THE 'SPY SHOP'

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP99-00498R000300030022-5
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 20, 2016
• Document Release Date: February 28, 2007
• Sequence Number: 22
• Publication Date: April 15, 1978
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Approved For Release 2007/03/(tIJOAIK 9-00498R0003006 ( 022'" -
UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS
15 April 1978
by Barry Kliff
Considering the nature of its work,
Langley, Va., is an unlikely place for the
headquarters of the Central Intelligence,
Agency. The road that CIA employees use to
enter the building is lined on both sides with
tall evergreens and looks more like a retreat
for harried corporation executives- than an
intelligence headquarters. .' ..
The buildings, which were designed by
University graduate Max Abramowitz (who-
also designed the Assembly Hall)', are
modern looking and could easily pass for the
headquarters of any major industrial con-
cern. To the right of headquarters is a dome-
shaped building where CIA officials give
lectures and hold briefings for varius gover-
nment and business leaders. Despite the
pleasant surroundings there is an air of
uneasiness about this structure that lingers
after the press officers' cordial welcome.
On the wall before the entrance is a stone
which defines the CIA's mission.- Once in-
side. a huge green and white seal with an
eagle and the words "Central Intelligence
Agency-United States of America" are em-
bedded in the shiny tile floor. There are
some pillars inside, but for the most part the
building, is bright and airy-and according to
several CIA officials, the place isn't nearly
as cloak and dagger as one might imagine.-.-
In order to enter the building, a person
must have prior clearance. Visitors are
required to wear tags with red and white
lines surrounding a duplicate of the CIA seal
in the lobby.
CIA employees all wear identification
tags and in order to move from one section ,
of the building to the other; they must insert
special magnetic cards that will open the
gates to authorized users. , ;~ ~
It is not the type of place that people, em-
p!oyee or non-employees, wander about just I
for sight-seeing purposes. In fact, CIA of
ficials once considered opening Langley for
public tours but eventually vetoed the idea.
"We couldn't show anything that impressive
without giving away national- security
secrets. We took our wives and kids through
co a sample tour aid most of them became
so bored that we couldn't imagine showing it
to anyone else," Herbert Heitu,. chief public -
relations officer, said.
There are seven floors in the main First, the agency is trying to make its-in-
building and the vast majority of this space telligence reports more analytic. Turner ex-
is taken up by offices.. Although no tours are plained that it is not enough to know what
given of the offices, they are, according to . new weapons or technology foreign powers I
Heitu, "regular offices." ? People can posses, but rather what they plan to do with
decorate them any way they like, he said. it. '
"They have some pretty weird posters up Secondly, the" CIA will continue to
around here but most of the stuff is a remin-
der of foreign countries where they once ser-
ved."
Also on the seventh floor is the directors'.
conference room. In a walnut-paneled room,
the nine seals of the governmental agencies
that comprise this nation's. intelligence ef-
forts adorn the walls.. Each morning, the
nation's top intelligence officials gather in.
this room to, decide who to spy on, what
method to use and where to send the results.
Across a huge conference table, foreign
governments have risen and fallen,
violations by the Russians of Strategic Arms.
Limitation Talks have been identified, and
the developments in, the Mideast are
develop new technology in order to combat
the more sophisticated gadgetry used in the
intelligence game worldwide. At one time
the CIA actually used transmitters inl-
planted in the heel of someone's shoes but
lately these devices. have given way to
sophisticated satellities, bugs, cameras and
spy planes. .
Turner also said he hopes to improve the
quality of congressional oversight and. im-.
press congressmen with the severity of the
problems that the United States must. deal
with.
Finally* Turner hopes to open up the
agency to the public as much as possible
during his tenure at the CIA "I've been
regularly appraised. It was also across this 1 before Congress 45 times and we're trying to
table that previous CIA directors and their I
staff made the illegal decisions which have
sometimes there isn't much left when we're:
led to the creation of eight separate
congressional oversight committees.
In only -one other country have in-
done but we're doing our best to satisfy thiss
g
telligence operations grown to such propor- CIA employs an estimated 20,000 people
Lions-the Soviet Union and its KGB. In both here and abroad At T n I I
ev
.a one ~
dollar amounts, the United States spends they have enough scholars-to start a sritall f
fabout $7 billion annually for the CIA and >
h I ' university and annually receive 37,000? j
i
_o er governments rnte
ligence agencies,
the Soviets. Union spends more. than $10
billion. It is rumored that the KGB has. an,
agent in every country in the world and has-
so many is America that the FBI has a dif-
ficult time keeping track of them. According
to its charter; the CIA is not allowed to work
on domestic intelligence and therefore the
inqueries for 1,100 positions. Besides this:!
vast network of analysts, the CIA also con-';
tracts the services of non-govermental con-
Last year,. the Rand Corporation was
hired by the CIA to provide a report on thet
Soviet- intelligence situation. CIA. officials
task of foreign agent surveillance falls to the explained that the person who did the report.'!
FBI. for the Rand Corporation worked at the CIA
"We're, entering a new era of in- - on the same project before. leaving thet
telligence,": CIA director Admiral Stan- government.-
sfield Turner said during an interview. "We "It's a really. weird business," Heitit'
only used, to worry about the Russians but said. "We can't tell-people about our sue-
there are 150 other countries that we have to ceases or failures: If people know about:
keep track of _now: There isn't as much. 'either , of these areas, they can guess what.
going on in the covert section as before, but we're up to and then we wouldn't be able toil
it hasn't been abolished. You have to do it again. We've been very successful in
remember that the other countries aren't anti-terrorist activities, but, we just can't: ;
playing by the same rules.", According to . A ell you where or when."
Turner, the CIA is coordinating its efforts in
four areas.
said this is not an uncommon occurance andl
In order to accomplish these
oals theii
 CIA. The agency is uneasy about the
possible repercussions about this relation-
ship because of past abuses but is confident
that the current mood on campus is more
receptive to the agency now.
"Some professors have a. real block
against working for us, but we, try to make it
as easy as possible," Heitu said. "They have
the finest research facilities in the world
here and we. want them to take adavantage
of it." Heitu explained-that most colleges
and- universities follow a certain pre-
determined policy when allowing their
Approved For Release 2007/03/01 : CIA-RDP99-00498ROO0300030022-5
Heitu also said that despite the images:
portayed by-, b the motion picture and
television industry, the spy business is not
all that glamorous. "A lot of the work is
done by just reading foreign periodicals and.
observing what goes on overseas. For
people who have developed a specialty, this
is an ideal place to work because they-can
analyze it to their heart's content."
Most CIA analysts are experts in their -
field and many of the nation's top professors
at major colleges and universities have
done work at one time or another for the.,'
professors to do CIA research and the agen-
cy tries to work within that framework.
Both Heitu and Turner said the CIA will
be a different operation in '10 or 15 years:
Already, cost-cutting measures are in effect
and Turner was severely criticized for firing
over 820 officers from the agency's clan-
destine operations staff. This lead to severe'
moral problems which CIA officials admit
are just starting to go away.
Further changes are also in store for the
way information is gathered. The new
technological devices are not replacing but,
are putting new demands on human in-
telligence gathering (HUMINT- in agency
terms). The signal information (SIGNIT)
and communication information (COMINT)
functions are now so advanced. that pictures
can be taken of a herd of cattle from 50 miles
above the earth and photo-analysts'can tell
the particular breed.
Aside from the changes in gathering and
analyzing intelligence,the CIA will be:
operating under, closer security than ever
before. "Everybody is watching us now,"
Heitu said.- "I'm not saying that things
couldn't go wrong like they did in the past
but it would be pretty damn difficult. We're
in as much of a fishbowl as an intelligence
agency can be." 3 .: