SECOND THOUGHTS ON GATES

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP99-01448R000301270047-5
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 9, 2012
• Sequence Number: 47
• Publication Date: February 20, 1987
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

STAT
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/08/10: CIA-RDP99-01448R000301270047-5
0-714-
WASHINGTON TIMES
20 February 1987
Second thoughts on Gates
When the president nominated Robert M.
Gates to succeed William Casey as head of
the Central Intelligence Agency, we ex-
pressed our support. The president has a
right to choose his own advisers, and Mr.
Gates had been a dutiful deputy, before and
after Mr. Casey's incapacity. But the fallout
from Mr. Gates's confirmation hearings this
week suggests the need for careful reflec-
tion.
Knowledgeable critics of the nominee,
while praising his courage, intellect, integ-
rity, and professionalism, seem less than ex-
cited over his commitment to the effective
tools of the intelligence craft and his under-
standing of how they can be used to further
American objectives around the world. As a
protege of Director Stansfield Turner, who
purged the CIA's clandestine branch in an
attempt to cc'nvert the agency into a high-
tech think tank, Mr. Gates, it is feared, may
be uneasy with the Reagan Doctrine and the
covert measures necessary to carry it out.
Questions have been raised as well about
Mr. Gates's role in the national intelligence
estimates the CIA has issued since he be-
came deputy director for. intelligence in
1982.. One estimate for which he was respon-
sible concluded last year that Soviet military
spending had not increased for a decade. An-
other report challenged administration al-
legations that the Soviets had violated arms
control agreements.
Such actions may account for The Wash-
ington Post's belief that Mr. Gates's nomina-
tion represents a triumph for a "professional
policy-neutral intelligence directorate." The
Post is known to fall into the trap of suppos-
ing that scuttling anti-Communist policies is
"neutral" and that those who mistrust Soviet
intentions, or seek to counter them, are hate-
ful and prejudiced.
Finally comes the question of Mr. Gates's
political capacities. With both houses of Con-
gress held by the enemies of his foreign
policy, Mr. Reagan might be better advised to
have a CIA chief who can deal with lean and
hungry Democrats from a position of
strength. Faith in Mr. Gates's ability or incli-
nation to do so was not strengthened any this
week by his eagerness to bend the knee to
congressional inquisitors.
Mr. Reagan's supporters in the Senate
ought to seek to resolve these doubts before
offering their support of the nominee. If the
answers turn out not to be so good, the pres-
ident ought to be urged to reconsider the
appointment.
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/08/10: CIA-RDP99-01448R000301270047-5