WHAT'S 'CIA'? INTERVIEW WITH ADMIRAL WILLIAM F. RABORN, RETIRING HEAD OF AMERICA'S MOST SECRET AGENCY

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP91-00901R000600240001-8
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 8
• Document Creation Date: December 20, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 29, 2007
• Sequence Number: 1
• Publication Date: July 18, 1966
• Content Type: MAGAZINE

Approved For Release 2007/08/29: CIA-RDP91-00901 R000600240001-8
WHAT'S "CIA"?
Interview With Admiral William F. Raborn,
Retiring Head of America's Most Secret Agency
Reprinted from "U.S.News & World Report"
(Copyright, 1966, U.S.News & World Report, Inc.)
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Interview With Admiral William F. Raborn,
Retiring Head of America's Most Secret Agency
Once more, the Central Intelligence Agency-
CIA-finds itself a center of controversy.
Congress is studying a proposal to broaden
its control and surveillance of the wide-ranging
intelligence organization.
Now questions are raised. Just what is CIA?
What does it really do-and not do? Does any-
body know all its secrets, control its activities?
In this exclusive interview, the man who
headed Central Intelligence this past year takes
readers of "U. S. News & World Report" behind
the scenes of CIA, describes its workings in detail.
Q Admiral Raborn, what is the specific charter of the
Central Intelligence Agency within the intelligence com-
munity?
A The National Security Act assigned five functions to
the Agency:
To advise the National Security Council-and of course the
President-on intelligence matters relating to national secu-
rity;
To co-ordinate all foreign-intelligence activities of our
Government;
To produce and disseminate finished national intelligence
within the Government;
To undertake what we call "services of common concern"-
that is, functions which serve all the components of the in-
telligence community and can best be undertaken centrally;
And finally, to perform such other services as the National
Security Council may direct.
That is as specific as the Congress wanted to be. That
fifth assignment is the Agency's charter for clandestine ac-
tivities, and you will notice it puts CIA directly under the
control of the President's National Security Council.
Q The emphasis appears to be on information gathering.
Wouldn't it be more palatable and just as accurate to call
it the "Central Information Agency"i
A Our principal responsibility is to gather, specifically,
that information which relates directly to national-security
problems and objectives. The United States Information
Agency deals with information in the broader sense of the
term, and distributes it outside the Government. It is useful
both to their operations and to ours to preserve this distinc-
tion.
There is a further point in our professional terminology:
"Intelligence," as we use the term, refers to information
which has been carefully evaluated as to its accuracy and
significance. The difference between "information" and "in-
telligence" is the important process of evaluating the accu-
racy and assessing the significance in terms of national secu-
rity.
Q You just referred to "finished national intelligence."
What is that in your terminology?
A When a raw report has been checked for accuracy, and
analyzed and integrated with all other available information
on the same subject by competent experts in that particular
field, we call it "finished intelligence." When, in addition,
it represents the conclusions of the entire intelligence com-
munity, then it is "national intelligence." In short, we find
that we need a terminology which can be more precise and
more limiting than the broad concept of "information."
Q People seem to have the impression that the CIA is
a big spying organization-that it is staffed almost entirely
by spies. Is there anything to that impression?
A This, of course, is the popular view of any intelligence
organization, but it is highly distorted. Our job is to keep
the top officials of the U. S. Government informed of what is
happening around the world that may affect the national
security of the United States.
Of course, much of the world's area and population is
under a closed society, run by governments that seek to con-
ceal their activities and their objectives. They may be hostile
to us, and some classical espionage is required to give timely
warning of when and how these activities and objectives
might threaten us. But, to maintain proper perspective, let
me point out that a great deal of the raw information is
public, or available with a certain amount of digging.
The principal role of an intelligence organization is to take
what is overt and what is secret and bring expert knowledge,
background information, and scholarly analysis to bear in a
way which has nothing in common with the heroes of mod-
em spy fiction.
Q Could you give us the proportions between the analysts
at home and the men in the field overseas who are collecting
this information?
A We don't publish these figures, or even rough propor-
tions, because the information would be of great use to the
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Central Intelligence Agency headquarters in Virginia, near Washington, D.C.
opposition, but I can tell yot, this much: The man who
joins CIA has far less chance, in the course of his career, of
identifying with James Bond or "The Spy Who Came in
From the Cold" than he does of serving as an academic
researcher, economist, scientist, statistician, administrator,
accountant, or supply officer.
Q Another idea is that the CIA is stirring up insurrections,
or starting and maybe running little wars-
A This again is a misconception. Our major business is
national intelligence, and so-called covert operations are a
relatively minor part of our over-all activities. The Govern-
ment, after all, is organized on a pretty logical basis: The
Department of State is in charge of foreign policy and
foreign relations; running wars would be the business of the
Defense Department; CIA has enough to do getting, co-
ordinating, and disseminating intelligence without running
any wars.
Admiral Raborn and Successor Helms
-USN&WR Photo
Adm. William F. Raborn, left, brought the techniques
of modern management to the Central Intelligence
Agency in his 14 months as Director. Now 61, he
capped a distinguished career as a naval aviator
by running the Polaris-missile project. He will soon
return to Aerojet-General Corporation, where he was
an executive after retiring from the Navy in 1963.
Admiral Raborn is shown here with the man who
succeeded him on June 30-Richard Helms, 53, the
first Director to work his way up through CIA.
Q The National Security Act of 1947 envisages a field of
clandestine activities, however, where the CIA will play a
role which cannot be undertaken by State, or Defense, or
other overt agencies of the United States Government. Do
you have a free hand there?
A Absolutely not. Any such activities are by direction of
the National Security Council. To be precise, they must have
the prior approval-in detail-of a committee of the NSC on
which top-ranking representatives of the President, the Sec-
retary of State, and the Secretary of Defense meet with the
Director of Central Intelligence for this purpose. These gen-
tlemen see to it not only that every activity of the CIA is
completely in consonance with the established policies and
objectives of the United States, but that it is also advantage-
ous to the United States.
Q With that approval, are you free to operate as you
wish in the field? Would the U. S. ambassador in the coun-
try concerned know about your activities there?
A Like other U. S. officials abroad, CIA's overseas per-
sonnel are subordinate to the U. S. ambassadors. We are cer-
tainly not in competition with other U. S. representation
abroad-we complement and supplement the "country team"
approach of the embassy to official U. S. activities. We op-
erate with the foreknowledge and approval of the ambassa-
dor.
Q But some of our ambassadors have denied any prior
knowledge of activities which are known to be, or at least
suspected of being, CIA operations-
A Conceivably there might be an instance where the De-
partment of State in Washington would have reasons for not
informing the ambassador. Normal policy is to have him in-
formed.
Q Does the ambassador receive your intelligence in the
field, or does he have to get it from Washington?
A It is made available in the field to the ambassador
and designated members of his staff. If the ambassador
wishes, he also gets the ultimate finished evaluation from
headquarters, along with intelligence on other countries
which may be of interest to him. The Department of State
may also send to its embassies and legations the finished in-
telligence reports prepared by CIA.
Q You and your predecessors have stated, as have the
President and Secretary Rusk, that CIA does not make pol-
icy, but the accusation persists. Could this be because your
information contributes to policy decisions?
A To maintain that record, let me say again flatly that
CIA does not make policy, and does not operate outside or
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INTERVIEW With Admiral Raborn
... Needed: "Basic information on virtually every country"
contrary to established policy. Now, certainly nobody would
expect the top officials of a government to make their deci-
sions without considering all available information. It is the
mission of CIA to provide the most accurate, the most com-
prehensive, and the most objective information available
about matters which interest our Government, together with
whatever we can learn or project about possible impending
developments. In specific answer to your question, put the
emphasis on "objective" information.
Q But this information does play a part in the decisions
of Government-
A The top officials of the Administration, and for that
matter, the legislators, obviously find it useful, because there
is a constant increase in the demand for our current intelli-
gence and our projective estimates. Let me point out that
there is one unique contribution the CIA makes to Govern-
ment officials facing a choice between alternative possible
courses of action. Precisely because the CIA does not commit
itself to any one choice among the alternatives, our intelli-
gence input is free from partisanship or advocacy, and rec-
ognized by the recipients as objective.
Q Isn't it true that much of the information you gather
isn't really secret at all, but would be available to anybody
in the right spot at the right time?
A Yes. In fact, a considerable part of the information
used by the Agency in preparing its finished intelligence
reports is derived from the foreign press and radio, from
technical journals of foreign countries, and from official publi-
cations of these countries. We don't disregard information
simply because it. is not secret. Finished intelligence, how-
ever, consists of the expert correlation and interpretation of
all the information we can obtain, by both overt and clandes-
tine means.
CIA'S BROAD INTERESTS-
0 Do you gather information about domestic events in
foreign countries, as well as the operations of foreign gov-
ernments?,
A Our interests and responsibilities may vary from coun-
try to country, but they are pretty comprehensive. It is ob-
viously impossible to confine yourself to a nation's foreign
affairs if you are responsible, for instance, for assessing the
stability of the regime, the health of the economy, or the
prospects for subversion in the boondocks.
Q Do you collect information of a business nature?
A We collect economic information which may be useful
to the security interests of the U. S. Government-and we
collect it exclusively for that purpose.
Q Do you have to cover every corner of the whole world?
A Of course we have priorities, but our intelligence
requirements are worldwide. Our top Administration officials
need factual and unbiased intelligence on a timely basis as
one of the many elements which go into the decisions they
have to make. At a minimum, we have to have certain
basic information on hand about virtually every country in
the world. Country X-you name it-might appear remote
and totally unrelated to our national security, but it is never-
theless impossible to state with certainty that detailed in-
formation about country X will not become necessary to our
Government on a crash basis some day.
Q How detailed?
A The basic information on foreign countries which is
compiled in what we call the National Intelligence Surveys
already adds up to more than 10 times the size of "The En-
cyclopedia Britannica." Much of this-information, of course,
is hardly secret. It has to cover such prosaic matters as
economic statistics, legal codes, sociological conditions and
transport facilities, but it comes in handy when our cus-
tomers start playing "20 Questions."
Q At what point do you feel that this type of informa-
tion-the basic data, the information which is open to the
public-should be reported back on a running basis to our
Government-as fast as you get it?
A This goes back to the distinction between information
and intelligence-and the needs of our Government. If
everything is quiet, there may be an occasional situation
report based largely on open information. If the situation
has a direct relation to U. S. national-security interests, par-
ticularly in a crisis, we will be trying to get as close to
"real time" reporting as modem communications permit.
Q Is the information which you collect interpreted by
somebody on the scene, or does it reach you in raw form so
that you can sort out the facts from the opinions?
A We require the original report, or the original state-
ment of the primary source, whenever we can get it. When
this "raw material" reaches us, it may be accompanied by
the opinions and interpretations of intermediaries through
whom the information has passed, and by the informed com-
ment and preliminary evaluation of our own collectors in
the field, but these additions are clearly labeled as such.
Q How do you co-operate in the field with the other ele-
ments of your intelligence community? Aren't CIA and State
and the military-intelligence people all looking for much the
same information?
A Our finished national intelligence derives from the
work of all of the elements of the intelligence community.
Foreign Service officers provide the Department of State
with political intelligence, commercial attaches are responsi-
ble for economic information, the military attaches send mili-
tary intelligence to their respective services, and, for that
matter, there are agricultural attaches and labor attaches. All
of them provide departmental intelligence for the specific
needs of specific departments. All of these reports are also
available to CIA.
The Agency has been added to supplement and expand
the collection and fill any gaps. It has a broader charter for
all types of intelligence necessary in the national interest,
and-as I mentioned at the outset-the added statutory re-
sponsibility to "correlate and evaluate intelligence relating
to the national security, and provide for ... appropriate dis-
semination."
For example, a piece of political intelligence from one
country and the Army attache's report from another country
may add up to a conclusion of major significance to the Na-
tional Security Council, or specifically to the Atomic Energy
Commission. It is CIA's responsibility to see to it that the
two halves do get added up in Washington to make the
whole, and furthermore that the finished evaluation reaches
the department which needs it.
CONTROLS ON INTELLIGENCE-
Q But how. do you avoid duplication of effort in the
field?
A The United States Intelligence Board, which repre-
sents the entire intelligence community, establishes guide-
lines and priorities for the intelligence-collection effort. This
machinery can control unnecessary duplication, but when
you are after the closely guarded information that affects our
national interest, duplication of effort is often desirable rath-
er than unnecessary.
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NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL. The CIA, says Admiral Raborn, "functions under the control of the President and the NSC."
Q Are the State and military-intelligence people operat-
ing under handicaps, in comparison to CIA, in obtaining in-
formation?
A You have to take into consideration, firstly, that the
collection of intelligence is not the primary responsibility of
the Department of State and the Department of Defense,
and, secondly, that the representatives they send abroad
must operate in the open as recognized officials of the U. S.
Government. In effect, CIA often is in better position to ob-
tain necessary intelligence because CIA is specifically or-
ganized for this kind of collection and can give it first priori-
ty.
If, by handicaps, you mean the obstacles which foreign
governments place in the way of intelligence collection, for-
eign governments make every effort to preserve their essen-
tial secrets, just as we do. Year by year, security procedures
become more sophisticated and harder to circumvent, so that
skill and specialization are even more necessary. On the
other side of the coin, there are few, if any, countries in the
world today which are as much of an "open society" as the
United States.
Q What about co-operation with the intelligence serv-
ices of friendly countries? If we collect information which
is important to one of our allies, is it passed to them?
A I am not at liberty to go into detail, but wherever
it is of mutual interest and advantage, there is substantial
co-operation among the intelligence services of friendly
countries.
Q Does machinery exist to correlate all of the informa-
tion that flows int., Washington, and refine it into firm and
useful conclusions?
A Yes-specifically, the United States Intelligence Board,
or USIB, which advises and assists the Director of Central
Intelligence and is under his chairmanship. This Board
meets every week, or more often if necessary, to co-ordinate
the work of all of the intelligence components of the U. S.
Government. It consists of the Deputy Director of Central
Intelligence, who represents CIA so that the Director, as
USIB chairman, will be uncommitted; the Director of In-
telligence and Research, Department of State; the Director
of the Defense Intelligence Agency; the Director of the Na-
tional Security Agency; an Assistant Director of the FBI;
and the Assistant General Manager for Administration of the
Atomic Energy Commission. The heads of Army, Navy and
Air Force intelligence meet with the Board as observers.
USIB assigns intelligence priorities to see to it that there
are no gaps in our coverage, and insures that the judgments
which go forward to the President are finished national
intelligence.
This job of correlation and co-ordination, however, starts
long before the product reaches USIB for final review.
More and more, as we develop and refine the concept of
an intelligence community, the analysts and the specialists
in one component are in constant touch and interchange
with their opposite numbers in the other departments and
agencies, so that the national-intelligence process begins as
soon as the raw information reaches Washington, if not
before.
As for moving from the raw information to a firm and
agreed conclusion, in many instances this can be done by
the expert analysts available, backed up by our storehouse
of background knowledge. There will always, of course, be
the "unknowables"-questions which have no definitive an-
swers, possibly because the future is open to the effects of
many variables, or because the future depends on decisions
which certain foreign stat.smen may not even have made
yet. Who will succeed the Premier of country X? When
and by whom will there be a coup in country Y?
Our Government leaders need and request our best an-
swers on the "unknowables." This we do in our National
Intelligence Estimates. From what we do know, the best
thinking available in the entire intelligence community
makes rational inferences about the unknown-with varying
but specified degrees of confidence, and an occasional foot-
note reflecting an individual dissent from the agreed opin-
ion.
Q How many of these estimates do you produce?
A It varies with the need. The Estimate is not a global
periodical, on a weekly or daily basis; it addresses itself to
the probable course of one development, or one country.
Many of the Estimates come out with a scheduled fre-
quency-annually, for instance, if necessary. Some are pro-
duced in times of crisis in a matter of hours. All are geared
to the intelligence needs of the top Government officials.
All reflect the greatest possible professional skill and dis-
passionate objectivity we can bring to bear. CIA has no ax
to grind, and does not permit itself to become advocate of
a specific policy in preparing an Estimate.
All aspects of every Estimate get the fullest considera-
tion, by the interagency working groups which begin the
drafting, by the Board of National Estimates-a group of
distinguished senior officers of long experience and proven
competence in diverse fields of Government-and by the
United States Intelligence Board. In the end, the National
Intelligence Estimate is the report of the Director of Cen-
tral Intelligence to the President and the National Security
Council.
Q Can this machinery operate fast enough to permit
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? ? ? "We are geared to produce intelligence 24 hours a day"
quick action when the flow of information suggests im-
pending danger or trouble?
A The process is extremely flexible. Conceivably, when
the schedule permits, the draft of an annual Estimate might
start two or three months before the target date, to permit
comprehensive and deliberate consultation, reference to the
field, and so forth.
On the other hand, the Board of National Estimates when
required can complete what we call a "SNIE"-a Special
National Intelligence Estimate-in a matter of hours, as I
said.
As for immediate intelligence on current developments,
we are geared to receive information, evaluate it, produce
intelligence and react 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Nobody in the Agency, from the analysts to the Director,
is guaranteed a night's uninterrupted sleep, or an unbroken
week-end.
WORKING WITH THE FBI-
Q As we understand it, the Central Intelligence Agency
does not run clandestine operations of any kind within the
United States. Is that left entirely to the FBI?
A The CIA has the responsibility for conducting opera-
tions outside the country; the FBI has as its principal mis-
sion the internal security of the United States and its pos-
sessions:
't'here is, of course, close co-operation and considerable
interplay between our organizations, because we are com-
batting an international conspiracy whose operations and
agents move back and forth between this country and for-
eign nations. The FBI and CIA therefore work very closely
together and keep each other intimately informed on items
of potential interest or concern to each other. This allows
us to combat international conspiracy in the most effective
possible manner.
The division of responsibility for clandestine operations,
of course, should not be confused with the perfectly overt
contacts CIA has domestically-for example, with experts
in the professional world to discuss international situations
and exchange analyses.
Q Do you work largely in a vacuum, with little or no
contact with the rest of the Government outside the intelli-
gence community?
A By no means. It is inherent in the concept of a Cen-
tral Intelligence Agency that any branch of the. Govern-
ment which has a legitimate need for information can call
on us for it. By the same token, when we need expertise
to help us in evaluation, or in the accomplishment of any
of our missions, we will not hesitate to go anywhere in
the Government or outside it, within the limitations of se-
curity. where we might expect to find the necessary help.
But our closest ties, of course, are within the intelligence
community, and to the top officials of the executive branch.
Q What form do your intelligence reports take?
A We disseminate finished intelligence in an infinite
variety of formats, tailored to specific purposes. I reported
frequently in person, of course, to the President and to the
National Security Council. I have mentioned the Estimates,
and our "55-foot shelf" of basic background information.
In addition, we have daily, weekly and monthly publica-
tions, some global in scope, some for a specific country or
crisis. When the situation is truly critical, I have on occa-
sion ordered situation reports as often as every hour on the
hour, around the clock. Then there are individual memo-
randa which give us great flexibility in scope, format, dead-
lines and distribution. And we also turn out studies in depth
which are the equivalent of a scholarly book or a doctoral
dissertation. Various publications have dissemination lists,
depending on their sensitivity and purpose, which range
from less than half a dozen copies to hundreds.
Q What is the "ancestry" of the CIA in U. S. intelli-
gence activities? Does it operate differently from its prede-
cessors?
A The Agency grew from the need to establish a cen-
tralized and objective intelligence organization in peace-
time. A primary impetus, of course, was the experience of
Pearl Harbor, and the determination to insure against such
surprises in the future.
The requirement for a centralized organization stemmed
from the successful experience during World War II of the
Office of Strategic Services under General Donovan. The
requirement was made all the more real by the threat
posed by an evangelistic international Communism which
became readily apparent shortly after the close of World
War H. There was general agreement within the Govern-
ment that there was need for a nonpartisan co-ordinating
agency in the intelligence field. As a result, the CIA was
created in 1947.
In some respects the Office of Strategic Services of World
War II was our ancestor, but it did not have CIA's responsi-
bility for co-ordinating the work of the entire intelligence
community, or our requirement for across-the-board cover-
age.
0 Does CIA have anything that might be called regu-
lations to govern its activities? Who prescribes them?
A Is there a Government agency nearly 20 years old
that doesn't have a rule book? Start with the original legis-
lation, which spells out the mission of CIA and provides
that we function at the behest and under the control of
the President and the NSC. Under that charter, CIA is
governed by several layers of regulations known as the
"Nonskids," or National Security Council Intelligence Di-
rectives; the DCID's, or Director of Central Intelligence
Directives, issued by the Director in his capacity as chair-
man of USIB, and head of the intelligence community; and,
finally, as in the case of any other governmental component,
CIA's own Agency regulations.
HELP FROM "BEST BRAINS"-
Q Do you have any counsel or advisers outside the
Government?
A We have several panels of technical experts, both in-
side and outside the Government, to keep us informed on
new developments and techniques which could be of use
to us. On these panels are the best brains in this country,
on virtually the entire range of human endeavor. We con-
tract for studies and research projects, wherever in the
United States these can best be performed.
CIA has long made it a practice to discuss its evaluations
of the international situation with top men in the civilian
world. We have done a great deal of this, but we must do
still more. One of my last acts with the Agency, for in-
stance, was to order even greater interchange with the non-
governmental experts on China.
Q Have you found that the sporadic criticism, along the
lines that spying is a devious business and that CIA op-
erates without any control, has made people reluctant to
work with you?
A I have found no measurable reluctance on these
grounds, although there is always the more general concern
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