WITNESS FROM THE INSIDE

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP88-01350R000200350016-9
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 16, 2016
• Document Release Date: October 12, 2004
• Sequence Number: 16
• Publication Date: March 16, 1968
• Content Type: NSPR

Witness from
the Inside
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Approved For Release t DJjl 1 Z%,-RDP88-0135OkWMnQ01?*
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P-Ravt sow+a Na.r?r~ ~ou~~,
~t., a to t o
The Real CIA, by Lyman B. Kirkpat-
rick, Jr. (Macmillan. 312 pp. $6.95), is
a defense of the Central Intelligence
A
b
gency
y its former executive director,
who served in U.S. intelligence for more
than twenty-two years. Harry Howe
Ransom is professor of political science
at Vanderbilt University.
By HARRY HOWE RANSOM
THE MOST AMBIGUOUS ORGANIZATION of
director he was No. 3 man in the agen- the director of Central Intelligence .... 0
cy's high command until he resigned in Kirkpatrick's opinions and . observa-
1965 to teach political science at Brown tions deserve serious consideration be-
University. cause they derive from a thoughtful
In The Real CIA Kirkpatrick traces mind and unique experience. Neverthe-
the evolution of the U.S. intelligence less there are important and perhaps
system, as well as the progress of his crucial questions on which he offers little
own, career. Only in America could enlightenment. How did an agency set
someirle with his privileged security up by Congress in 1947 to perform In-
knowledge publish such a book. Kirk- ?. telligence (information) activities come
patrick's purpose is to set straight the to undertake secret political operations?
C,,,.a....i ------ I __ '---. .A_ . . -_. - _
p...........v.a? m ?uu -VIZU U lIl- to
telligence Agency. Ever since its crew - proper to disclose. He Is convinced that overthrow foreign governments or se-
tion by Congress in 1947 this supposedly public information about the CIA ' cretl
pposedly ti subsidize American domestic in-
secret agency has been in and out of the has been inaccurate or misleading. Al- stitutions? Here the book falls short of not
cal of headlines, causing suspicion, doubt, sand the CIA from its Imany dit, f and the on of covert title.
poltical his brief in the public mind. To some cuss ion
activities resemble a Gilbert and argues against those who would alter p. trick makes clear that he thinks it
Sullivan operetta incorporating Parkin_ radically the central intelligence concept wise to combine "action" and "intelli.
son's Law. Others view the CIA as a or change the assignment of disparate genre" under the CIA roof. He believes,
view the "
fu
ti
t
h
"
a
nc
ons
o t
sinister
lnvisiblo Bove
.
recklax
e CIA, however, that covert olitigal action
ly pursuing its "own" foreign policy. And Most of the information Kirkpatrick should be used "only In the most serious
id
h
es
there are those who see an organization Prov
ere was already in the public national emergency, and as a last resort
operating
operating with cool James Bond invinci- record. The book's greatest value is its' before the use of military power.
, always defending the national in- validation of certain facts about the One can quickly agree with Kirk-
terost and saving the day. C
tor. From ts insider's IA's rather obscure organizational his- Patrick that "a strong intelligence or-
Befuddled observers have. long to be learned abot t bureaucratic much is is all essentia el
fight- national Isecu t p ovi ided tha edmtha of our
wanted toask, "Will the real CIA please y, provt it is
Ing and departmental jealousies. We are effective, objective and properly con-
stand up?'" Few are qualified to make a
a
positive identification. Lyman B. Kirk- told, for example, how the CIA director, trolled." Less quickly would this re-
positiv, Jr:; is qualified; indeed, his , considered by some to be one of the two viewer agree that these provisos have
knowledge should surpass that of any or three most powerful men in govern- been met, or that we have the infoi ma-
person yet to publish on the subject. ment,
suffered of for years D.C., "pro- tion
create ocoso assume. It mmitte s for has
control than to easier
Kirkpatrick served in CIA's predecessor,
ef-
thi
f
rty-
ourth. This, writes Kirkpatrick,
tlle'Ofce of Strategic Services, during
World War II and was on hand at CIA's I "could actually affect the willingness of
birth. He was executive assistant to Gen- ! . peoplm toy listen to him in important
eral Walter Bedell Smith, CIA's director
se
lt
g
l
r
ha
receently
been
evated, the
author
in its most important formative years. tells ud vaguely, that there are still,
And Kirkpatrick rose through the a
e
en-
g
. "those": who "try to reduce the role of
cy's hierarchy, undaunted by a crippling ! . :
fectuate real control of secret operations.
The U.S.S. Pueblo Incident may be an
example of continuing deficiencies in
this regard. And with respect to effec-
tiveness, the Southeast Asian crisis may
be a tragic example of another colossal
Amerkan intelligence failure.
Approved For. Release 2004/11/01: CIA-RDP88-0135OR000200350016-9.