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NOMINATION OF LAWRENCE K. GERSHWIN FOR A DISTINGUISHED OFFICER STIPEND

Document Type: 
Collection: 
Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 
CIA-RDP85T00153R000200070018-4
Release Decision: 
RIPPUB
Original Classification: 
C
Document Page Count: 
3
Document Creation Date: 
December 20, 2016
Document Release Date: 
July 25, 2007
Sequence Number: 
18
Case Number: 
Publication Date: 
November 4, 1983
Content Type: 
MEMO
File: 
AttachmentSize
PDF icon CIA-RDP85T00153R000200070018-4.pdf128.06 KB
Body: 
Approved For Release 2007/07/25: CIA-RDP85T00153R000200070018-4 uu14r'1uUYIIMI IY1t. 3`/J:)/-rs 1 The Director of Central Intelligence National Intelligence Council MEMORANDUM FOR: Director of Central Intelligence THROUGH . Deputy Director of Central Intelligence Chairman, Executive Career Service FROM . Charles E. Waterman, Vice Chairman National Intelligence Council SUBJECT . Nomination of Lawrence K. Gershwin for a Distinguished Officer Stipend 1. This memorandum recommends that Dr. Lawrence K. Gershwin, National Intelligence Officer for Strategic Programs, be awarded a Distinguished Officer Stipend for 1983. Dr. Gershwin is 41 years old and has four years of federal service. 2. Dr. Gershwin is being nominated for this stipend for his outstanding work in producing National Intelligence Estimates and other assessments of the highest quality on subjects of the greatest importance to the security of the United States: the capabilities, force structures, and plans of the strategic forces of the USSR and China. Under his leadership, the Intelligence Community has tackled successfully some of the most urgent strategic questions this nation faces today -- and will face tomorrow. In addition, as an NIO he has done much at the personal level to inform many ranking US civilian and military leaders of the nature and magnitude of the strategic challenges we face. 3. A respected nuclear scientist with an established reputation as a distinguished analyst before joining CIA, Dr. Gershwin has proven singularly effective as the NIO in charge of what unquestionably is the Intelligence Community's most complex and most demanding intelligence account. The depth of his personal knowledge in the nuclear and space areas has enabled him to make important substantive contributions in his own right to Estimates on these subjects. His leadership of the Community involved in producing such assessments has been nothing short of inspired, thereby facilitating the smooth production of estimates on subjects that, by definition, are fraught with the potential for interagency friction and contention. CONFIDENTIAL Approved For Release 2007/07/25: CIA-RDP85T00153R000200070018-4 . - Approved For Release 2007/07/25: CIA-RDP85T00153R000200070018-4 i CONFIDENTIAL 4. 1983 has been a particularly busy year for Dr. Gershwin. During its first ten months, he and his small staff have managed the production of five major National Intelligence Estimates in addition to having carried a heavy load insofar as special briefings, Congressional testimony, and participation in interagency policy-planning sessions on strategic programs are concerned. A few words about some of the major papers he presided over seem in order. 5. The 1982 version of NIE 11-3/8, the annual encyclopedic Soviet strategic estimate, was approved in February 1983 and published (in three volumes) between March and May after a typical gestation period of nearly a year. This mammoth undertaking -- always a difficult organization and managerial task -- was even more complicated in the 1982 edition because Dr. Gershwin started, in effect, "from scratch" in putting the estimate together, rather than adding incrementally to a base remaining from previous editions. The resulting estimate was not only technically the first new assessment on these subjects done in some time, but it also addressed strategic issues not covered in earlier estimates. This was accomplished in a way that clearly brought out the differences in judgments among the contributing agencies without producing the rancor or divisiveness that might have resulted if a less skillful NIE chairman had been involved. 7. The three remaining estimates of particular importance and immediacy that have been completed under Dr. Gershwin's leadership thus far this year are: . Added to the heavy workload required to produce the annual Soviet strategic estimate, the production of these papers in the same year would represent a singular achievement if Dr. Gershwin's office had done nothing else during the year. 8. But such was far from the case. In addition to the papers already enumerated, several other regular interagency estimates are now in the process of being produced under Dr. Gershwin's aegis. These 25X1 25X1 f.nNFTfFNTTAI Approved For Release 2007/07/25: CIA-RDP85T00153R000200070018-4 Approved For Release 2007/07/25: CIA-RDP85T00153R000200070018-4 0 I Beyond these. Dr. Gershwin and his staff have contributed much of the data and judgments on Soviet forces for a CIA-DoD Joint Net Assessment -- long an unattainable goal of the Community -- that is about to be published. Finally, Dr. Gershwin has somehow found the time to engage in an extremely active high-level briefing schedule. He has personally briefed many of the top US leaders -- including the President, Congressional leaders, and cabinet officers -- on the full range of Soviet strategic plans, capabilities, and activities at home and abroad. 9. The foregoing details are an illustrative but by no means exhaustive account of the many accomplishments made by Dr. Gewrshwin during the past year. His contribution to the success of the DCI's estimative program has simply been enormous. it is very difficult to imagine someone else being able to complete half of the major projects he took on, and very successfully completed, during 1983. We strongly believe that if any CIA officer has earned a Distinguished Officer Stipend in 1983, Dr. Gershwin certainly has. 25X1 M 25X1 Cf)NFTnFNTTAI Approved For Release 2007/07/25: CIA-RDP85T00153R000200070018-4