DISCUSSION WITH CONGRESSMAN PAUL N. MCCLOSKEY, JR.

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80B01495R000500190011-8
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: January 4, 2017
• Document Release Date: July 12, 2005
• Sequence Number: 11
• Publication Date: March 7, 1975
• Content Type: MFR

OFFICIAL USE ONLY
Approved For Releasg,2005/07/22 : CIA-RDP80B 495RD00 190011-8
SUBJECT: Discussion with Congressman Paul N. McCloskey, Jr.
1. On March 6, 1975 I discussed the attached paper (Tab A) on
Vietnam with Congressman McCloskey. (The paper had been written by
Mr. McCloskey following his recent trip to Vietnam, and he had sent it
to the Agency on March 5 requesting comments on the factual data t_herein.)
2. of OLC and I arrived in Mr. McCloskey's office
at 1:OO p.m. to find a call from the DCI awaiting me. The Director urged
me not to pass a personal memorandum to Mr. McCloskey which I had written.
earlier in the day (Tab B). He did not like the last paragraph of my
memorandum and felt it would be better to handle the problem orally,
indicating that while there were individuals within the intelligence com-
munity with many different views and biases, the community had a mechanism
that worked pretty well to scrub out these biases and to come up with an
objective product. I accepted this advice.
3. Mr. McCloskey was still in another meeting, and as it turned out
we did not talk with him face-to-face at all. I discussed with Mr.
Mc.Closkey's assistant the specific changes on factual matters which we
were suggesting in the Tab A paper. (These specific changes appear in
Tab C, a copy of which I left with the assistant..) Mr. McCloskey then
called in from his other meeting, and I talked with him on the telephone
for about ten minutes. After discussing with him briefly several of our
suggestions on the paper (specifically points #8 and #12 in Tab C), I
turned to the matter of his last paragraph in Tab A. As the Director had
suggested, I pointed out to him that the intelligence community, like all
bureaucracies, had individuals within it with differing prejudices and
points of view. I pointed out, however, that on any important subject we
had a system of checks and balances and a mechanism which worked well to
eliminate most of the prejudices and enabled us to produce unbiased, ob-
jective estimates and judgments.
4. Mr. McCloskey, after a minute or so of further discussion,
accepted the above comments and indicated that he would make changes in
the final paragraphs of his memorandum which would take my comments into
account. The conversation then ended amicably.
Approved For Release 2005/07/22 : CIA-RDP80BO1495R000500190011-8
 OFFICIAL USE ONLY
Approved For Rele~2005/07/22: CIA-RDP80BO1495R000WO190011-8
5. The only document I left in Mr. McCloskey's office was Tab C.
6. NOTE: Mr. McCloskey's staff assistant stated during the session
that the Congressman had sent copies of the Tab A paper to State and
Defense as well as to CIA for comments on the factual data therein.
25X1
National Intelligence Officer
for South and Southeast
Tab A - Mr. McCloskey's
paper
Tab B - personal memorandum
Tab C - Suggested changes in paper
Approved For Release 2005/07/22 : CIA-RDP80BO1495R000500190011-8
OFFICIA[, USE ONLY