McCarthy had
Clues Overlooked charged it was infiltrated by Communists.
A Hoover Commission task force headed
Would CIA spot a Russian attack shaping by Gen. Mark Clark combed through the
up in time to do any good? Mr. Dulles agency and found no justification for Mc-
has stated that the machinery is there, and Carthy's charges. The commission did
that barring human failure, it would. CIA make certain recommendations which were
ilel:J~1a504 A0was de-
-Few Meet Requirements
Among the other extraordinary powers
granted to the CIA chief is the right to
withhold. names, titles, salaries and even
the numbers of the agency's employees.
Only a few men in the top CIA echelons
are known to the public. The director can
also-appi ove entry into the United States
of certain aliens whose continued stay in
theirnative country would be dangerous.
Acquiring people with the proper back-
ground and motivation to do intelligence
work is one of the agency's most difficult
problems, Mr. Dulles has stated. Out of
every 1,QQ0__people who apply at the
agency's personnel office in downtown
Washington, only a handful wind up getting
jobs. Eighty per cent are screened out
immediately, largely because of insuffi-
cient education or obviously unfavorable
background.
The remaining 20 per cent are turned
over to security officers for investigation.
Some of this group are eliminated because.
in the agency's words. "they drink too
much, talk too much, have relatives be-
hind the Iron Curtain which may make the
applicants subject to foreign pressure."
The CIA asks all its applicants if they
are homosexuals and if they have ever
done anything for which they could be
blackmailed.
Lie Detector Used
Further investigation drops out another
4 per cent, mostly individuals who have
contacts that render them undesirable for
this highly sensitive agency. The check-
ing usually takes about six weeks for a
young man or woman just out of college;
up to four months for an older person who,
has held a number of jobs or traveled
widely. I
CIA uses a polygraph, or lie detector, in
checking out its job applicants. No one is
required to take the test, but nearly every-
one does. Continuing security checks are
run on CIA personnel without their knowl-
edge. Security officers make unannounced
inspections of offices after working hours
to see that all classified papers have been
locked up. Severe penalties await the care.
less.
To create a pool of professional people
on which to draw. CIA regularly sends re-
cruiters out to colleges to talk to potential
candidates for intelligence work-students
who have demonstrated a high degree of
ability in languages, science, foreign af-
fairs and related subjects. Likes and dis-
likes, personality and extra-curricular ac-
tivities are weighed as heavily as intellect-
ual ability.
Offices In 25 Cities
Prospects are told that their starting
salary probably will not exceed $5,000 a
year unless they are critically-needed spe-
cialists, and that it may never go above
$14,000. If they are still interested, they
are brought to Washington to take a com-
plex series of tests and physical examina-
tions. If these are passed, the security
reported r i hilt y t'aunt S truk aS~pgttg~~ y~e~,p re n t r 5 into
es: nl hided into
I a year1~/~aearicPx'~16d li btrbdo~ldet-)e6,-4104 "a e o e n covert. An
the event it reported a launch attempt was later bill to create a permanent "watch-
 overt employee makes no secret that he Part of this career service is a junior In addition to producing more capable
works for CIA, butA r Reii iii' 99M GM i p7t? 1f~~Q ~(~ ~~Q~
little he can say, even to is wi e. The described as the West Pomt o A kip morale m t ie L t q i ti revel
covert worker comes closer to the tra. takes in people with the highest qualifica- has a small turnover, compared to other
ditional picture of the secret agent. tions in economics, geopolitics, geophysics government departments. Specialists are
This agent may be almost anywhere in and other important subjects. These men sometimes attracted by the higher sal-
the world, working or traveling as a sci- and women, considered to have the highest aries paid by big industry, but money does
entist, student, economist, engineer or potential for intelligence work, are not appear to be the main hold CIA has
housewife. Only one job category has been groomed to take over larger and more im- on its people. Mr. Dulles has said there
xcluded, and that is journal- portant roles within the organization. are some working in the agency at a great
revealed as excluded,--and-
ism. CIA has former newspapermen on Overseas Assignments sacrifice to themselves.
its staff but enrolls no one still working at For a few, the glamour of the service is
it, for fear of throwing a shadow over the As another incentive, every effort is the big attraction. But for many, it is the
entire press. The agency frequently inter- made in CIA to promote from within. There knowledge that they are doing important
.views foreign correspondents returning is a language training program also, work for the country by providing infor-
from abroad, as well as businessmen and whereby employees are rewarded for mation on which its leaders can guide its
other travelers, and has offices in 25 cities studying a new language in CIA's schools. future course. For all, there is the hard
for this purpose. The more "exotic" the language, the big- fact that the work they do will almost
Little can be said about the long period ger the reward. By extending his profi- never be publicly recognized or acclaimed.
of training and. the jobs that CIA profes- ciency by after-hours study year after Just as CIA's methods and failures must
sional people do. They can make a per- year, the employee can earn a mainte. remain undisclosed, most of the valuable
manent career in the intelligence field, nance allowance for it. Eventually, he will accomplishments of its people must be kept
however, under the program brought in probably be assigned to a country where lie secret, too,
by Mr. Dulles. After three years of work can use the language, but overseas as-
for the agency, an employee can apply for signment seldom comes before the third
career service. A board then reviews his or fourth year of service.
service and decides whether or not he is
desirable as a lifetime careerist.
Approved For Release 1999/10/13 : CIA-RDP72-0045OR000100260004-0