TURNER 'VERY OPTIMISTIC' ABOUT CIA'S FUTURE

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-01208R000100070042-0
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: February 22, 2011
• Sequence Number: 42
• Publication Date: February 5, 1980
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Second of two articles ~~? y
Can't Do Goody Jo
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03 PAGS_/_
THE WASHINGTON STAR (GREEN LINE
5 February 1980
T, lyrn r liv
e, 0 b
M S Abouff
But Critics?Despair
That Spy Agency
By Henry S. Bradshee-- L
Washington?SterStaff Writer', rF-
Looking,casual in. a `.navy blue'
cardigan but speaking intensely..:
Stansfield Turner gazed out the glass,
wall of.his office, atop. the CIA'head-
quarters at Langley, over the bare
dusky woods toward the distant.
-lights-of Washington and: exaded `
confidence about his organization.
"I'm just very optimistic these
days," Turner said. "I've been very
' impressed .by the quality.. of: our'
human intelligence activities" the.:"
CIA director said. And. US. technical
intelligence is superlative, be added.-'..
In other government offices in the
:.city,, most.of:them looking-:across
concrete courtyards at other'-offices
instead of having spacious '.views, in.-
the private. offices of people who
have left the government;;in small:
restaurants, in telephone'calls from.
coast to coast, 'others talk about the .
CIA too:.
Some, like:former=CIA'Director'
William E. Colby-and former Deputy:
Director.--Enno .Henry Knoche,'talk..
for quotation about.things'like re-
strictions .on-the agency-But-most
:.'prefer-to discuss the agency's,,prob-'
lems from-:=the protection of:::
anonymity. p `?
Turner. understandably is angered
by: this,. especially on ,the most emo='
tional aspect of his three-year tenure;:-
at Lanelev::the'forced retirementof
you," -he said, ''that.Turner ts:the
ices. He argues that:he:rejuvenated_
ago'! foLclandestine operations.: p.
man's game, and we are .better equip-
the agency out.here;.look.:at..the.
-The CIA is composed of three main
branches. The.clandestine or opera
tion$ branch handles. spying and
covert operations, like -intervening
secretly in other countries'. affairs
or. organizing guerrilla movements..
Another branch supervises techni-
cal intelligence, including recon-
naissance satellite photography- and
communications intercepts. An.ana-?
lytical', branch` pulls, information
together for government policymak-
ers
The controversy that' has marked
-.Turner's almost three years at the
agency focuses Ion the' operations
branch..There is also widespread but
less .:,.publicized, distress around.-
Washington about analysis,
In' both cases, .Turner inherited`
problems. His' critics ,say. he'exacer,
bated:them; his supporters contend
that he.has done much to clear them
Once Was Twice as Large _.,:,
The Vietnam war and -th e' CIA's
"secret army". in Laos, added.-.to
worldwide spying; pushed the num-
ber of agency operatives to 8,500 in
the late 1960s- roughly double its
present-size: As the Nixon adminis-
tration began to reduce U.S. commit-
men'ts-an Indochina,'personnel.had
to-be reduced by attrition, transfers
and.other means
During his brief tenure- as,QIA-
directory -James ;. R:= Schlesinger
speeded up a cutback. Colby, his.
successor, ,continued the program,
and:so.did George Bush during his
year' as' director:. Most sources agree
. that they were handled sensibly.-
Then-President ..Carter took
-..Turner from his navy admiral's com
mand and sent.him to, Langley. He
arrivedwith what the old CIA bands
!.hostile, attitude:,:::.
that he simply wanted: to bring bet-
ter management to a sometimes .un-.
i-coordinated 'operation: His .suspi-
cions of the need for drastic.changes -
were quickly _reinforced .by the,
year-old agent in the unsuccessful '
CIA effort in Angola.
Stockwell charged that a clique of
burned-out, old clandestine services :
officials was running the agency
into the ground. Turner heard this
Wand other grievances, rejected ad
vice on alternatives for. dealing with -I
them and launched the "Halloween.;
massacre.
After announcing in.:August 1977;;
:-that' 816 :jobs .in the'.operitions..1
branch would be . cut by 1979, Turner'.(
sent out :tle-first-212.pink slipson,l~
Oct 31,1977.
Although- smaller thaa;:previous;-"
-cuts, this one:was handled'differ-I,
ently.-and?. hit harder.. at lifetime-i
-.professionals in the spying and para-.1
.military trades.
g
Says Cuts Helped A
ency
"The cuts in personnel that everyone still complains to me about have:
strengthened the agency's covert ac-
-'tion capabilities," Turner said-""'
"You don't run' 'a good, strong
paramilitary or covert action- pro-,.
.gram witli".a bunch of 55-year.olds;"',
he said.."What I've done is'cut'our
high-grade superstructure .:....:and
doubled the input into the'clandes-
tine services..-: so that we have a
group-of young tigers,' and there's
enough -accumulated experience.
and expertise, around to guide{
them."
This is strongly challenged by peo-
"Whatever Turner says, they can't
put on a show," says a Pentagon offi-,
.,CIA's_presentoperational capabil:_-
ities:: "Wek know'that-over:in'thisl.`
Other sources spell this :Out'in_
more detaiL One says-the CIA's corps-
. f paramilitary specialists who could;
help- organiie, for. instance; ?a more
.effective-Afghan resistance to.Soviet'
control has declined -from ' about.200
to.80;-andmany:of'the'80 lack the ?
broad experience needed..for.effec
tiveness-.;;_
`-. But Colby comments that,'ifthe:
..people in an operational area :feel '
CIA help is vital, they- will: find' ways.'
to-speed it up.:.r
The _ worst part , of; ;Turner's
,
, changes, numerous present and `re=:_
tired officials say; is what. they did to.
CIA. morale: While".;he recognizes
that morale suffered; but contends its
is-now coming back up :others sayf
'that it is at?best bumping. along.side-.
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CQ TINS
 _ _L I . 11.L'1_L -- . 11 1 I
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Several sources cite cases vi i urn*
er's failure to back up agents who
got in trouble taking risks that were
known and accepted by the agency
in advance as normal for the job. -:
Knoche, who was the deputy CIA
director when Turner arrived and'
worked for. him a few months, says ,
that "the premium has been in the
last few -years on not rippling the'.;
water; on being non-controversial
and not getting in trouble. In this
.profession, that's the wrong attitude,,
and now -the chickens may have :
come. home to roost" as a result both-
of too much congressional oversight -1
sand of Turner's policies.
"A spy agency, is always going to
have some people who bend rules or ;
play close-to -the- limits of them,".
Knoche added. "In peacetime they
can be a bureaucratic nuisance,.but,
they may be just the kind of. people
you need when , you. run into . _a
crisis..
They are`ihe.kind'of people who
have not fitted' into Turner's desire
for or. managerial.: tidiness and. career-!
regularity The result; many, sources
say, is-that the CIA is poorer without
them.-and so is the . country. , r-.
The picture derived'from exten,
siv,e inquiries,_is.' of a I ..deadened,
demoralized :;organization: -'But.
Turner'conten'ds otherwise
"When. I.-got here," 'he said,* ',"the*
agency. was just about-maturing 'in?
the end:ofits.first working genera-
tion, 30; years roughly, and. a lot'.of_
the procedures: were. still geared` to,
the'small Ivy League club that came.
out of the.OSS.,(the World-War 11 Of-.
-fice of: Strategic Services);and'a.lot
of the Procedures ...were stultified
after' 30 years, and if- there's one,
thing you have to have in this kind
of business its dynamic; imagina-
tive, forward-looking-people.
"The principal things I.have tried
to do-have been to instill that sense, '
Turner said.' -^-;
Turner..wenrmthe old lvy League
club in an effort to improve the qual-
ity of-CIA analysis. He pur-the anal-
ysis;branch.under.Robert R.-
Bowie,:,-who atheageof.68in.1977 had been-,
the head: of:the.State Dpartment's''
.
policy planning and,then.had run
Harvard's Center for International;
Affairs for 1$ years.--,
-80wie:.Y-
expected-to: be. asenior,
intellectual.i.n -residence.to`.advise-
Turner. Instead, he had to supervise?
some. 1,500-analysts. "By. most-a674
.
counts, it. was. a bureaucratic failure
that did-riothing.to sort out organiza=;.
tional:problems;in,analysis or im
prove the.quality'" "._
Colby had sought. improvements'
by establishing a system of national
intelligence officers-(NIO), with,1
each NIO responsible-for final judg-,
ments on a particular country.or ;
area, If the system ever worked, it-is:
working poorly now, a number of ex-
perts in the intelligence. community
In some cases the NIO's lack the
background. for making final.iudg
ments among conflicting interpreta-.
tions. The present NlO for .a very
important. country, for instance; was'
distinguished several years.,.agof
when he was :a .diplomat.,in
country. for being' totally'wrong
about its political developments.
;Sometimes all of the experts'from.,
around town on a particular country.';
or subject are assembled; by the. CIA'.
-to, discuss it. But what the NICt later,,.
writes up bearslittle resemblance to,
the collective: wisdom, some experts.
complain-'And .Turner ;himself has'
been: known, to change analytical".
conclusions. before sending them to..
the White House
The result is worse than:frustr'a--,
.tion for many experts. It is a'feeling.'
that the kind of myopia that led-,to.a.
1978'CIA finding of the shah's being=:
solidly. in control. can be too easily
repeated -_ although. there. now;
seems to be a developing tendency.at', ..;
the agency to adopt A 'protective pos
ture of-leaning over'the other direc-:' `
tion by being free with warnings of
trouble.
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