GOVERNMENT IN ACTION

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP88-01350R000200110018-3
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 16, 2016
• Document Release Date: September 27, 2004
• Sequence Number: 18
• Publication Date: June 9, 1967
• Content Type: NSPR

Approved Fore
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Government in Action'
ST
By ELiOT ': -XONT-S:i1T'r':
'1.::.ca a ry ?ors
I y~' TO 3i0VL' A N.'.TION: VIC PON,l cs of rorciffn Mr. Hillman was, of co U
P Policy in the id:riint.S:.raitoi of Joni r? "pressure", fora 1)ot of view, I,),- a \tit' I~~i -
grxd
pa9cs? and early :n :H, he res i.
of doing things
CY !'Iilsman 602
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, Doubleday. 16.05. from gover:unCrit when it became Api>:Lrei1C {. _
`rIRST things first. Among t.e me/ro"s that the Johnson~Administlation was bent
on a policy in Vietnanx to which he was
IiIctuhthoscdy e Ado Adnhinistnistrratiohir.. P g in ls- oand in the counseling on and ini-
:.ober r"-.5 opposed
mall's is o::e of the moo;, absorbing and plenmCntati0n Of which, he therefore felt, he i _
valuable P: : :_?C likely to get. -lioreoVel', as a would be of little i so.
study-in ....:nricable detail and depth, con-
Detailed Case-I:istories
sides:ng oi;z cioreness in time to the events
described-o. Jovernment operations, flow "To Move a 'Nation" records, as det.iled
the govcrrallcnt case-histories the policy battles, i "lC00s. Cs,
Sai'lures and stand-offs, of the Bay Of Pigs,
worn, what all the
and what it can Congo, the (halted States said China, the {,.
and cannot do, and, crises with Indonesia and D;,.4lays ia, and
Vietnam. Each of t.,ese accrni:::.~ is
{ 7n:,St 5 C' poll y, natirig :-rd eye-openin? (and, by ttira.i,
l
how i0"ei.1 policy
it:?r...
i ying, horri ying, ludicrous, Cti..) -1%
`I is arrived at and F but in each the enipliasis is 0n ?l:c e,1:7lha'\
r'lYirriplemCnted To
rjm cive a Nation" pp ~# struggle in WashinitQn.
.i 4hOL?id become a The struggle is
Standard worn > r -x , on many 1VVeh, .!-,Yays .. i::,? ?~`..
except that the t of "scparatai powers,, as tr,?_ ... +i:Y'.. ~.
sc andal Is wrong- -??....__.....::..ti ?::' - ,. rate institutions sharing power;:." :fills.,
t, is is an endlessly rrzioger -.aSma: writes, Policy faces inwaed as ;i.ti r,',;:-
i f;iFCla]:liing 1)001{. ward, seeking to reconcile confla t;:;g i;.'
IL is also, at this nlonlent, a boo:: of COsid- to adjust aspirations to
lto ..f
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r;tl)lC political i:nl)orttri' -riot so mu lh Tor o accommo
?cy opinions or these Col]1pctillg goals gird aSp:lath':L: tV ~?,:?
ion's par icul; r 00:
another."
for new bits of info)::hation that are of our.
:','nL CCintl'OVCrshll relevance, but for the Pilaf, But the process is not'abstract, not i:n-
;tLaini'itatlt'C llhlt]linaLlG1 it shells on the ,1)Crsonal: it is carried on by poop le, and ho
i tcti0i1171i; of government at a time \vhei1 notes that "tie interaction Of >eri (Yli;lllt)' +a
many people feel further and further re- often the decisive factor in ,;hapiag ,icrt-
:l:r,vecl from a coherent underitallding of hOW Si0ns.1P The book contains locidiltt after i71t'i-
American policy is really fashioned, its real delft proving this point, as well as stubbornly
aims and its actual effects. straightforward portraits of the particular
who sh: ped
men as Mr Hilsman sees them
,
,. Served in Many P jVts the important foreign policy decisions Of the
government at Columbia 'i,.inivi:er Fty, CS.n]e ter,,.';, is politics always a contest for power; It 9s
Washington as an expert in fell i ar..faiis,; :;?,oft.en, perhaps just as often, a diffusion of
intelligence (during World.War. IT he served . avoidance of responsibility, "a scr,smble to
several O.S.S. missions' ill the F ar a a.st) ,. bet off target afro. ?
and counter guerrilla strategy*. From :1,1161,
PClhere.are hints of absurdity in all this, and
to 1063 he served, under Ice i t t 01 S' ate ab,uicl situations, many of the;;b 'lo.--ca ib;:d
Dean Rusk, is director 01` Cho Stltlr t)enirt- here occasionally result-as In the Con,,;0
meat's Bureau of Intclll?~..lc:e arid ) vc...warcll; crisis, which Mr. Hilsmar, likens to the gaalo
in 1963, President I onllcdy ap'l)oint6i him to a `of croquet in "Alice in Wonderland"; or ir.
succeed Averell Harriman as Assistant Sec- .'Vietnam, where one local general exclaimed
Ustiquesl
..
rotary of State for VFar Lstertil..~fi`l.irs. to an American friend: "Ali, les sta
at the 'highest levels not only in policy plan- We Vietnamese can give him 7111 he WanLS. If
ning but also in the coordination of policy:';;,ycu want them to go tip, they will go up. if
implementation among the various gOverrl ,. yoli, want them to go down, they will go
artments and agencies involved= '' down."
at de
p
me
I most constantly, State, Defense, the Central Yet intelligence, integrity, sensitivity, good-
House. FIe also' had to deal with-and was: as'this book argues and illustrates; and Wq
able to see-the pressures, sometimes cy'nic's view of politics, or the world, as a
cisive pressures, brought- to bear on policy,; particularly messy playpen, and hopelessly j!
by Congress, by the p6r?rr', ;ant il'edersri"..nothing more than that, is specifically re-
bureaucracy, by the military, by interested.` jected. Mr. hilsman closes his book with Me-
individuals, factions, organizations. by .tile ommendations for better, and more informal,
press and by a hundred r'othcr. sources "of.,:.,'.-policy planning, and with' an unsurprising
varying ]]ower. and influence . halls: inside.- '..but acute appraisal of President kennedy` 1
s Apps Me Et fl{elie ecflfl10x41C10/1.3''