HOW THE CIA TRAINS ITS RECRUITS DOWN ON 'THE FARM' IN VIRGINIA

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP88-01350R000200810007-8
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 16, 2016
• Document Release Date: September 17, 2004
• Sequence Number: 7
• Publication Date: August 25, 1974
• Content Type: NSPR

RICUMOND TIMES DISPATC3
- Approved For Re~s2
25 AUG 1971
5/041U., CIA-RDP88-0135
-~ ~.s -5:/ v js ~i c~91 q t[.l v t
E? 'r since Nathan Ha( ira.s caright,
,~ e urns ha7'e s?irrou.ndCJ the " P'J
" c" i;?ith. a rmnc etic m'/stigtee..tf?fr3
dr.;c:`tbes in his new book-,
or D-7%,: cr, " th:a process
y . r :ch r rrdb?ooded A inerica it bad can
r.; r?; c a fu; j?edged CIA "company".
Na1i.
By .'Mies Copeland
When I toured the United States in 1970
ro lecture to university audiences, I found
tnat the most vocal students in all parts of
he ccuntry saw the Central Intelligence
Agency as representative of all that is
wrong with "the rotten society we live
Question periods were all takerrup by
gated discussions revolving around the
ency's supposed intrigues in all
_apitals of the world, including
hin ton and London: its backing of
totalitarian regimes; and its
Work:ng for the large corporations
,_r than for the American people."
BACK AT THE HOTEL there was
r story. I was deluged with calls
atudents ~'anucg to know how to join
Although a high percentage of the
arc u ho=?u:;ht rneout to discuss the
silty of a career in intelligence
try; thtfu-ward types who though in
.: ')f practical advantages. either for
car erorasastep, it stone to
else, even more were roman-
tics - Walter Mittys, in fact. ("See that
little man over there?" said Inspector
Hargreaves. "You wouldn't think it to
look at him, but he has all the secrets of
the world in his head.")
Whatever the motives, there are
thousands ofyoungAmericans whowould
give their eyeteeth to be employed by the
CIA or, simply, to "get into the in-
:elligen ce business," as one student put it
to me, and by "intelligence" he clearly
meant the spookier side.
Although every one of the thousands of
getters of application that reach the CIA
headquarters at Langley, Va., is given
serious consideration, the attitude of
aoercy recruiters is generally one of
"Don't call us we'll call you.".
The mere fact of offeringone's services
to the CIA is regarded as ground for
suspicion. And for good reason. An
analysis of these letters shows clearly
that many of them were prompted by
motives other than patriotic ones, a
chance to "have a look at the ins;deso that
I can write a book about it later" being a
particularly prominent one.
The CIA keeps what must certainly be
the largest card file in existence of possi-
ble recruits for its organization-univer-
sity students, members of certain
professions and people having certain
special qualifications. A person may find
himself propositioned by a CIA recruiter
because some area division chief hasask-
ed for "a man, age early 2+s, who has a
background in electronics, who saea'ss
Hungarian although is not of Hungarian
nccestry, and who can meet the agency's
criteria for career officers."
He is more likely to be approached,
ho:vever, if he is simplya seaiorin"oneof
the better American universities"-(i.e.;
one that has a minimum of student
demonstrations) witha B average an ab-
sence of left-wing affiliations and a
record of sound emotional health. The
CIA employs professors and graduate
students at "the better American univer-
sities" to canvass members of senior
classes. either in the name of the CIA it-
self or through some "front," commer-
cial or institutional.
ONCE YOU GET IN, you will find your-
self in a whole new world. The CIA's
recruiters do their best to screen out the
romantics and to select only young men
and women whose motivatinneare entire-
ly practical; but I would say that 99 per
cent of those who join the agency are at
least partly attracted byte glamor.
Even those few who are entirely blase
when they first get into the agency are
certain to be dazzled by the in-
doctrination.
The first training undergone by young
CIA enrploves who are ''officer
material" takes place in the modern.
streamlined buildings at Langley. Much
of it is concerned with routine matters
such as forms for reports, how to grade in-
formation, how to use registry, etc., but
there are also many exciting exhibitions.
Experts put on demonstrations of how to
pick locks, plant microphones, steam
open letters, forge documents.
Then there is a positively frightening
series of lectures, complete with slides,
charts, and photocopies of secret official
Soviet documents and Communist Party
correspondence, which is delivered with
such authority that it would convince
anyone not only that the Cold War still
goes on, but that it holds greater and
greater dangers which can be thwarted
only by an. alert and efficient intelligence
system.
FINALLY, THERE IS A DISPLAY of
the "national security machinery"- or
"the real Washington," as ore instructor
calls it-which shows how, despiteall the
bumbling that is inevitable in any large
organization, the U.S. government does
manage to protect the nation's inerests
and how, at thesame time, it hasa system
of "fuses" which ensure that no element
of the "machinery" can acquire an excess
of power. This part of the course is most
impressive.
The second part of the indoctrination
takes place at a country estate, a few
hours' dr ive south of Washington, known
as "the farm." Here the new CIA
employe gets a taste of what it is like
"out in the cold" - i.e., in the danger
areas where persons in clandestine ser-
vices supposedly operate: on the border
between East and West Germarv. on the
Soviet-Iranian border, in "reception"
areas in Communist China.
In one "night exercise" the trainees
black their faces and try to cross a border ?
protected by charged barb- 7d wire, dogs,
electric eyes, traps, floodlights and bor-
STAT
der patrols.'x'hen theyarecaught,as
ine: i table are, they are put through s
terranaring by"East German securii
ficia!s" played with enormous realis~
the training divisicn's actors.
In another "field exercise,"
trainees go into a nearby town to "c;
restaurants and ott.er places to d'
mine their suitability as meeting pi
for agents.
SOME OF THE TRAINEES
parachute jumps, one in thedaytime
one at night, after wiichtheyhaveto
theirparachutesintheapproved man
Only a few of the t-mi-sees will everha,
do any of these thing; in real life, of c
-se, and those few takuadditional trair
but they are given a f eel for the probl
they may later assign others as the,
comfortably at hee.Iquarters plan
.operations.
These two indoctrination courses
just the beginning of CIA training
career officer of the..fA spends a g
deal of his service in course:
"retreading" every year or so tc
brought up-to-date o t recently develc
me-hods. provided with largu
trarning. and given courses in poll,
revolution. cnuntertevolution and c(
terinsurgency, among others.
The first job of a new recruit to
CIA's espicnage brand is is kely to b
assistant to a"aesk nfjicer' -atthe:
Des;. the Low Countries Desk or any
of3'Jtoti0others.His dutieswillmostl
vo;ve servicing requests from "the fi[
- for a r.ew au tomohi l e, for special eq
mean of various kinds, or for an adj
meat in some accounting mistake.
The first step upward of the newoffi
is not from assistant desk officer to d
officer, but from assistant desk office
assistant case officer in some fi
station.
It is in th? field that the up-and-com
espionage specialist first sticks his r
out. He will be entireiyat tt:emercyof
chief of station, and, as is well knowr
good chief of station is a masterat the
of taking personal credit for everyth
that goes right and blaming his sut
dinates for everything that goes wro
while giving the appearanceof doing j
the opposite. In any case, the relati,
between the chief of station and the n_
officer will be both close and stormy.
The real ambition of the CIA office:
training is to get btggerandbetterassi
ments between headquarters and
field, in as wide a variety of places
possible.
(C) 1a7S by Miles Cope."-:;d. From
hunk "Withoof Cloak rr Dagger"
'1' des Copc'u=nd. Fe,vrr,tea~
slog ofSirron & Schuster,, no,
Approved For Release 2005/08/22 : CIA-RDP88-01351R000200810007-8