ADDRESS BY ADMIRAL STANSFIELD TURNER TO CIA EMPLOYEES

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80B01554R002700020001-4
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 16
• Document Creation Date: December 12, 2016
• Document Release Date: June 15, 2001
• Sequence Number: 1
• Publication Date: March 28, 1977
• Content Type: SPEECH

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ADDRESS BY
AD?~~II RAL STANSF I F LD TURNEP.
TO
CIA ENIPLOYFES
25 MARCH 1977
HEADQUARTERS BUILDING
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'This is just like an old family gatherizaY--like being
before a Se;:ate Committee before a confirmation ~?rith all .the
klegg lists. I have to stand back here to be heard, do I?
I appreciate your coming together this morning. I asked
for this opportunity to talk to you because it seemed to me
in the roughly two months I have been associated Zvith you and
this intelligence activity that, obviously, some thoughts
have been germinating in my mind as to where I think I would
like to see us going and how we should get there, I wanted
to share those thoughts with
engraved in marble someplace
but because if I don't share
you--not because they are
and are never going, to change--
them with you, you'll have
difficulty in helping me reshape those as
would help me
In fact,
a great deal if we can work
when I thought about corning
time goes by. It
on this together..
d ozvn her e and
talking to all of you about how eve should do intelligenee,
I couldn?t help but be reminded of that rather old joke
about the. man tivho drowned in the Jahnstotivn, Fennsylvania
flood of 1932. When he got to heaven they asked-him to give
a talk about his harrowing experiences, and just as he stood
up there, he realized that Noah tivas going to be in the front
xow. RTel1, I'm certainly not as experienced as all o# you;
but, a?;a in, I felt by sharing the thoughts of ti~~here I reel
I am and my approach to this business Coda}~, it mould help
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V%
us work t,~~ether in the Future. So, I eve jotted doz~,n ~. few
points th:~t are dominant in my thinking, and I ~,;~ant to just
run t~rrau~h them informally ane by ane.
The first is the overriding irzpartance of obj ectivit.}? izi
our analysis of intelligence The quality of our product is
going to be judged by its objectivity. isle have to se11 our
product today, we have to get it in a form that because of
its objectivity, people want to read it, I happen to feel
from my brief exposure in this city in the last two months,
that the time is ripe--xiper than its been since iUorld jVar II--
for people to want and to use a goad intelligence product, ~1~e
have a President -whom you kno~ti~ has shaven great interest in
intelligence, who is regularly giving us of his time, a Presi-
dent who has said right here in this building in his meeting
with us before the swearing in that he wants personally to
participate in the decision process as to Z~~here the prigrity
of our efforts should ga. And. that is great for all of us.
R1y sensing an Capitol Hill would indicate to me that, a:Eter
two or two-and-a-half years o:f: investigations, the Congress z.s
appreciating that the bottom line is intelligence. There is
a greater need than the}? have ever recognized be:Eore foi` intel-
ligence to help them make their decisions.
I than}: the public again, clespitc the battering ~~re }lave
taken in the press, is more behind us than perhaps we think.
I# we look at the reaction to the King fiussein leak, the public
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was with ~=s--not with tiVoodti,~ard,. .-lnd I forcod hir:-1 to admit
that to ;~e a i~~eek ago Sunday. That tho reaction that he ar.d
the Post got was on our side; that that should not have been
leaked--not on their side, That is a great step in our direc-
tion. But, also, the time is ripe because in my view, I am
impressed that despite these vicissitudes, despite this adverse
publicity, thanks to the previous Directors, thanks to the
previous-~-and in some cases incumbent--Deputy Directors,
Department Heads, this Community-,particularly the CIA por-
tion of it--has held together frith great professionalism and
great morale in very troubled times, That is a foundation
upon which we can build. So the time is ripe, But haw are
we objective? IIow can we produce objective intelligence?
pirst, in my viecv, you don't get a committee and try to agree.
You don't compromise everything down to the loi~rest common
denominator, Compromise does not lead to objectivity--i.t
leads to tasteless pablum. You've got to be bold; you've
got to be imaginative; you've got to take chances. You wi11
be wrong- sometimes. Zee have to present the views as Choy are
seen and not worry about detailed wax-c7 changes and compromises
on this and that. Because, basicallyr I'uc been. a reasonably
tough decision-maker in our country anal ozzr Eiecutive Branch,
and I knots and can assure you that no decision-ma~:er looks
at intelligence estimates and accepts them at 100 face value
or makes a decision based on that alone. j~hat he wants to knata,
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~~.hat `~o ~eecl to do for.him, and hose does he shape his thinking.
about Iris problem. Ha~~r does he approach it from a mare
analytic ~~aint of vlei~i. Ho