THE UNITED STATES NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE SYSTEM
Document Type:
Collection:
Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST):
CIA-RDP79T00827A000400160002-5
Release Decision:
RIPPUB
Original Classification:
T
Document Page Count:
33
Document Creation Date:
December 19, 2016
Document Release Date:
June 3, 2005
Sequence Number:
2
Case Number:
Publication Date:
October 6, 1966
Content Type:
NOTES
File:
Attachment | Size |
---|---|
CIA-RDP79T00827A000400160002-5.pdf | 1.07 MB |
Body:
Approved For Release 2005/06/08 : CIA-RDP79T00827A000400160002-5
,This is our standard speech on the Intelligence
Community and CIA, with which the Admiral is completely
familiar--he has given it three or four times.
It would need some changes to reflect the fact that
he is now Director-emeritus. I can make those by tape-
and-paste Friday afternoon, have a new version photographed
and printed over the week-end, and deliver it to him Mon-
day or Tuesday. (FYI, Mr. Helms is tentatively booked
for same subject at National War College latter part of
October.)
If DCI-emeritus wants a global package for back-up,
this will have to be ordered up first thing Friday mor-
ning, available for delivery to him Tuesday morning.
25X1
May I have text back to work it over, please? I'm
running low on copies, it has been used so much.
Approved For Release 2005/06/08 : CIA-RDP79T00827A000400160002-5
Approved For Ta&p2&
FiIA-RDP7WO0827A000400160002-5
^r ff.'s
ADDRESS BY
ADMIRAL RABORN
THE UNITED STATES NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE SYSTEM
Gentlemen, I just hope that I have been
because I
programmed correctly for this lecture,
a retired
stand before you as a retired admiral,
Director of Central Intelligence, and if you
really crowd me I'll probably sell you some
aeronautical equipment*
But before anyone remarks that I must have a
tiring nature, let me say that Admiral Hayward
re
arm very hard to get me
didn't have to twist my
ence
u here to discuss the United States Intellig p
Community. I was Director of Central intelligence
for only about a year and a quarter, but in that
time they managed to give me a second set of loyalties
to go along with my Navy background. I have become
a missionary for our intelligence people, and I
ortunity to
am delighted to be here with the opp
ive ou my assessment of their contribution to our
g y round on how
national security, and some of the backg
this is done.
-1-
Approved For Release 2 0 p r I i :O- i 0827A000400160002-5
12 October 1966
Approv9,6For ReEQFbQ /&fD R& rFRDP790827A000400160002-5
The very fact that you are here attending the
Naval War College demonstrates that you gentlemen
are a select group of men on your way up.
I don't have to tell you that the regulations--
and the requirements of our government--now dictate
that on your way up, you are going to be doing a
considerable amount of joint staff and joint committee
work.
A very substantial proportion of that work
is going to involve you in special task forces and
in inter-agency committees where you will be working
with--or even possibly for--the intelligence commu-
nity. I think therefore that it will be helpful to
you, to your services, and particularly to the intel-
ligence community, for you to be familiar with the
concept, the organization, and the functions of the
various elements in our government working together
to produce national intelligence.
I was interviewed--rather extensively--when I
left the Central Intelligence Agency, and I was some-
what surprised to find that some of the reporters
assigned to cover the United States Government were
not quite sure what I was talking about when I
referred to the "intelligence community."
Approved For Relep$ /(SC1P79T00827A000400160002-5
Approv*j6For ReQBoS L CmREa RDP79j0827A000400160002-5
The National Security Act of 1947 did not
create the intelligence activities of the U. S.
Government. It created the Central Intelligence
Agency to coordinate these activities. We had
intelligence agents--and good ones, too--in the
Revolutionary War. Our government was obtaining
intelligence from the Navy, and the Army, and the
Department of State, and the FBI, before CIA was
established, and these same organizations are still
providing it.
The National Security Act of 1947 was written
against the backdrop of Pearl Harbor. All of the
investigations of that black day showed that the
intelligence was there; it had been gathered; but
the problem was that all of the bits and pieces in
the hands of various elements of the government were
not put together, and evaluated, and coordinated,
and furnished in time to the people who needed the
information in order to act on it.
The obvious remedy was to ensure that all of
the intelligence agencies work together, exchange
and compare information, and provide the decision-
makers with the best combined, agreed intelligence
that is available--what we call "national intelligence"--
and that is the concept of the intelligence community.
-lb-
Approved For Rele!s gg5S p R RPP79T00827A000400160002-5
Approvor RP29SE6]MqA-RDP791j0827A000400160002-5
There are a number of agencies in the United
States Government which are involved in the business
of collecting information somebody else does not want
us to have--in other words, in intelligence. This is,
after all, far from being an exclusive profession: a
football coach has to learn the strengths and weak-
nesses o I f next week's opponent, and every department
store wants to know what its rival is charging for
toasters.
But if the services, and the State Department,
and CIA, and the FBI are all engaged in gathering in-
formation, any good bureaucrat can tell you that
there are two great dangers:
The first and the greatest danger is that
some vital assignment will fall between stools--that
each agency will think somebody else has the responsi-
bility.
The other danger is duplication of effort--
and this is not a mere matter of extravagance. In
intelligence, uncoordinated efforts in the same field
can lead to disasters.
To cope with both of these dangers--to ensure
enough coordination so that there will be no gaps
-2-
Approved For ReleTD3p0fpREgRDP79T00827A000400160002-5
Appro a ,For fR0SELMR.B DP751 0827A000400160002-5
and no undesirable duplications--the National
Security Act of 1947 gave the Director of Cen-
tral Intelligence two responsibilities: he is,
as his title implies, the Director of the Cen-
tral Intelligence Agency. But he is first and
foremost the principal intelligence adviser to
the President. In this capacity,'ae directs and
coordinates all intelligence activities--anywhere
in the government--relating to the national
security interests of the United States.
(CHART, The Intelligence Community)
Let's take a look at the composition of this
intelligence community.
The first element most people think of in this
context, of course, is the Central Intelligence
Agency. The CIA, under the National Security Act,
is charged with assembling all intelligence from
all sources, collating it, analyzing it, reporting
on it, and preparing estimates from it as to the
likely course of developments.
I found the CIA in all these respects to be
a very professional and an exceptionally competent
agency. It is a rather large agency--they never
-3-
Approved For Release i20,Q5V6/gEh t9T00827A000400160002-5
Appro For' eSd MTCIA-RDP7W0827A000400160002-5
say just how large,
Second, there is the Defense Intelligence Agency,
which reports to the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and through
the Joint Chiefs, to the Secretary of Defense. The DIA
is responsible for intelligence essential to the dis-
charge of the responsibilities of the Joint Chiefs and
the Secretary of Defense, in assuring the defense and
security of the United States.
There are still the intelligence units of the Army,
Navy, and Air Force, which serve the particular missions
of each one of the services. Within the community, of
course, the three service components are integrated and
closely coordinated by the Director of DIA.
Then there is an intelligence component in the State
Department which serves the Secretary of State and the
policy planners. All of our diplomatic personnel, of
course, are intelligence gatherers in a sense, but
there is also a requirement for men who apply themselves
professionally to the analysis of that information, and
its projection into present and future implications for
State Department policy.
25X1
el D 00
Approved For Releasw4005/681tl$'`.MTDP79T00827A000400160002-5
Approvd%W or RelTaaG.F0fi E &l i-RDP79TM827A000400160002-5
There is an intelligence component in the Atomic
Energy Commission with a highly specialized charter
devoted entirely to the very vital field of intelli-
gence on nuclear energy developments.
The primary functions of the Federal Bureau of
Investigation are concerned with internal security,
but you can easily imagine the connections between
foreign intelligence and internal security, so the
FBI, too, is a member of the intelligence community,
and a very important one. The FBI and the CIA work
very closely together, because they are both combatting
an international conspiracy, whose operations and agents
move back and forth between the US and foreign countries.
Those, then, are the individual members of the
intelligence community--CIA, State, DIA and the service
components, AEC, and FBI.
In order to round out the picture of the community,
there are a number of "services of common concern," to
call them by their formal title--it might be more
enlightening to call them national intelligence activ-
ities, or national intelligence assets. These are
activities which do not serve any particular department
or agency, but serve the entire government. One agency
may manage them, and even provide most of the personnel
Approved For ReleasT/09168`r'TkJRDP79T00827A000400160002-5
Approvor ffeQReSGETC1A-RDP79827A000400160002-5
and equipment, but they actually operate directly for
the entire intelligence community.
The oldest and the largest of these is the Na-
tional Security Agency, the cryptological service
The National Photographic Interpretation Center
deals with intelligence acquired by photographic means,
examining the films in detail and interpreting what
is to be seen.
I think I need only mention the detection of the
Soviet medium range ballistic missiles in Cuba in
October, 1962, to prove how essential NPIC is to our
25X1
25X1A
Approved For ReIXQ.E00M19P{21T-RDP79TO0827AO00400160002-5
Approve, For Rel"P085,B.`M-RDP7 i'0827A000400160002-5
25X1
intelligence effort.
25X1 B
Nov, these government agencies I have just en-
numerated, together with the various intelligence
assets, comprise the intelligence
are tied together, for management
United States Intelligence Board.
(CHART, USIB)
community. They
purposes, by the
The Director of Central Intelligence, by presi-
dential designation, is the Chairman of USIB--and this,
by the way, is one place where the Director's two Jobs,
or his "two hats," are very carefully differentiated.
When he chairs the United States Intelligence Board, he
Approved For Release7t"6SE(ZL DP79T00827A000400160002-5
Approv For Relea 5/, ,.j - bP79d&0827A000400160002-5
is there as the President?s principal intelligence of -
ficer, not as the Director of CIA. USIB--as I will ex-
plain in a minute--acts on and approves the agreed,co-
ordinated judgments of the entire intelligence community
--what we call "national intelligence"--and it might
hamper this objective if the Director were simultaneously
to chair the meeting and to present the views of the
Central Intelligence Agency. For this reason, CIA has
separate representation on the board in the person of
the Deputy Director of CIA.
.The other principals are:
The State Department Director of Intelligence
and Research;
The Director of the Defense Intelligence Agency;
The Director of the National Security Agency;
The Assistant General Manager of the AEC; and
The Assistant to the Director of the FBI
Since the consolidation of intelligence under DIA
in the Pentagon, the intelligence chiefs of the Army,
Navy and Air Force attend and make contributions, but
not as official members of the United States Intelligence
Board. They retain, however, the right and in fact the
duty to express any dissent they have on matters under
discussion. If you have seen the National Intelligence
Estimates, with their footnotes, you know that this is a
right they do not hesitate to excercise.
Approved For Release qP79T00827A000400160002-5
Approv4For ReleaWQA ArRDP7W0827A000400160002-5
The United States Intelligence Board meets at
least once a, week--sometimes more often--and concerns
itself with a wide variety of matters. I think there
are three in particular which pretty well define the
responsibilities and functions of USIB.
First of all, the United States Intelligence Board
establishes--and periodically reviews--the national
priorities for the guidance of the intelligence commu-
nity in choosing the targets and assigning assets for
our intelligence effort.
Secondly, the United States Intelligence Board con-
tinuously reviews the activities of the members of the
community to determine whether they are in accord with
those priorities, and to make sure that we are doing
everything possible to close gaps, and to avoid unnec-
essary duplication. (Please note that I have modified
the word "duplication" each time I have used it--when
we are trying to get hold of the other fellow's secrets
in the interests of our own national security, a certain
amount of duplication is not only desirable, but even
mandatory for the sake of confirmation.)
Third, the United States Intelligence Board reviews
in great detail the National Intelligence Estimates
which the Director of Central Intelligence submits to
the President and the National Security Council.
Approved For Releas M06 CTP79T00827A000400160002-5
Approv+ For Re1e'sOD5l b*'R 79O827A000400160002-5
These estimates are generally drafted within CIA,
and produced by the Board of National Estimates which
sits in CIA, but they are National Intelligence Esti-
mates, and therefore they must reflect the considered
judgment of the entire intelligence community. This
starts with the participation of all appropriate ele-
ments of the community at the outset, in the drafting
process, and is ensured by the USIB review at the end
of the line. The objective of the Estimate is a
careful and thoughtful judgment which will be of the
greatest possible assistance to the policy maker.
I wart to stress that the met engaged in arriving
at an estimate are not striving for unanimity. It
would be possible to achieve unanimity by overriding
the dissenting minority in a vote, or by watering down
the estimate to the cot-non denominator--to the narrowed
area of complete agreement in the thinking of the en-
tire intelligence community. This, however, would be
a disservice to the policy maker.
All that is asked is that the dissents be based
on honest differences of opinion over how the available
facts are to be evaluated and interpreted--not on per-
sonal convictions, hunches, or parochial interests.
Within that frame of reference, it is policy to encourage
Approved For Release, a/fj/Q$ ftr,,7fr00827A000400160002-5
Approveor ReleaseT206D79TQW27A000400160002-5
25X1 C
25X1
encourage dissents, and you may have noted in reading
the National Estimates that they appear quite fre-
quently.
The Board of National Estimates, which I men-
tioned a minute ago, deserves special mention.1
As established by General Smith when he was Di-
rector of Central Intelligence in 1950, it is a body
of very E:enior, very knowledgeable men of varied ex-
perience, who have no other duty than to study and
seek answers to the fundamental questions of national
security. The board is composed of about a dozen
such men, relieved of all administrative duties and
daily chores, coming from extensive backgrounds in
the military, diplomatic, legal, academic, and in-
telligence professions. Their sole function is to
hear and consider evidence and argument from the
entire intelligence community, and then to recommend
to the Director and to USIB what estimate the Director
shall submit to the President and his advisors on mat-
ters of critical importance to national security.
Approved For ReleaseQv5 C P79T00827A000400160002-5
25X1
Approves .For Rd opQg' A-RDP79= 0827A000400160002-5
The activities of the United States Intelligence
Board are carried on by a number of committees for
specialized functions. Some of them are regular
standing committees, such as the Joint Intelligence
Committee on Atomic Energy, which follows nuclear
developments
1A similar committee, the
Guided Missile and Astronautics Intelligence Com-
mittee, concentrates on Soviet Space and Missile
Activity.
Then there are a number of Ad Hoc committees to
deal with specific crises or recurrent headaches--a
Berlin committee, an Arab-Israeli committee, a Taiwan
Strait committee, to give you some examples out of
the past.
The Watch Committee of the United States Intel-
ligence Board concentrates on the very highly
specialized field of what we call indications intel-
ligence, looking for the indicators which might give
us early warning of hostile intentions against the
United States or its allies. There is a full-time
activity staffed jointly by the intelligence com-
munity- -the National Indications Center--at work in
25X1
Approved For Rele@s'(MbMGI I DP79T00827A000400160002-5
ApprovetlrFor ReleTORQ 16& BT-RDP7g 827A000400160002-5
the Pentagon. It keeps track of possible indicators,
and reports those which may be significant--or for
that matter the absence of any significant indicators--
to the Watch Committee. The Watch Committee has a
regular weekly meeting, timed so that the conclusions
will be ready for the weekly USIB meeting, but in
times of crisis the Watch Committee may meet one or
more times a day.
Against this background, I want to take a minute
to describe how the intelligence community makes its
contribution to the decision-makers in our government.
(CHART, USIB-PRESIDENT-NSC)
Let me say first of all that when it comes to de-
cision-making, it is a firmly established rule that the onIZ
role of intelligence is one of supplying objective,
substantive intelligence. It may be hard fact. It
may be an intelligence appreciation--the best judgment
of the situation. It may be estimative--again, the
best judgment of how the situation is likely to develop.
The intelligence elements neither make nor advocate
policy while they are functioning as an integral part
Approved For Relea 5 j &9 DP79T00827A000400160002-5
Approv 4For R 2Y1 f8 'gIA-RDP79Ti 827A000400160002-5
of the intelligence community. Now, a man who sits
in USIB as the representative of an agency with a
responsibility for policy formulation may well leave
the USIB Conference Room out at Langley, go back to
his own office, and engage in a meeting at which the
policy recommendations of his department or agency
are formulated. As long as he is sitting in USIB,
however, he-is not a policy-maker.
The intelligence community gives the President
and his policy advisers in the National Security
Council three kinds of intelligence--basic, current,
and estimative. Basic intelligence is the durable
type of bread-and-butter fact you find in the Na-
tional Intelligence Survey--the railroad system, the
number of ports, the police machinery, the military
forces of a particular country.
Estimative intelligence projects into the future
--a year, three years, maybe five years, as to how
many submarines we think the Chinese Communists will
have, or what the chances are.for stability in Egypt.
Basic intelligence is voluminous--the complete
National Intelligence Survey on the'Soviet Union has
run as high as 8,000 pages--and it takes time to com-
pile, coordinate, produce and distribute such a
Approved For Relea 205 IZDP79T00827A000400160002-5
Approveddfer Relea5;15STRDP79TQU27A000400160002-5
document. The National Intelligence Estimates, if they
are to be given thoughtful treatment and full coordination,
also take time. As a result, there is always some chance
that the basic and estimative intelligence will be more
or less outdated when a sudden crisis hits the decision-
maker.
Current intelligence is not only going to alert the
decision-maker to that crisis, but also serves to fill him
in on any gaps which may have developed in his basic and
estimative intelligence since those documents were committed
to print.
We have one other label to describe all of the intel-
ligence provided to the President and the National Security
Council: it is national intelligence--which the NSC has
defined as information affecting the national security
"which transcends the exclusive competence of any one
agency or department" of the government. It is the ob-
jective and the rule, in serving the policy maker,
to give him the agreed, coordinated view of the entire
intelligence community, with all of its assets, all of its
expertise, all of its sources and methods of gathering in-
telligence. There may be disputes over interpretation;
there may be footnotes; but every part of the intelligence
community has had its say.
Approved For ReleT R0 1'iiRDP79T00827A000400160002-5
Approv*A.For Release? R&M X79 O827A000400160002-5
Now, policy is formulated by the President with
the advice of the National Security Council. The
Director of Central Intelligence, since the NSC was
created, has sat there as an invited guest and observer.
He is, in fact, a participant; Mr. Dulles, and Mr. McCone,
and I have all opened NSC meetings with an intelligence
briefing. But we were there to support the decision-
makers with intelligence, not to make the decisions
themselves. As the President's principal intelligence
officer, when I was asked for my advice, I gave it,
but I was not there as advocate of any particular
policy.
In another way, this is reflected in some of the
regular work of the intelligence community. The esti-
mative machinery is sometimes asked to evaluate and
report on the possible consequences of--or reactions
to--various alternative courses of action by the United
States. It is the same thing. Intelligence is being
asked for its advice and its expertise, and is respond-
ing to that request. The facts and the conclusions will
certainly contribute to the decision, but the intelligence
Approved For Release Ei9/&/&EGY, 9-79T00827A000400160002-5
ApprovVc For ReIWOJbQ IEIT-RDP790827A000400160002-5
community must be objective and steer clear of
advocacy.
A number of writers recently have raised
the question of whether the activities of the
intelligence community are coordinated with
the policy-making authorities of the US Government.
Let me say, in reply to this, that we are not
shadow-boxing--we have an opponent. The Soviet
Union carries the fight to the free world by
projecting political activity and clandestine op-
erations through its intelligence organizations,
through diplomatic representations, through groups
of sympathizers. This political activity is intended,
at a minimum, to capture the minds of the people and
the governments in unstable and developing countries.
It is even aimed at overthrowing the governments of
older and more established nations which are opposed
to the, spread of Communism.
.If only in sheer self-defense, we find that
there are occasions and circumstances where this
engage in political
government must similarly
activity to counter this Communist threat. Where it
can be done openly, through information programs,
through economic or military assistance, any of the
-17-
Approved For Release 2IQS& 9T00827A000400160002-5
Approv dJor ReIZ;QPOOS awF3-RDP79W827AO00400160002-5
agencies in the intelligence community may find them-
selves engaged openly in such activities. Naturally,
there are also occasions when the necessary counter-
action will only be effective, or will only be pos-
sible, if it is done covertly, or without attribution
to the United States Government. These assignments
generally fall to the CIA and its clandestine services.
It has become fashionable for some writers to
harp on the theme that the CIA, in its clandestine
operations, makes its own rules. They say it engages
in activities which are not only independent of, but
sometimes even contrary to, the established policy of
the United States.
I can tell you without reservation, with specific
reference to the clandestine operations of the Central
Intelligence Agency, and with regard to any such ac-
tivities of the intelligence community, that they are
carefully coordinated and controlled by the various
mechanisms of the National Security Council and the
United States Intelligence Board. The activities of
CIA are coordinated with the White House, the Department
of Defense, and the Department of State. When they
involve matters which might in some way conflict with
-18-
Approved For ReleasTOR/0i .~ZIDP79T00827A000400160002-5
Approvor ReleasT0 B0ASJJ-'P79827A000400160002-5
policy, the subject is invariably put before the Presi-
dent for his final approval or disapproval.
The book, "The Invisible Government," makes much
of the sinister way in which a "Special Group"--some-
how beyond the control of the policy makers--approves
or directs the operations of CIA. In actual fact, the
Special Group to which the book refers is the very
organization set up by President Eisenhower, and
continued by President Kennedy and President Johnson,
to ensure and guarantee that the intelligence com-
munity is coordinating and conforming with the de-
sires of the policy makers.
Ordinarily, as you know, the CIA ignored com-
plaints and charges against the clandestine services,
for reasons which are rooted in the tradecraft of the
profession. I feel that this much of an answer, how-
ever, is germane to your consideration of the relation
between the intelligence groups and the policy makers. I
want to touch on one more point which bears on this
question of the direction and control of the intelli-
gence community.
-19-
Approved For Release 20EAM8+ 5A-4E9WlTT00827A000400160002-5
ApprovFor ReT 2S G ZIA-RDP79 W 827A000400160002-5
I have already indicated that CIA receives its
direction and authority from the President and the
National Security Council, formalized in general
terms in what we call NSCID's or National Security
Council Intelligence Directives.
There is one more level of checks and balances
I should mention in the executive branch--the Presi-
dent's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board, presently
known as the Clifford Committee for its chairman,
Clark Clifford.
This is a group of distinguished citizens,
originally established by President Eisenhower under
Dr. James Killian, which convenes in Washington
every six weeks or so to look into the operations of
the intelligence community and determine how well it
is doing its work. They ask for briefings on past
operations, present operations, and future operations,
without any restriction as to classification or sensi-
tivity--and they get the answers. The membership in-
cludes such men as General Maxwell Taylor, Professor
William Langer of Harvard, Ambassador Robert Murphy,
and Mr. Frank Pace. The board reports periodically
to the President. This is a standing group, but CIA
,bas also been surveyed periodically in the past by
the Hoover Commission and other task forces, under
Approved For Rel ")A0S1 1 gPRDP79T00827A000400160002-5
Approve or ReE&Bo& DP79W&827A000400160002-5
the leadership of such men as General Mark Clark and
General Jimmy .Doolittle.
And contrary to public belief, CIA is also
responsive to the legislative branch.
I recall that when I had been Director for six
months, I asked for some statistics on the extent of
CIA briefings for Congress. I found that I had been
talking to some committee of the Senate or house on
an average of about once every four days.
In addition to frequent meetings with individual
Senators and Representatives, senior officials of the
Central Intelligence Agency meet with at least 10
separate committees or subcommittees of the two houses
as standard procedure. Some of these meetings are
straightforward substantive intelligence briefings on
the state of the world, normally ivcn to a round of
Senate and souse committees ac c=4 session of Con-
gress gets under way in January each year.
The most frequent uoetinr;s, however, Arc with
three specific subcommittees which are authorized to
concern themselves with the operations and methods
of the Central Intelligence Agency.
25X1
25X1A
25X1A
Approved For Release 2005/06/08: CIA-RDP79T00827A000400160002-5
ApproviFor ReIGaQTh0gf66I ITRDP79 0827A000400160002-5
25X1
25X11
A second group is a special ',IA subcommittee of
the House Armed Services committee, with which I net
on almost a regular weekly basis.
In the Senate, there is a special CIA subcommittee
which jointly represents the Armed Services and Appro-
priations Committees of the Senate, and I also had
lengthy regular sessions with this group.
In addition to straightforward intelligence
briefings, these Senators and Representatives can and
do ask for anything they want to know about CIA opera-
tions, methods, and future plans. They have
never, to my knowledge, been refused an answer. They
are regularly informed, and in considerable detail,
Approved For ReleafcQB50V i-RDP79T00827A000400160002-5
Approv +For Re1X_QAO Q> ITRDP79i 0827A000400160002-5
on matters which are so sensitive in some instances
that even inside CIA, not one man in 50 has access to
that information.
You may have gathered by now, looking at the
clock, that I am not going to go into too much de-
tail about the Central Intelligence Agency itself,
For one thing, one of the main principles is what is
called the "need to know" basis, which means that
when you need to know the details of CIA operations,
you will be told.
More to the point, however, in describing to you
how the intelligence community serves our national in-
terests, I have at the same time described to you how
the Central Intelligence Agency plays its role, be-
cause the CIA is an integral part, and in fact the
coordinating link, of the intelligence community.
There are some functions, of course, which are
peculiar to the CIA within the community, and I
should probably tell you where CIA derives its charter
for these activities, and how they are generated,
planned, and specifically authorized.
Under the authority provided by the National
Security Act of 1947 which established the CIA--(and
incidentally the Department of Defense)--the National
Approved For ReleaTdM586iATRDP79T00827A000400160002-5
Approv%,O,For ReT QM FITA-RDP7 d0827A000400160002-5
Security Council issued two intelligence directives.
These provide the basis and the authority for the con-
duct of clandestine intelligence and counterintelli-
gence activities and covert action overseas by the
CIA. NSCID 5 assigns to the Agency the primary re-
sponsibility for the conduct of these clandestine
and counterintelligence activities. It also provides
for the conduct of similar activities by the military
services under coordination by the CIA.
In the field of intelligence and counterintel-
ligeuce, the guidelines and collection requirements
are stated in the Priority National Intelligence Objectives,
-24-
Approved For Relea7519E;RE 'DP79T00827A000400160002-5
25X1
Approv For ReIW(OlbQ, / iREITRDP7900827A000400160002-5
which are issued by the United States Intelligence
Board. On the basis of these summaries of intelligence
objectives, a USIB subcommittee called the Inter-
Agency Priorities Committee produces periodic lists
of priority requirements, representing the interests
of the entire community. These are requirements
which are accepted for servicing by the Clandestine
Services of the Agency.
In addition to these formal requirements, there
are, of course, always spot requirements, accepted by
CIA if they cannot be satisfied through overt or
other normal collection means.
By National Security Council directive, CIA baa
the responsibility for acting as the central repository
of foreign counterintelligence information for the US
Government. This is a major responsibility.
25X1
25X1
Approved For Releas7' /4SJRP79T00827A000400160002-5
Approv For Re@W.POSEAW-EW-RDP7 0827A000400160002-5
responsibilities of CIA people overseas is to work
against the intelligence services of the enemy.
Many of the cases publicized within the last couple
of years of Soviet and satellite agents working
against this country and our allies were cases in
which the CIA played the principal role. It is
through our counterintelligence activities that
we have been able to pinpoint and expose the Dis-
information Department of the KGB (the Soviet in-
telligence service) and its chief, Ivan Ivanovich
Agayants. We have traced to this Soviet directorate
many forgeries and other deceptions and subversive
activities designed to undermine the confidence
of our Western Allies and of our own people in our
government. Of course, they make excellent use
and take full advantage of our democratic process
here, under which anyone can write what he pleases
about anything and get it widely publicized, whether
it is true or not. The Agency has kept the top
levels of the Executive Department and the appropriate
committees and subcommittees of the Congress in-
formed on the work of the Disinformation Department.
Approved For Release 7i6/SEGRP 79T00827A000400160002-5
25X1 Approved For Release 2005/06/08 : CIA-RDP79T00827A000400160002-5
Approved For Release 2005/06/08 : CIA-RDP79T00827A000400160002-5
Approvq,For ReJTOGH-RDP790827A000400160002-5
to go before a top-level policy committee, which is
chaired by the White House and includes the Under
Secretary of Defense and a top-level representative
of the Secretary of State. Only after this top-
level policy group agrees on a course of action, can
the CIA proceed with it.
That is a streamlined account of the coordination
that has gone on before a specific operation is under-
taken by CIA, and I have already described to you
how we report to elements of both the executive and
legislative branches before, during, and after the
activities. i neglected before to mention the Bureau
of the Budget, which also goes into our work in
considerable detail.
It is a difficult job indeed to maintain the
delicate balance between the need for protecting
sources and methods from unauthorized disclosure--the
Director's personal responsibility by statute--and
the need for reporting as fully as possible to these
various committees and boards. But I would not have had
it any other way, to make sure that the Central In-
telligence Agency is doing the best it can for our
national security interests.
Approved For ReleaT6R5C.DP79T00827A000400160002-5
ApprovedWor Rel e
,O/C8'-RI E-qBP79TW827A000400160002-5
To sumimzarize, then, the intelligence community
of the United States Government comprises all of
the intelligence components of the various agencies
and departments, operating under the direction and
control of the United States Intelligence Board;, and
the Director of Central Intelligence as the principal
intelligence officer of the President.
Its principal function is to provide the intel-
ligence appreciations which the decision-makers need
in order to formulate policy, and to give them timely
warning and expert analysis of developments bearing
on the national security of the United States. Intel-
ligence supports policy--it does not formulate it.
The authority for intelligence, covert and clan-
destine activities comes from the President and the
National Security Council, and these activities are
subject to approval and review by appropriate bodies
of both the executive and legislative branches.
Authors writing about the Central Intelligence
Agency have often been fascinated by the scriptural
quotation in the lobby of the CIA Headquarters buil-
ding: "Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall
make you free."
-29-
Approved For Rele 0,5/9$-i6 F i R79T00827A000400160002-5
Appro\ For R6e&POS 0 f2DP7 0827A000400160002-5
The folks at Langley see nothing wrong with
adopting this as the CIA motto, and can cite you
a considerable number of biblical precedents: the
spies Joshua sent into Jericho; the agents Moses
was told to send into the land of Canaan; and oven
before that, the first aerial reconnaissance and
meteorological mission, flown by a sub-sonic clove
which Noah launched from the Ark.
In the present day, maybe the outsiders would
have more understanding for the role of intelligence
in the free world if the quotation said:
"The truth shall keep you free."
-30-
Approved For ReleaT QQ~(0~/2ft- t ? '9T00827A000400160002-5