SECRET SUCCESS EX- SPY MUSTERING HI-TECH FORCES

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000403050002-1
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: January 12, 2012
• Sequence Number: 2
• Publication Date: January 13, 1985
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

ST "Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/12 : CIA-RDP90-00965R000403050002-1
A
Austin, Tex.-(UPI)-Bobby-
Ray Inman has, swapped;
cloak and.. dagger for ?a-.
businessman's mufti, classi-::
fied secrets. for proprietary
ones, but the master spymas-.
ter is still outfoxing - his
competition.
The former CIA deputy
director and-chief of the
u trsecret National Security
Agency heads what has been
called one of the nation's
7brea usiness experiments-
an attempt by rival American
com anies to join forces and
beat the Japanese at inven-
ting the next generation of
By WILLIAM H. INMAN Instead, he's trying to cre-
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
13 January 1985
SECRET SUCCESS
Ex-spy mustering hi-tech forces
"Our success or failure
here," he predicted of the
hybridized outfit, Microelec-
tronics and Computer
.-ate "an atmosphere of
genius," a reserach work
-place- conducive "to--bril-
liance, a place where the sec
rets of thinking -machines
can be unlocked--4 daunting
challenge even for an accom-
plished codebreaker.
BUT THE MCC experi-
ment appears to be working,
despite the long odds. Busi-
ness leaders in other fields
have contacted him about set-
ting up similar joint research
projects to meet the growing
competition from abroad.
"One * thing we have
proven indisputably," said
the soft-spoken admiral,
sounding more like an in-
trospective professor than a
spy of three decades, "is that
this is the way to meet the
competition, a collaborative
research effort. We have
already made great headway
a
ect t
of the United States and its on our projects and have
completed hiring our staff.
e long-term security was fored
economic viability." "We still have a long way to go before we see
IN MAN 54 is no v results.But-we know now this was the way. to"do the
when it comes to i h tech. job." ,
A self-styled tec no oeist, he The first months at MCC were simply a battle oft
create a ectronic espionage survival Many corporate leaders felt ;the project.,
om
d b
us
f
f
l ob
l
da
t
t
'!
Technclogy Corp., "will
ff
h
o
e
eca
e o
a
un
men
a
s
ac
e:
,
+=+_ The corporation was at odds with the Sherman
A
i
nt
-Trust Act.
cy, the CIA and th N A n
a en so secretive few gov- Already, the Justice Department was threatening
to close down the project.
ernment leaders knevv its But nobody had counted,on Inman's galvanizing;
unction: to crack enemy'
co es monitor foreign com-
mnunicati shield
secret transmissions. - .
But lnrnan no longer pur-
sues that "ungentlemanly
task of looking into other
people's mail"-his words,
paraphrasing a former secre-
tary of state.
.presence. He and his: proxies. argued persuasively..
in the right corners of Washington. The competi-
tion was just too strong and unique, they argued. At
stake was eminence in world technology, The
winner will take all. The Japanese had a head start.
An exception to an "archaic" rule had to be made.
IN AN extraordinary move, the Justice Depart-,
ment made a exception. In December 1982, it
announced it did not object to the existence of a
.coalition of Atnericaq business giants, a turnabout
in the policy held since the-trust-busting days of
Teddy Roosevelt. Even so, the agency reserved the
right to review the corporation's major programs
for possible violations.,
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/12 : CIA-RDP90-00965R000403050002-1
 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/12 : CIA-RDP90-00965R000403050002-1
2.
"We got the amber light," Inman later joked.
But antitrust fears scared away IBM, Texas
'Instruments, and AT&T with- its prestigious Bell
Laboratories. Their, conspicuous absence, in fact,
served as Inman's `'security blanket" against furth-
er Justice Department intrusion.
"AMERICA'S antitrust laws of 1890 and 1910
shaped business attitudes.in this country," he said.
"But times change."
Today, the battle for high-tech supremacy is
fought in a 'worldwide arena. MCC's inspiration and
impetus, in fact, came from Japan's government-
-subsidized Institute for New Generation Computer
-Technology.
Western Europeans also are working on a similar
concept.
Thus, MCC was a "shotgun" affair, an unnatural
wedding of domestic' rivals-Lockheed, Boeing,
Sperry, RCA, Honeywell, Harris and others--con-
cerned for their future in a_. rapidly evolving
market.
"Right now, MCC is a U.S only corporation," he
noted. "However, with success, we may see some
change in that, a willingness to license foreigners.
We cannot operate in a Fortress USA format:"
In MCC's case, shareholders plan to create the
basic technology of the future--a fifth generation
of computers-retaining ownership of all intellec-
tual property and patents. MCC employes must sign
proprietary agreements protecting the integrity of
the research. A major security, fear: trusted em-
ployes with itchy palms; r ? .
"The motive today is cash, cash ?only," he said
"In industrial and military_espionage of the-1930s
and 1940s, ideology was the key. In the 1970s and
80s, it's the?money.'
"In companies in which there is a strong sense of
ethics, enforced by its own employers, there is less
kers stealing secrets. It's a ques-
likelihood of wor
tion of ethics. Peer pressure also plays a big role." Bobby Ray
Inman: from trench coat to gray.flannel.
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/12 : CIA-RDP90-00965R000403050002-1