NOTE TO BILL FROM HAROLD L. BROWNMAN

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP75B00380R000600190018-1
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 4
• Document Creation Date: December 9, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 24, 2001
• Sequence Number: 18
• Publication Date: May 18, 1974
• Content Type: NOTES

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Director of Central
nte11 ig nc~e
I think he has a refreshing STATINTL
poi .t of View. The note is worth
reading and maybe you would like to talk
with Bob--tae my guest.
The author of this ,a
Att: DD/NMgS 74-1795
.. x7726)
DD/M&S 7D-26 Jigs x5454 5/13/74
Attachment: DD/M&S 74-1795, dtd 9 May 1974, Note from
STATINTL Blake, Brownman, re Classification Legislation
)istribution:
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Mr. Blake r
PM.r. Brownman
9 May 1974
A number of bills have been introduced into both Houses of
the Congress dealing with Freedom of Information, Classification
of information and other subjects which will, if enacted, so
.impede the intelligence apparatus that there is serious doubt
it will be able to function at all, much less function effectively.
It is high time that someone in this organization begin to think
constructively about what we need in the way of positive legis-
lation and Executive Order to permit the effective functioning of
an "American Intelligence Service" within the bounds of the
Constitutional Freedoms and the neo-interpretations of them.
Freedom of Information, individual privacy, employee rights,
the open society,. all are subjects which concern the Congress
but have concerned the Agency only reactively; bills are intro
duced and we seek exemption. We make no effort to get out in
front of Congress; we concentrate on trying to preserve what we
have, and as. a consequence look what we are becoming. Twenty-five
years have been devoted to immunizing and insulating CIA as an
institution, and its population as individuals, from the evolu-
tionary and riotous changes that have engulfed the society at
large. We have made a fetish of our uniqueness and it has made
us aloof. To be aloof is to be abstinent; to be abstinent is to
be stagnant; to be stagnant is to be indolent; to be indolent is
to be indifferent; to be indifferent is to be mediocre; and that's
where we are headed if we are not already there. Not only are we
content to remain what we have become, we are intent upon it. We
don't look for ways to make change, we search exhaustively for
ways to prevent it. We delude ourselves that the manipulation
of trappings is organic change.
Most of the basic legislative and Executive instruments
which constitute the charter of the intelligence apparatus were
conceived and written in the late 40's and early 50's during the
transition from hot to cold war.
Start with the National Security Act of 1947 and note that
the title itself is antiquated. The meaning of national security
in 1974 is significantly different from its meaning in 1947, al-
most: as different as the transposition of the numbers which com-
prise the dates. How it differs precisely is difficult to
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articulate; the term was not defined in 1947 and I find no
definition in 1974. Certainly the 1947 concern was more
directly related to open hostility against the United States
than it is in 1974. Military overtones and connotations are
implicit as well as explicit in the language of the statute
and its legislative history.
The Director's "Perspective of the Intelligence Environment"
and "Key Intelligence Questions" include references to inter-
national trade and finance, narcotics, environmental crises,
terrorism, marine pollution and others. KIQ's talk about the
oil problem, crop prospects, potential shortages of natural
resources, international economic competition, and agricultural,
industrial (including R&D) and energy policies. In his recent
address to the Los Angeles World Affairs Council, Mr. Colby
talked about the changing character of American Intelligence.
"It must. warn our Government of new generations of intercontinental
ballistic missiles being developed, it must be attentive to foreign
economic threats to America's strength and well-being, and it must
identify political problems around the world which. can adversely
affect our interests." The key phrase is "well-being". Later in
the same talk he says, "it (intelligence) is designed to help us
to achieve and to live in peace, rather than only to protect us
in time of war." The emphasis has to shift from "protecting the
national security" to "promoting the general welfare." The place
to start is with the legislation.
Maybe intelligence shouldn't serve the Executive Branch.
exclusively; maybe the National Security Council should be
abolished; maybe the principle of separation of powers shouldn't
apply to intelligence; maybe there should be a joint commission
on intelligence composed of the Speaker of the House, the
President of the Senate, and the President. But that goes far
afield from what started this discourse. It started with pro-
posed legislation dealing with classification.
A couple of the bills before the Congress would write into
law the concepts, principles, and definitions of "National Security
Information" contained in Executive Order 11652 and would wrest
from the Executive Branch and place with the legislative control
over classification and declassification of information. The
Agency tactic probably will be to try to persuade the Congress
that CIA should be exempt. In considering these bills one has
to wonder about the current validity of the definitions of-
security information and the Top Secret, Secret, and Confidential
classifications. Definitions contrived in the early fifties have
been slightly modified in the early seventies but still seem
heavily weighted toward hostilities, military affairs and the
national security; national security information is defined in
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terms of the national defense or foreign relations. No matter
hoti,; liberally the terminology is interpreted it still requires
imagination or stretching beyond any resemblance to literal
meaning if it is to include under the umbrella narcotics, crop
.prospects, potential shortages of natural resources, agricultural,
environmental and energy information. In my judgment these topics
cannot legitimately be included within the current definitions of
Top Secret, Secret, and Confidential. Much of the data we produce
in this Directorate doesn't fit within them very well either
despite the fact that we have forced it to fit for 25 years.
Since the connotations of anything Secret are abhorrent to
modern society, rather than redefine the same old terms we should
look for some new ones. Since the distinctions between the three
levels of security information are artificial anyway, and since
differences in the controls have eroded over time, perhaps we
don't need three levels; perhaps we should stop thinking in terms
of levels and begin thinking about it in some other way entirely.
Perhaps "Privileged" would be a suitable term to apply to person-
nel, medical, security and much of the other data we produce in
this Directorate. The application of the term can be extended as
far as the boundaries we choose to define for it. Perhaps we
could use "Sources" as a classification; "Methods" as another; or
perhaps "Intelligence Information" is a sufficient classification.
Clearly it will take a great deal more thought than I have given
it to develop terms and their definitions. The specifics are not
of immediate concern; the concepts are.
I would like to suggest that the concepts be presented to
Mr. Colby with a recommendations that:
a.. he task the General and Legislative Counsels
to develop new legislation to replace the National
Security and CIA Acts, or so much of them as is re-
quired to make them fit his notion of an "American
Intelligence Service"; and
b. he task someone else to review pertinent
Executive Orders, in particular 11652, and revise
them in the same spirit.
RHW
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