[MODERATOR: TO WIND UP OUR DAY AT THE CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY WE ARE VERY PRIVILEGE]

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80B01676R000100090002-2
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: T
• Document Page Count: 14
• Document Creation Date: December 12, 2016
• Document Release Date: May 24, 2002
• Sequence Number: 2
• Publication Date: October 14, 1966
• Content Type: SPEECH

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4 0 CT 1963
MODERATOR: To wind up our day at the Central Intelligence
Agency we are very privileged to have as our final speaker Mr. Richard Helms,
the Deputy Director of the Agency. (Applause)
DDCI:: It has been a great pleasure and privilege for us to
have you out here today. I happened to pass, as I came down, one of the
previous speakers, and he said, "It's a damn frisky group down there ,... the
fall must have gotten into their blood today. " I don't know what you did to
him -- he didn't seem tattered or torn, but he at least seemed to be mentally
~y the time you had finished.
Obviously, the purpose of having these talks today is to try
and acquaint you a little more with the doings and works and. organization of
this Agency, and I hope that the objective has been achieved. This is not a
very well understood organization. As you know, It's a much criticized
outfit. How much of the criticism is valid and how much is not valid is
probably not for me to say, but a good deal of It originates in ignorance or
at least innocence of what we do and what we're trying to do. But if you go
away today with the recognition that we are a part of the governmental team,
work with all agencies of Government, and that, last but not
least, we are basically a service organization designed to help you and others
like you in your various future assignments, then I think the day will have
been worthwhile from our standpoint. We are going to do our job well in
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direct proportion to the extent to which we can assist you and we can assist
all departments of Government. We have no allusions about this, we are not
complacent about it, we recognize this is the case, and we're doing the best
we know how.
extent that I care to make any remarks this afternoon,
I would like to touch on two or three things that I would specifically like to
underline. One of the principal charges made of the Central Intelligence
Agency is that it tends to make policy, on the one side, and tends to freewheel
ut some of its operations, on the other. We do not make policy,,
and we do not freewheel. Those are two rather flat statements, but they are
also truth statements. Foreign policy is made by the State Department,
policy is made in the Defense Department, and other policies are made
elsewhere, but they aren`t made in this Agency.
When we are carrying out an operation overseas we carry it
out with the full authority of the United States Government or we don't carry
it out at all. As you know from what you've heard earlier, the Director
,o the National Security Council, which in effect means that he reports
to the President. By law he's not beholden to any other department of
Government, and in the minds of the Congress this was the only sensible way
ablish this Agency so that it was not obliged at any time or at any place
to do
as other than either objective or at least the way it saw
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conditions in various parts of the world, In other words, departmental
Intelligence is not part of our job, nor are we interested in being influenced
by the various competing demands for money or manpower that various
departments have up with the Congress from time to time. But this also
4e policy making aspects of life, because the President,
ag
of responsibilities, and these responsibilities in turn have noting
e does In our form of government and under our Constitution, has
to do with individual departments, or at least the parochialism of Individual
departments and agencies.
Now as far as our overseas operations are concerned, there
been devised, and has been in existence for some
designed to provide the approval or the clearance or the
authority - whatever word you choose to use - for each and every one of
This little group that does this has been variously known
11roup, the 303 Committee -r it has had various names and
.bons, but through the months and years has sat essentially
site today: It is composed of McGeorge Bundy as the Chairman, who
represents the President. Sitting for the State Department these days is
A;
astear
Thompson, Deputy Under Secretary of State for Political
o represents the Secretary of State. Deputy Secretary Vance sits
for the Defense Department and represents the Secretary of Defense. And
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warfare, any of a whole host of things, is presented to this group and secures
and they are agreed minutes, and each and every operation which the Agency
is going to conduct overseas in the political field, paramilitary field, econom.
Admiral Reborn sits representing the Agency. These four gentlemen meet
approximately once a week with an Executive Secretary who keeps the minutes,
fin's approval, otherwise it does not go forward.
There are times when there are disagreements in the group,
or there are varying points of view, and, depending on the circumstances, the
decision may in the end be made by the President himself. But since in our
ally kept very well informed on these matters.
In addition to this group, we appear before the standard Horn'.,
and wisdom of these projects but even, and equally important, to protect the
President from criticism for something that goes wrong, even though he may
have bew privy to the fact that it was going on all the time -- and he is
of government this type of thing should not be put on the President's platter
the 803 Committee is there not only as a group to sit in judgment on the validity
of Con
Congre
,ommittees T- we appear before the same number of
onal. committees that everybody else in Washington appears before,
eek or every couple of weeks before our principal subcommittees --
four - two in. the House and two in the Senate. We appear either
and of course less frequently before the Appropriations Committees -- but
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eless
kept currently informed not only as to the state of the
world as seen through the Director?s eyes but also as to the various operations
and kinds of things we are doing around the world.
Lastly, there is an organization known as the President's
Foreign e.ligence Advisory Board, which is mired by Mr. Clark Clifford
shed group of public citizens sitting on it - such individuals
cell Taylor, Admiral (sides), Gordon Gray, Frank Pace,
Siam Baker of Bell Labs, Edwin Land from Polaroid Camera Company,
Robert Murphy of ambassadorial fame, Wi liem Langer, Professor of History
a type of watchdog function, if you like, in addition to all the other
d things that have gone wrong, and on behalf of the President
progr cns, organiztational matters, operations, things that have
of the Agency, usually for two or three days at a time, goes over
td so on. And this group meets periodically with various
watchdog ft ons which are performed. So when you take these three
or it you include the National Security Council, four elements
the Central Intelligence Agency and its work is really well supervised,
degree that apparently has not conveyed itself to nmWy people
the American public at large.
Tied into this, of course, is the role of the Ambassador
the principal representative of the President and the
5
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s obvious, i thank, to anyone that if an Ambassador is
?omething in his area it would be pretty hard to get It through. I
know of only one stance in my years around here where there was a
difference of opUdon between the Ambassador and the Administration in
sh9 gton, so the matter was referred to the President, who decided what
tion should be. But as you can imagine, under those circ r.-
e President can decide.
Tbus, brut, I have tried to (paint I the approval
d the supervision under which we operate. I could go on at much
greater length, of course, and in much greater detail, but I t that this
shed sure to convey to you what I add at the outset - that we do not go
25X11
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ff onouro
ad so on, made up partly of fact, partly of fancy, partly truth,
d like to say as a footnote to all this that it certain y
partly error - .ply all, kinds of things - Indeed, I suppose, contribute a
e do not freewheel, and that we are well and carefully
:ur operations or help our work to have as much publicity
them as there seems to be from time to time. Various books and
e their people, and their cabinet, and others, that the United
Ag
stop 11
up to no good and the no goodest part of it is the Central intelligence
3ed as textbooks by various foreign chiefs of government who
s that prob,bl,yy the most unfortunate aspect of It a is that these
Les for us and for our people who are trying to do these jobs.
the fund of public knowledge, but they certainly make a
donut dank - In a free society and constituted as we are > that
think that most of us are relatively well resigned to
way of stopping it -- and maybe ft's undesirable to
in Pidgment on it, I'm just saying that it makes a
ob tougher. But it does not help to have the people who are privy to
e do contributing this Information to outsiders, which simply
,er on a wheel that we would prefer to see go much more slowly.
The CIA was founded In 1947. In the ensuing years we
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knew how to try and make this into a professional
,on, with various dements and compoUng deman
We've put a lot of emphasis on our program of recruiting and training, and
the years have gone by we have developed, I ti n a cadre of competent,
experienced, and hard-hitg officers and analysts and specialists of
which reafly cover a rather wide spectrum, fro:
s to fellows that make swage devices, economic
rest. I tip you will proms agree that by and large
t hl* some of the figures about the people in the Agency
suit - they reveal the interesting and hide
these will be somewhat enlightening.
p CIA ofcials, the average is 15 years
z in CIA. There are more than 800 of our senior
essio als who have been with the Agency since it was established in 1947,
won Chiefs
have been in
for 16 and a half years, an average of 18 and a half in CIA.
eld of linguistic ability, three-quarters of our
officers speak one i gige1, and when you add up the whole Agency you can
or an individual, who speak 122 languages
ad
and God knows what all.
to
e numbers of our analysts and people working in these
25X1
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cgrUMs have Ph. A degrees or at least M. A's, and when you do the statistics
e academic record it is, f tin you would agree, impressive. This we
try keep up by in-house training. Also, sending individc s for courses
Colley
ons, not the least of which is the Nation War
e have tried to keep this up in such a f on that those deserving
d4o g and advancing of icers have an opportunity not only
breath but to get some new disciplines and learn some different
d to see a different perspective of We - because after all. we have
problem that everybody does - we tend to get a little bit
s we get jazzed up every once in awhile.
We are now following what is the generally accepted Govern-
of bringing in young men at the bottom and trying to bring then
which we refer to as the Career Training
g formerly been known as the unlor QMcer Trainee Program,
Le for some reason fell Into crepute, I haven't yet caught up with
oke up one day and found out the name of the program had b
These young officers are of a caliber and of an education that
id be competitive with the your officers going into the
companies, law firms, or
Most of them have advanced degrees. They vary it
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25, 27, to 35, and they come from all over the United States. It
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has #r
And tha3
en said Oint the CIA is overloaded with Ivy Leese products,
at each class of these yoting men coxing in you would
e were three or sow.- from the three Ivry League colleges
and the rest them were not only well distributed all over the United States
but some of them come from copes I've never even heard of
'odd simply like to close where I began by saying that we
of the Government team, we want to work with you, we
ciate your working with us and allowing us to help in any way we can,
ou that we are not off on our own, that we don't have any
ter to the U S. Interest, se arlty, or otherwise, and
the years go by we v4U look forward to a cooperative and I hope
hl,,
ou1d be glad to answer any questions for a few moment
oI you have any
are?
Mr. are the Soviets as closely can-trolled as you
Yes, I think that the Soviets certainly are. As you
have two telligence collection systems one Is the KGB
and the oUwr is the G . `I`b y work in parallel with each other but they
are very care ally rdixiated by a committee which sits Just -underneath the
Soviet resIdiuui. They are an extension o Soviet foreign policy and of
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t dfae
:y They are even more closely integrated into their
o ours, because the Soviets have no compunction
s, whereas the United Sates there is somet g a
6e and people don't like to be too closely identified
ibition does not exist In the Soviet Union, and they cb ge
~e way a quick change artist goes off the stage and
the First Secretary of the rnbessy in Vim, or vice versa,
a Tus correspondent very readily may show up a couple of
moments later as somethixig else, so that a man whore
show up someplace else as a rotary officer in the military
attae..he's Mee, or any
0 But there is no doubt about
s orations of these organizations are closely integrate
d are rr.d of that Soviet policy.
It #1 ! .( dlble)w . ??
this relied to
of them is wA gew
erize these difficulties. I'd be glad to
seed.
occurred in connection
either
STA~
STAT
recen was that it turned out, by a strange concatenattorn o
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STAT
or fob
are
ed get
0014 Qoverrtment who Imew the most &bout the
out the d=W it was amply a dew IU imoceme,
01"ident '. And there you are, Azd en
a rimier r cora,plej.on what w a
e did wed try to recruit him
ht. The only we did do was offer a
a moment defend our haves got caught try
the pert of the story that juLs worried
)us Other people Wa,% on, mos
tat
toy,
ha"
business amt the three million
indeed true that
the United Cates Government for 3$ mU n dollars
he was o fered a three mil on dollar
As fox the U-2 business, rauch has been
occurred at the time, our Gove extent was
on before3 d, but It you will go back and iook
had fora c
An wort was made to follow the cover
ev, who very career concealed CertaU facts he
ie to allow us to lell Into the bear trap.
very sttclW indeed, the P ldent made the decislo
STA
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I
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'ie respowib ity for t. And why General Eisenhower took this
de sion the V he did, is not known to me, and if it were known I don't
my place to talk about it, anyway. Whether It will..
ce of the books hets wrtUng, or not, l don't know, but it was
oertain that he. made the decision personally to do this.
O A.TO : Mr. Helms, dank you very much for a very
to a very excellent day at the Central Intelligence Agency.
you, gent emen.
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