LETTER TO MR. GEORGE BUSH FROM GEORGE J. KEEGAN

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP79M00467A002700150019-7
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 4
• Document Creation Date: December 15, 2016
• Document Release Date: March 4, 2003
• Sequence Number: 19
• Publication Date: May 4, 1976
• Content Type: LETTER

Approved For Releas*03/03/28 : CIA-RDP79M00467AO027050019-7
For good reason, this is not being distributed
to anyone else - although I showed it to Knoche
and carver. It does not seem to require a
response.
This must be silly week at DoD. If this item
ever should surface for the perusal of some
future historian, he will be pleasd o note that
in 1976 there still remained soiree 1poortant
officials whose sense of the proper use of state
power remained rooted in the 19th century.
Approved For 4U eH 13/03 1:1MA
?@46MOW1@OiS@?*Pta-
4
tion of his article - which is very thoughtful.
 Approve
or Release 2003/03/28_: CIA-RDP79M67A002700150019-
e:-d1 v' ? E~ u
--George .J.. Keegan
Major General, USAF
-ACS/Intelligence
Dept of -thy Air Force
DIRECTOR or CMWMtA L
ZWrBX=ORNCL.
Executive Rca~.
Room 7-E-12
)Fleadquart~tM .
Approved For Release 2003/03/28 : CIA-RDP79M00467A002700150019-7
7
sra~:
 Approv*or Release 2003/03/28: CIA-RDP79
DEPARTMENT OF THE AIR FORCE
HEADQUARTERS UNITED STATES AIR FORCE
WASHINGTON. D.C.
4 May 1976
Mk. Geoxge Su.6h
D-cAectoA, Cent'ta.t Intettigence Agency
Wa.shA.ngton DC 20505
lox enexal, USX NYT AAticte, I May 76
R',. 7Nt 1 Atch
ACS/InteWge-Fffe
~~76-19 6 s Approved For Release 2003/03/28 : CIA-RDP79M00467AO02700150019-7
Deav Mt . 8u,6h
Encto4ed is a ~6hoAt piece on Intettigence, MoAa L.ty and Foxeign
Pot icy" by Sidney Hook which appeared in the 1 May New VoAk Tdmus -
in ecvse you ma zed same. FoA the New VoAk T.cme.6, .c .us a nave, w~i4e
and ph to4oph.ica ty sound piece o woA w c I am cehtai.n w tt
appeal to you.
I don't think Dn. Hook hays done too much v.i.otence to the Ache4son-
Kennan piece on moxa e.ity and Joxe.ign policy. FAank.Py, I think
Hook .6ttike s a keen baP.ance.
It Aeminds me ob an episode 1 w.itnumed in The White Houhe yeaU ago.
The .scene wa4 a National Secw ty Counc t meeting on the Suez CA,u6.i4
oA 1957 - which wa4 about to exptode. Through 4ome 46upeAb work by
out attaches, the P esident had been ~o.euvtned o6 the combined
EngtLA-French-1,maeti. #ntent.i.on4. Mt. EizenhoweA, a.6 I am ceAtain
you Witt AecaPt2, had used hips advance u=n.ing to counaet tustta.cnt
upon MA. Eden. The Joint Ch.i.eb4 oA StaJA - in thvee zepahate xeviewo -
had una--,imou4t y come down in ~suppOAt o6 any aggxes.6.ion which would
eti.minate the canceA o6 Nauex in the M.iddte East. At a cxuciae
moment in the debate ovex which po4 t%on the United Status.6hoU d
tape in the United Nation-6 - John FozteA Dutte6s - anm6 waving - ft"hed
into the room bAandiAhAng a ~6mate ~sheaA oA papers and t teeAatty shouted
at the PAu i dent: "you cannot petm.i t thus to happen. The United Sta ee.&
cannot and must not oanct i.on naked aggxemion - however u se6ut it-6
puApoie. For ups to istand by .idly, without condemning thus agggx?4si.on
would be to betray every moAat vague that the United States has tong
,since AepAe rented thxoughout the woA.2d - and uspec c.a ty within the
AAab WoAtd." Fo4teA Datte_6 won the day, with the PAe4ident acknowledgcng:
"you ave otutety Aight."
waA Aegatd4
 Approv's or Release 2003/03/28: CIA-RDP79M 0467AO02700150019-7
Part II _- Main Edition -- 3 Ma 976
NEW YORK TIMES - 1 MAI 1976 Pg. 23
Intelligence, Morality and Foreign? Policy
By Sidney Hoop
STANFORD, Calif.-From de Toque-
ville to Walter Lippman, democracies
have been faulted for their inability
to conduct' timely' and Intelligent
foreign policies. Nonetheless, . It Is
apparent that In the long run no
foreign policy In a democracy can be
successful unless it has popular sup-
port.
A more serious criticism contends
that the likelihood of a ' successful
democratic foreign policy is hindered
by. its tendency to be naively moralis-
tic. It assumes that' what is' right or
wrong, honorable or dishonorable, in
ordinary private life is no less so In
the life of nations at peace' or war.
Many experts in foreign policy as-
sure us- that standards of morality In
private and public life are profoundly
different. The Italian statesman Ca-
vour, not the worst of the great uni-
fiers, uttered a sentiment most Would
have approved: "If-we did for ourselves
what we did for our country` what
scoundrels we would be."
Our owe onetime Secretary of State,
Dean Acheson, in an address to those
contemplating a career in foreign
service, observed: "Generally speaking,
morality often. Imposes: upon those
who exercise the powers of govern-
ment standards of conduct quite dif-
ferent from what might seem right to
them as 'private citizens.'.
Although this is 'a 'plausible' and
widely held view,, It ,.seems. to me
mistaken. It rests on a confusion be-
tween moral standards or basic moral
values that, If valid, are invariant for
all situations In which human beings
must act, and the decisions that must
be made In specific situations. whether
personal or public. ' ' i
No one moral standard or value by
Itself determiner what action should
be taken because when we are in an
agony of doubt about what we should
do, more than one moral principle -or
value always applies. Otherwise, we
would-have'mo genuine- problem or
doubt. .
This holds In the area of personal
relations as in.public policy. Because
we should tell the truth it does not
follow that we should tell the truth
to someone intent upon robbing or
maiming innocent victims, 41 not tell.
ing the truth will tend to prevent such
action.
There are always other values in-
volved. Even in less extreme situa-
tions, we may rightly prefer to be kind
rather than needlessly truthful if
speaking the truth say, about his
stupidity or her ugliness-will result
in great cruelty and no benefit to any-
one else. It is wrong. to steal, but we
cannot morally condemn a man who
steals to provide for his hungry fam-
ily if no other means exist to alleviate
their plight.
It should be clear that every trou-
bled situation of moral choice is one
in which. the choice is not between
good or bad, right or wrong, but be-
tween good and good, right and right,
the good and the right. One good may
be overridden by a greater good: one
obligation by a more pressing one.
Ordinary human life. would be im-
poss;ble if we did not recognize and
act on these considerations. Some-
times it -involves'a choice of evils. It
is wrong to kill a human being, but
if the only way to prevent him from
blowing up a plane or city was by
killing him, It would be right to do so.
To. be sure, the weight of experience
Is behind the moral injunctions and
!deals .expressed in the testaments and
commandments of the great religious
and eth ical.systems of the past. But
they cannot all, be categorical in all
situations because. they obviously
conflict.
Sometimes 'we cannot be just with-
out being' druel. Reflection is required
to determine which is to be subordinate
to which. The only absolute - is,"' in
John Erskine's? phrase, echoing. a
thought of. John Dewey, "the moral
obligation to be intelligent" In the
choice of that course of conduct
among possible . alternatives whose
consequdnces . Will strengthen the
structure of the reflective values that
define our philosophy of life.
The situation is quite familiar in the
area of civil and political rights. The
right to know may conflict with the
right to privacy, freedom to publish
with the right' to a fair trial, freedom
to speak (inciting a -lynch mob)' with
the right to life. Even the right to
worship God according to one's con-
science may be abridged if it in-
volves human sacrifice or polygamy.
The conflict of freedoms- should be
resolved by the action whose con-
sequences are more likely than those
of any other to further the total struc-
ture of . freedom; In the democratic
community.
It is when we approach foreign
policy that we find great Impatience
with considerations about moral
principles.- Palmerston's pronounce-
ment Is often cited: "We have no
eternal allies or enemies. Our Inter-
ests are eternal ,and perpetual, and
those interests it is our duty to fol-
low." Agreed. But why should the na-
tional interest exclude moral ideals?
` ' Whatever its complexities, it pre
supposes it the very least national
survival. Even on'the plane of personal
morality, survival, except under ex-
treme conditions, Is integral to the
good life. In order to be blessed, says
Spinoza, one must at least be.
We are 'not talking about national
survival under any circumstances but
of our 'survival as a free and open
society, imperfect as it is. If its
existence is desirable, to what meas-
ures are we committed in Its defense
in an age where nuclear Pearl Harbors
make the sudden death of cultures
possible? Certainly not to just any
measures regardless of their conse-
quences on basic security and to the
character of the society we seek to
defend. And just as certainly to an in-
telligent "intelligence system" that will
penetrate the designs of the declared
enemies of our society, especially vio-
lations of arms agreements. Secrecy on
these and related measures is a matter
of.political morality.
There is no substitute in our time
for an intelligence service ultimately
responsible to the authorized repre-
sentatives, political or judicial, of the
democratic community.
Firefighters tell us it is sometimes
necessary to burn. a. house, or permit
it to bum, to save a village. This does
not bestow a license for arson on
fools or fanatics. We must recognize
the evil' we do even if it Is the lesser
evil. But if it Is truly the lesser evil,
then those who condemn it, or who
would have us do nothing at all, are
morally responsible for the greater
evil.
Sidney Hook, emeritus professor of
philosophy at New York University, is
senior research fellow at the Hoover
Institution on War, Revolution and
Peace, Stanford. This is adapted from
an article in the bimonthly "Freedom
at Issue," published by Freedom House,
in New York City.
COi MMU NISTS----- ------------CONTINUED
A broad concern Is whether the texture of East-West ac- to woo the Italian, French, Yugolra9-armmDrrraesnn parties
coAmodation-m! by a nnr t- In erful to a conference that would offer the appearance of Com-
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