NO NEWS IS GOOD NEWS FOR CIA

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-01208R000100030039-8
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: February 22, 2011
• Sequence Number: 39
• Publication Date: April 10, 1985
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/02/22 : CIA-RDP90-01208R000100030039-8
LONGMONT TIMES-CALL (CO)
10 April 1985
success occurs when a bad event Further, Miler said all intelli- Boatner said. "We looked at the
is prevented, she said. dicting the Chinese would devel- gence agencies suffer failures condition of the Soviet military
While intelligence failures op nuclear weapons, are not for because of enemy disinforma- and said they were not prepared
such as the fall of the Shah of public consumption, Boatner lion, or prejudice by a policy for a confrontation, and we were
Iran and the 1973 Arab-Israeli said. maker. Miler gave an example right.
War are well documented in the In general, Boatner praised the from World War II when Josef "There is always room for im-
public domain, successes, such agency for bringing good infor- Stalin was told the Germans provement, but overall we are
as the agency's surveillance of mation despite working under planned to invade Russia. But doing a good job for the coun-
Soviet weapons systems or pre- public and political pressure. She Stalin refused to believe the try," Boatner said.
the agency's successes never To be effective, the CIA must ing,
make news, and for Helen Boatn- have accurate, timely and objec- Commenting on one of the
er, that is just fine. tive information, Boatner said. CIA's more noted failures, the
Boatner, director of the office On a seminar discussing CIA Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962,
of management planning and failures, Newton "Scotty" Miler, Boatner said the agency had not
services for the CIA, spoke on a member of the CIA from 1947- investigated the possibility of So-
CIA intelligence before an audi- 1975, said the CIA can expect fail- viet missiles in Cdba, because all
ence at the Conference on World ores when its leaders become intelligence indicated the Soviets
Affairs Tuesday morning. embroiled in policy making and were not prepared for a major
"Failure has many fathers, but have a biased interest in their confrontation with the United
success is an orphan," Boatner policy rather than serve as intel- States. "We reached the wrong
said. Failures get publicity, but ? ? ' ligence gatherers. judgment for solid reasons,"
ByIBARRY BORTNICK said intelligence gatherers often news.
Times-Call Staff Writer Conference ? are put at odds with policy mak- Both Miler and Boatner said
ers because their information the agency suffered in the 19703
BOULDER - No one is per- can limit the choices a policy because of reduced funding and a
fecf, including the Central Intelli- maker has, and does not provide reliance on technical intelligence `?.
No news is good. news for CIA',
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11. ... "."".. Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/02/22 : CIA-RDP90-01208R000100030039-8