NATIONAL HISTORICAL INTELLIGENCE MUSEUM RESOLUTION

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP85M00363R001002120004-6
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 4
• Document Creation Date: December 20, 2016
• Document Release Date: January 4, 2008
• Sequence Number: 4
• Publication Date: October 28, 1983
• Content Type: REPORT

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NATIONAL HISTORICAL INTELLIGENCE MUSEUM RESOLUTION
Mr. Chairman:
I want to thank you for this opportunity to give you my views on
the Senate Resolution to support the establishment of a National Historical
Intelligence Museum. I am truly moved by this resolution's recognition
of those Americans who have worked and sacrificed, from the first days of
our Republic, to give our government the intelligence it has needed to
prevail in war and to remain secure in peace.
CIA is a young organization, going back only to 1947, and its World
War II progenitor, OSS, goes back only another six years to 1941. But
American intelligence did not begin with OSS or CIA. As the resolution
notes, General George Washington organized and relied upon a variety of
intelligence activities in leading the 13 American colonies in the long
war for our independence, whose happy ending 200 years ago we celebrate
this year. As you know, I have long had a strong personal interest in the
history of American intelligence, and several years ago I wrote a book on
the American Revolution that paid special attention to the work of American
intelligence services in that war.
I am.grateful that all of you on this Committee have joined your
Chairman in sponsoring this resolution to establish a museum that will
commemorate the contributions of thousands of men and women to American
intelligence since 1775. It is important that the American public recog-
nize and understand the importance of intelligence, and for this the
public needs information and education about the role of intelligence in
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our nation's history. And as this resolution suggests, one highly
important way of educating and informing the public is to establish a
national museum where "intelligence objects of historical interest"
can be collected, preserved and exhibited to the public.
In inviting me to testify today, Mr. Chairman, you and your Vice
Chairman asked for my thoughts not only on the importance of having such
a museum -- which I have just shared with you -- but also on what might
be included in it, and on how I think that such a project might be carried
forward. Since the question of what such a museum should contain depends
to a considerable degree on how it is set up, I might first comment on the
kind of institution that I believe is envisioned.
At the outset I can say that I am glad that the movement to establish a
National Historical Intelligence Museum is a private initiative. I think
its advocates are right in wanting to create a public -- but not governmental --
museum. I agree with those who hold that it would probably not be appro-
priate for CIA, the Intelligence Community as a whole, or the Federal Govern-
ment to fund or administer such a museum. Such a museum should be'entirely
free of the constraints of national security classification; that is, all
of its holdings should be freely accessible to the public. It should also
be independent in managing its own affairs, especially in deciding what it
wished to exhibit. For these reasons it should not be an appendage or adjunct
to CIA or other organizations in the Intelligence Community. Indeed, for
such a museum to depend upon intelligence agencies for funds, exhibits and
direction might encourage the public to believe that it was merely a govern-
ment public relations operation. Thus, I find myself in sympathy with the
proponents of this museum who believe that the general public interest, the
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functional requirements of intelligence work, and the benefits of free-
dom from official constraints, all argue for an independent museum.
Having said all this, I can immediately add that CIA, and I am sure other
components of the Intelligence Community as well, will be glad to support
and cooperate with a National Historical Intelligence Museum in every
legitimate way we can.
This brings me to the question of what should be included in such a
museum. Here I should focus principally on what might be expected to'come
from CIA and the Intelligence Community. Here I must say frankly that
what CIA can contribute will almost certainly be quite limited. This is
first because we do not have many objects or artifacts that could be
exhibited in a museum: we mainly produce paper, and the release to the
public of some of our records is, I think, a separate issue. Beyond this,
our need to protect our sources and methods means that we must keep much
of our material secret for very considerable lengths of time, sometimes
long after the actual substance of a report may be general knowledge.
Within these constraints, however, there are some things that we could offer
to such an historical museum. We have, for example, been able to release
U-2 photography to the John F. Kennedy Library for its documentation of
the Cuban Missile Crisis. We have also given the Smithsonian Institution
related U-2 material for exhibits there. We have shared with the public
the results of applying advanced photo interpretation techniques to World
War II aerial photography, by releasing detailed analysis of Nazi death
camps and evidence of the Soviet massacre at Katyn. While I am confident
that we can continue to release this kind of intelligence material from
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time to time, I would not want to mislead anyone into expecting us to
be a major source of exhibits for this projected historical intelligence
museum.
In conclusion I am grateful for the opportunity to testify before
you today, and for the support all of you have shown by joining your
Chairman in co-sponsoring this important resolution.
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