LETTER TO THE HONORABLE WILLIAM E. COLBY FROM SAMUEL D. BERGER

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP78-04202A000200050002-5
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 6
• Document Creation Date: December 20, 2016
• Document Release Date: February 26, 2003
• Sequence Number: 2
• Publication Date: August 28, 2001
• Content Type: LETTER

DEPARTMENT OF STATE
b'OREIGN SERVICE INSTITUTE
WASHINGTON, D.C.
20520
The Honorable William E. Colby
Director of Central Intelligence
Washington, D. C. 20505
f1T11
February 1, 1974
Dear Mr. Colby:
We are now planning the 1974-75 session of the Senior
Seminar in Foreign Policy, the Foreign Service Institute,
of the Department of State, which will begin August 12, 1974
and end June 6, 1975. This letter is to invite your Agency
once again to. nominate two qualified officers for the spaces
reserved for CIA.
The two officers who are with us this year are
outstanding, are contributing enormously to. the Seminar, and
are profiting from it as well. I hope you can nominate two
equally qualified officers for the next session.
The Department of State. considers membership in the
Seminar to. be an honor to. be reserved only for the ablest
and most promising officers. While nomination should be
based on demonstrated excellence in leadership and past
performance, our main requirement is that it be given to.
those who have the highest potential for future senior
responsibilities, such as Chief or Deputy. Chief of Mission.
The Central Intelligence Agency Members should therefore:
-- have a recognized potential for promotion to.
positions of the highest responsibility;
-- be grade GS-16 or 17;
be between age forty and fifty, preferably in
the first half of the forties.
State Dept. declassification & release instructions on file
SENIOR SEMINAR IN FOREIGN POLICY . TEL. (7033x@br",xq 235-8766
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{ ;f"- 1 ve HegiStry
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I enclose a description of the Seminar course, a
brochure containing photographs and brief biographic sketches
of the 1973-74 Members, and a statement on costs and required
security clearances.
I look forward to your letter, which I hope to receive
before April 15, nominating two CIA officers to the Seventeenth.
Seminr, or if the names are not as yet determined, your
indication that the reserved spaces will be filled by your
Agency.
With warm regards,
Sincerely,
Samuel D. Ber
Coordinator
Enclosures:
1) Description
2) Brochure
3) Statement
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.Foreign Service Institute
Department of State
August 13, 1973 - June 7, 1974
OBJECTIVES AND MEMBERSHIP
The Senior Seminar in Foreign Policy is the United States
Government's foremost executive development program in foreign
affairs. It assists in preparing select, senior career officers
for positions of Ambassadorial and comparable responsibility.
The Seminar encourages free and vigorous inquiry into
complexities of foreign policy and U.S. domestic problems and
their interrelationship. It aims to help Members become better
managers, stimulate their creative powers, enhance their capacity
for thoughtful judgment, and develop their leadership.
Senior Seminar Members are drawn from the principal Federal
Agencies concerned with U.S. foreign relations. The Sixteenth
Session has twenty-six Members, nineteen of whom are officers
of the Foreign Service serving in the Department of State, the
United States Information Agency and the Agency for International
Development. The other seven include one officer from each of
the Armed Services, and civil servants from the Departments of
Agriculture and Defense and the Central Intelligence Agency.
The Seminar lasts ten months and requires the full time
of its Members.
COURSE CONTENT
Because Members are mature and generally have more than
twenty years of Government service, the Seminar can range fast
and far in its studies. It assumes that Members already possess
considerable experience and knowledge, particularly of foreign,
government, and military affairs.
After an initial week for orientation, the Seminar spends
twelve weeks on domestic affairs. A two-week series on the
United States economy, including a study of the Federal budget,
leads off this segment. Eight weeks are devoted to reviewing
contempoarary issues, scientific and technological development,
cultural life and social attitudes.
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Six weeks during the Seminar year are spent in group travel
to all major regions of the United States. Members thus obtain
first-hand exposure. to state and municipal governments, univer-
sities, industrial centers, labor unions, farms, and local
citizens' organizations, etc. In Washington, Members meet with
Senators and Representatives, with senior officers of Federal
departments and domestic agencies and with the Mayor and other
officials of the District of Columbia.
Six weeks are given to enhancement of professional skills.
During this segment Members study methods of executive leader-
ship, contemporary theory and practice in economics and political
science, and techniques of policy formulation. Consultations
with senior officers of the Executive Departments, agencies and
services involved in the direction of national security policy
are a central feature of this part of the course.
Problems of U.S. foreign relations form the third major
segment of the Seminar curriculum. In these sessions, the
Seminar undertakes analyses of issues involved in our relations
with major countries and.regions. Two weeks are spent visiting
military installations. -
For six weeks, Seminar Members conduct individual case
studies designed to expand their knowledge and expertness.
Members submit written reports on their projects and are
required to summarize and defend them orally before the Seminar.
Time is set aside for in-house discussions and exercises.
The Seminar also exploits the great and varied professional
experience represented among its carefully selected Members.
METHOD OF STUDY
As its name implies, the Senior Seminar method relies upon
colloquy. For a decade and a half, distinguished citizens and
officials, scholars and professionals, statesmen and soldiers,
entrepreneurs and artists, workers and farmers have shared their
wisdom with the Seminar. They spark and guide the dialogue that
animates this ten-month program. It is to them that the Seminar
owes its reputation as a unique and rewarding experience.
By the time the Seminar ends, its Members -- both as a group
and as individuals -- have composed a mosaic of America, based
on what they saw and heard during the months they spent together.
While each Member sees that final image in a particular light,
all enthusiastically acclaim the excitement and stimulation of
this broadening experience. To some extent the viewer is trans-
formed as his viewpoint expands, and the colloquy of the Seminar
brings each Member into a new phase of his or her professional
life.
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TH SENIOR SEMINAR IN FOREIGN LICY
SEVENTEENTH SESSION
August 12, 1974 - June 6, 1975
ESTIMAT7D PER CAPITA COST FOR CIVILIAN AGENCIES
Tuition
Sponsoring agencies will pay to the Department of State,
for each Member, approximately $6,800 tuition.
Domestic Travel
In addition to tuition, there will be an assessment
estimated at approximately $3,100 per Member, payable
to the Department of State, to cover transportation
and per diem costs for group travel to various cities
and military installations within the United States.
Foreign Field Studies
As part of the Seminar's program, Members perform one
trip (usually overseas) to conduct investigations
connected with each Member's case study. Individual
travel orders and obligation of funds for this travel
are issued by, and charged against, the sponsoring
agency or department. These costs can run as high as
$2,500 per Member, depending on the itinerary.
SECURITY CLEARANCES
All Members of the Senior Seminar must possess TOP SECRET,
COSMIC and 'Q' security clearances valid for the duration of the
Seminar, these to be obtained by the sponsoring agency or
department.
Certification for each nominee should be forwarded
before August 1, 1974, to:
Coordinator
Senior Seminar in Foreign Policy
Foreign Service Institute
Room 1209, SA-3
Department of State
Washington, D. C. 20520
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EXECUTIVE SECRETARIAT
Routing Slip
ACTION
INFO
DATE
INITIAL
1
DCI
2
DDCI
3
S/MC
4
DDS&T
5
DDI
6
DDM&S
7
DDO
8
D/DCI/IC
9
D/DCI/NI
10
OGC
11
OLC
12
IG
13
Compt
14
D/ Pers
15
D/S
16
DTR
17
Asst/ DCI
18
AO/DCI
19
20
21
22
P -4
Execufive' ret
ate
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