REMARKS BY E. HENRY KNOCHE DEPUTY DIRECTOR OF CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AT SUPREME EMBLEM CLUB OF USA SEPTEMBER 16, 1976
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September 16, 1976
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clq"
REMARKS BY
E. HENRY KNOCHE
DEPUTY DIRECTOR OF CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE
AT
SUPREME EMBLEM CLUB OF USA
SEPTEMBER 16, 1976
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Ladies and Gentlemen:
It is indeed a great honor and a pleasure to be with you
here this evening.
Many of you, like many of our fellow-citizens across
this country, may have gotten a completely unrealistic
impression of what intelligence is all about.
There are various reasons for this. Fictional and
romanticized notions of derring-do by such super-heroes
as James Bond fill our literature. Sensationalized stories
under flashy headlines during the past two years have tended
to take isolated incidents out of context and blown them out of
all proportion in our media. And, let us be honest with our-
selves, there always has been that very human fascination with
secrets and secrecy and with the men and women whose profession
it is to deal with such matters.
But very little has been said and not much is known about
the real world of intelligence as it is today. And that is what I'd
like to talk to you about tonight. I 'd like to put into perspective
for you our conviction that America has, and must continue to
have an intelligence service second to none in the world. And I
want to tell you a few things about the role of that service in government.
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My own career in intelligence exemplifies what I've just
said. When the President earlier this year nominated me to be
the Deputy Director of the Central Intelligence Agency, I had
served in that Agency for 23 years -- without ever being involved
in the sort of thing that most of our citizens think of when they see
or hear those magic letters -- C IA.
Most of my service has been with intelligence analysis rather
than with the operational side -- or the clandestine side, i'f you 'will.
As an assistant to Director Colby I gained valuable insight into the
Agency's relationships with our Congress, since that duty linked
me to the various inquiries into CIA last year.
In another recent assignment, I served as Director Bush's
Associate Deputy for the Intelligence Community, helping to
coordinate the government's intelligence components, including
those of the military, the State Department and the CIA.
So, I come to you tonight not only as an enthusiastic
intelligence officer, but also as one who has had the advantage of
seeing the many different aspects of the business.
Ever since the earliest days of recorded history, societies
have survived by more than just armed might -- they have survived
by knowledge. The Bible says: "...the Lord spoke unto Moses saying,
send thou men that they may search the land of Canaan... (to) see
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the land, what it is, and the people that dwelleth therein; whether
they be strong or weak, few or many...."
Joshua later sent two men to spy secretly in Jericho. They
spent their while in the house of Rahab the harlot. I n the best
tradition, Rahab protected the spies, misled the King of Jericho as
to their whereabouts, and allowed them to complete their mission
without ever once revealing their names.
I n the world of today -- and in that of tomorrow -- our country
cannot afford to be blind or deaf to the preparations of potential
enemies. Our government needs solid facts and judgments on which
to base its policies and plans if it is to remain strong and free. And
make no mistake about it: every nation on this planet, whether
strong or not, whether free or not, uses intelligence information
to improve its position.
What is intelligence, then?
Is it just a collection of facts? Is it a single report from some
mysterious secret agent i n some foreign land? I s it one brilliant
dispatch from one of our diplomats abroad? I s it a fact from an
encyclopedia or a pearl of information pried from an old book in the
Library of Congress?
Actually, any or all of these may be part of intelligence.
But I have left out a major part, one that is far less glamorous
than what most people think of when they hear the word "intelligence"
or the abbreviation "CIA. "
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That unsung part is the evaluation or analysis -- by studious
and informed people -- of a great many pieces of information. Th e
CIA analyst gathers as many of these facts as he can find, he adds
a healthy dash of his own wisdom and, yes, imagination, and he turns
out what we call intelligence judgments or assessments. These are
produced objectively without fear or favor. We call them as we see
them, regardless of whether our political leaders will consider the
judgments to be good news or bad.
The United States has carried on foreign intelligence activities
since the days of George Washington. During the Revolutionary War,
in a letter to one of his intelligence officers, Colonel Elias Dayton,
Washington wrote on July 26, 1777: 'The necessity of procuring
good intelligence is apparent and need not be further urged. All
that remains for me to add is that you keep the whole matter as
secret as possible. For upon secrecy, success depends in most
enterprises of the kind, and, for want of it, they are generally
defeated.''
It was Pearl Harbor that dramatically focused American
attention on the need for a unified national intelligence service
capable of putting together facts, analyzing them, and disseminating
the findings to those empowered to take actions. Before the Second
World War, the United States had what could be called departmental
intelligence. The War Department had military intelligence, the Navy
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Department had naval intelligence, and the Department of State
produced, in effect, diplomatic intelligence.
But, in today's terminology, no one was "getting it
together." All of the information that might have led an analyst
to conclude that the Japanese intended to attack Pearl Harbor was
available in Washington. But it was not in one place for an analyst
to study; it was instead in bits and pieces all over town, separate
fragments carefully controlled by each department. Without being
fused together, the fragments were useless. It was information,
not intelligence.
After the War, it was clear that the United States was going
to continue to need information and intelligence on developments
abroad and that a central organization was needed to ensure that we
were never again caught by surprise as at Pearl Harbor. Some of
you may remember those days and how deep was America's commitment
never to be surprised again.
And so, to create a centralized intelligence facility and
a unified military department, President Truman signed into law
the National Security Act of 1947 creating CIA.
Years later, in 1964, I had occasion to visit President Truman
in his offices in Independence, Missouri. He reminisced about his
role in establishing CIA, and in his inimitable manner he told me:
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'The State Department and the military services separately had bits of
information I couldn't get my hands on, and I needed an agency that
could put the pieces together and tell me what was going on. So, I
set up the CIA. It was that simple."
All of you, I am sure, are aware of the battering our Agency
took last year. We were charged with nearly every offense imaginable,
from "massive" domestic spying to being unable to warn our nation
of impending attack.
(If you can imagine it, some individuals even made headlines
by claiming first-hand knowledge that the CIA once captured three
beings from outer space who had come on a peaceful mission. The
charge was that we put them in a freezer to make them talk -- and
they died instead. Another claim was that we had found and pillfered
the remains of Noah's ark and that the artifacts are somewhere in the
basement of our headquarters in the Virginia countryside to this day. )
Yes, all too often only the accusations and the allegations make
the headlines. The denial and the truth of the matter never seem to
be heard. After all, someone's claim that we captured three beings
from outer space or that we found Noah's ark may make a good story.
But how many readers would be fascinated by the fact that we did neither.
It's something like a report that the Second National Bank was not
robbed today.
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I hope that the American people never come to believe
unfounded allegations simply because they have appeared in print
or because they have been repeated so often. That sort of technique
works in closed societies. We must not allow it to work here.
I may be biased -- being a long-time CIA professional.
But I want you good people to know and share my pride in the men
and women of CIA who -- throughout the battering -- never flagged
in their dedication and professionalism. The President and his
advisors continued to be well-served by CIA information and
judgments pertaining to the international scene.
Sure, it was not pleasant as a CIA officer to sit before the
family television or at the breakfast table with the morning paper --
seeing one's children troubled by charges implying that their father
or mother somehow was perhaps less than an upstanding American,
or worse, making a living in some thoroughly disreputable business.
But there is mettle and back-bone to these people and their
families. And I can tell you tonight that our professionalism, our
dedication, and our patriotism have not been diminished by the ordeal.
Total secrecy and silence -- these used to be the traditions of
intelligence work. A year or so ago, I would not have been here
giving a speech like this. But traditions change, and today we in
intelligence are trying to make sure that the American people under-
stand the intelligence profession and its vital role in ensuring our
nation's security.
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Many responsible people have said that the old ways of secrecy
were used to cover abuses. Let me make this statement loud and
clear: we do not condone abuses. We will not call upon secrecy
to hide failures or wrongs in our past. As a matter of fact, it was
we in CIA who uncovered the questionable activities of the past.
And corrections were made internally three years ago -- long before
the investigations got under-way.
More recently, the President and Director Bush have issued
new and clear guidelines for intelligence activities. I want you
to know that CIA is a disciplined, loyal and responsive Agency and
those guidelines will be honored.
Meanwhile, the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence -- the
so-called Church Committee -- has finished its work and issued its
recommendations. Some say that last year's Senate and House
reviews of intelligence imparted to the world more information about
American intelligence techniques than is healthy or helpful.
But I am not here to criticize or complain. CIA is almost 30
years of age. Any organization needs a special look and some reforms
after such a length of time. In the main, the Congressional reviews
have reflected the American process at work, and we in CIA will no
doubt be the better for it.
America's intelligence service must be responsible. But
America's treatment of that service and its necessary secrets must
also be responsible. Senseless exposure of true intelligence secrets
can cause great damage.
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It is time for you as Americans to ask yourselves whether
it is in your interests -- America's interests --to expose intelligence
secrets and activities that are valid, yes -- even critically important --
and that have nothing to do with "abuses."
Let me explain why secrecy is so important in intelligence work.
To get information about the state of the world abroad, we rely
heavily on open, unclassified information -- newspapers, magazines,
technical journals, books, radio and television broadcasts and the
like. But this doesn't give us all we need to know about foreign
capabilities and intentions. We must use clandestine means to try
to collect foreign secrets. And we rely increasingly on advanced
technology to help us acquire information.
I n the intelligence profession and in the law, these are known
as intelligence sources and methods. I f our sources and methods are
revealed, our adversaries can take steps to keep us from getting the
information we need. This has nothing to do with keeping the American
public in the dark, a charge made by some of our critics. It is a simple
matter of protecting our ability to get information. This is a responsibility
recognized in law. The Director of Central Intelligence, by Federal
statute, is charged with protecting intelligence sources and methods
from disclosure.
True, the revelation of intelligence secrets makes exciting
reading. A few readers may ask themselves what the point of such a
disclosure could be -- aside from providing a few minutes worth of
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interesting reading over the morning cup of coffee. But most
readers will soon forget what the story was all about. Will our
adversaries forget? I assure you that they will not. As a result,
enormously complex and expensive technical intelligence collection
systems can be countered. Dedicated and courageous men and
women who risk their lives in the service of their country seeking
vital information abroad can be exposed and destroyed.
I don't think the American people want this to happen:
especially when our adversaries, dedicated to the proposition that
we eventually must be defeated, are hard at work.
I find some of the charges against the intelligence community
particularly upsetting. You have heard a lot about "intelligence
failures." You have been told that the American taxpayer is not
getting his money's worth for his intelligence dollar. You have
been told that American intelligence cannot warn of imminent attack.
That just plain isn't true.
America has good intelligence. America is safe from sneak
attack. The American taxpayer is getting a bargain for his intelligence
buck. And the American intelligence record is studded with success
after success.
Let me give you just a few examples:
-- American intelligence spotted the Soviet nuclear missiles
being delivered to Cuba in 1962 and supported the President as he
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worked through 13 nightmarish days to force their removal.
-- American intelligence gave seven years warning on the
development of the Moscow anti-ballistic missile system.
-- American intelligence has pinpointed eight new types
of Soviet inter-continental ballistic missiles and judged their size
and effectiveness three or more years before each became operational.
--Two major new Soviet submarine programs were anticipated
wel I before the first boats slid down the ways.
-- We knew the status and design of two Soviet aircraft carriers
well before the first one put to sea for trials.
-- American intelligence has created a collection and analytical
capability sufficient to reduce the need for on-site verification for
certain kinds of strategic arms control agreements that have been
concluded with the USSR. The ABM treaty and the interim agreement
on offensive weapons of 1972 would have been impossible without
i ntel I igence of this kind.
These are all military concerns, and they are crucial. But
what of other intelligence areas?
-- American intelligence last year warned of the imminent
danger of war between two nations friendly to the U. S. That warning
triggered urgent, quiet, and successful diplomatic efforts to head off
the hostilities.
--American intelligence successfully monitors and predicts
trends in oil prices and tracks the flow of petrodollars, subjects
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that affect your pocketbook and your everyday life.
-- Every year we turn to the task of assessing world crop
prospects. That has to do with famine and the world food problem
and with the price of the market basket we all must buy.
I hope that these illustrations help you understand our job
just a bit better. Many years ago, Allen Dulles, one of the early
Directors of CIA, spoke of the "craft" of intelligence. He underplayed
it. The bold technical thinkers; the brave people on hazardous duty
in strange lands; the gifted analysts puzzling out mysterious political
and military moves made by unpredictable people in far-off, closed
societies: these are more than craftsmen.
Intelligence is more than a craft. It is more than a science;
more than mere artfulness. We do not have a crystal ball, and we
can't yet give you a copy of the 1980 World Almanac. And we may
not predict the given day and hour of a particular coup or revolution --
any more than your local weatherman can assure you that it will
start raining at precisely 9:01 tomorrow morning.
But precise predictions are not the main mission of intelligence.
Our main job is to give this country's leaders the deepest possi ble
understanding of the military, political, social, and economic climate
abroad where vital American interests are at stake.
Our mission is to see that our leaders know what is happening
in the world beyond our borders and about the forces and factors at
work there. And we must alert our leaders to what may happen
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tomorrow. This combination of informing and alerting is what
intelligence is really all about.
Ladies and gentlemen, we do it well.
And we must continue to do it well. We must know and
understand the problems that lie ahead, so that we can give sound
advice to those whose job it is to develop intelligent policies to deal
with them.
If you will, consider some of the toughest problems America
faces in the world around us:
-- Overpopulation and underproduction;
-- Nuclear proliferation;
-- Terrorism;
--The economic imbalances between rich and poor countries;
-- The exploitation of hitherto inaccessible riches in the
sea or in space;
-- The interdependence of economies and cultures;
--The acceleration of events by incredible improvements in
transportation and communications.
America must have systematic knowledge of these complex
subjects, full awareness of all our capabilities to deal with them,
and an understanding of the intentions of other nations on the
scene.
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Already, the intelligence machinery is good enough to assist
in the crucial task of peace-keeping. In more than one hot-spot
uneasy peace settlements are being kept because American intelligence
is keeping each side informed about what it faces on the other side.
I have tried to describe to you tonight what intelligence must
do in the days ahead. To do our job well, we must have the under-
standing and support of the American people. We are -- all of us --
committed to the same goal: making sure that America in the
Tricentennial continues to be free, democratic, and dedicated to
preserving the peace.
We have every confidence this will be so. We will do our
share.
Let me conclude with the words of an ancient wiseman --
General Sun Tzu, whD was a supreme military strategist in China
long before Christ was born.
Sun Tzu wrote:
"For to win 100 victories in 100 battles is not the acme of
skill. To find security without fighting is the acme of skill.
"And therefore the unit that in advancing does not seek
mere fame, and in withdrawing is not concerned with avoiding
blame, but whose only purpose is to protect the people and promote
the best interests of the country, is the precious jewel of the State."
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May the Central Intelligence Agency so conduct itself as
to be just such a jewel of the state.
Thank you for allowing me to be with you tonight.
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