MEMORANDUM FOR ASSISTANT TO THE DIRECTOR FROM EXECUTIVE ASSISTANT TO DCI DESIGNATE

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80M00165A002500050025-6
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 9
• Document Creation Date: December 15, 2016
• Document Release Date: April 14, 2004
• Sequence Number: 25
• Publication Date: March 3, 1977
• Content Type: MF

st~a ~rtty Approved For Rel a 2004/05/05: CIA-RDP80M00165A0VW00050 Re'
MEMORANDUM FOR: Assistant to the Director
FROM: Executive Assistant to DCI-Designate
The attached document is forwarded for your appropriate
action and reply to Admiral Turner's questions.
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of Central Intelligence
Functions:
The Assistant to the Director provides advice and. staff
support to the Director in all phases of the Agency's relations
with the public. He participates in and is aware of the
Agency's relations with the Congress, other parts of the
Executive Branch, public and private organizations, and the
media. In the latter aspect, he is the authorized spokesman
for the Director of Central Intelligence and for the Agency.
The A/DCI reports directly to the DCI, has the responsibility
for developing and executing coherent, thoughtful,_and
responsible policies and procedures to reflect the Agency's
obligation and desire to be responsive to the right of the
public to know, consistent with the statutory and administrative
measures for the protection of intelligence sources and methods
which are in force.
The A/DCI is Chairman of the Publications Review Board for
which the Office of the A/DCI acts as executive secretariat,
He provides advice and coordinates public appearances by all
Agency employees. He coordinates Agency assistance to authors,
researchers and journalists. This office provides the DCI with
research and archives of media materials concerning the Central
Intelligence Agency and the Intelligence Community, as well as
staff support for public appearances by the DCI and the DDCI.
Strenth:
a. As of 1 November 1976
b.
Funds:
Chief:
Approvea or a ease
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All inquiries to the Agency by the media--press, radio
and television, motion pictures, authors, etc.--are referred
to the A/DCI's office for response. This includes an
average of sixty phone calls a week.
Media representatives are assisted when possible with
unclassified information. Special background briefings,
unattributed to the Agency or intelligence sources, are
often provided when analysts are available. These briefings
take place in a special room of the A/DCI's office. Both
the media representative conducting the interview and the
Agency briefer are reminded of the ground rules before each
briefing. Such substantive briefings are not conducted by
telephone, only on Agency premises.
A list of unclassified Agency issuances is mailed to a
list of journalists and media representatives monthly.
Requests from the media for these publications are filled at
no cost to the requester. The public may obtain the same
issuances through the Library of Congress or in some instances
the Government Printing Office.
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10 February 1977
SUMMARY
(Office of the Assistant to the
Director of Central Intelligence)
Concepts
The Office of the Assistant to the Director of Central
Intelligence seeks to achieve the.broadest and deepest
public understanding of the Central Intelligence Agency, the
Intelligence Community, and the intelligence profession, and
identifies appropriate themes and audiences.
This Office is not involved in presentations or briefings
for other components of the Executive Branch or for
operational or mission-oriented activities, Rather, its
challenge is to give expression to the obligation of public
accountability that the Central Intelligence Agency has and
that has been dramatized, often unfairly, by the highly
unfavorable and damaging media coverage resulting from the
Church and Pike Committees' investigations,
In responding to the public's interest in the Agency,
this Office takes care to protect valid intelligence secrets,
particularly those relating to sources and methods which the
Director of Central Intelligence, by law, is required to
protect. This statutory requirement results in the
often-maligned "no comment" posture on some press queries and
constitutes a special element of difficulty in the fundamental
process of establishing the credibility of our press relations.
Similarly, any discussion of domestic politics or foreign
policy is scrupulously avoided. There is, however, an attempt
to find ways to make more available information which does not
violate secrecy requirements or touch on foreign or domestic
governmental policy.
Operations
+ We answer questions posed by representatives of the
news media, and provide unclassified background briefings on
selected topics for newsmen by Agency analysts.
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+ A Publications Review Board, chaired by the
Assistant to the Director, reviews manuscripts written by
Agency employees (and former employees) for non-official
publication outside the Agency.
+ Support is provided to the Director of Central
Intelligence and the Deputy Director of Central Intelligence,
and other selective speakers of the Agency, for public
addresses to promote an understanding of the intelligence
organization and process. A file of "talking points" is
maintained dealing with current problems and likely questions
from the public.
+ We support the Director of Central Intelligence in his
role as spokesman for the Intelligence Community, coordinating
public affairs aspects with representatives of other agencies
of the Executive Branch and Congress as appropriate.
+ We promote the publication of articles about the
Agency through responsive cooperation with responsible authors
and publishers when such cooperation would promote the public's
understanding of the Agency and its processes.
+ Letters are written to newspapers, journals, and other
publications to set the record straight or correct false
information about the Agency when this can be done without
jeopardizing or revealing classified information or sources
and methods.
+ Notes are released periodically to the news media
concerning matters of Agency policy, e.g. February 1976 state-
ment on the clergy and journalists.
+ We respond to persons writing to the Agency for
information on the intelligence organization and process, and
appropriate pamphlets to assist students and the public in
understanding the Agency and intelligence are maintained and
periodically updated.
+ Advice is provided to operating components on public
affairs aspects of contact by Agency personnel with the public
that occurs during the normal course of operation.
+ Unclassified reports prepared by analysts are forwarded
to the Library of Congress and made available for duplication
and sale to the public at cost, on topics that include
climatology, terrorism and Soviet defense expenditures.
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operational guidelines have evolved, such as:
1. We do not normally provide background briefings
for for.ei2n newsmen. 2. Ground rules for the briefings are
that there may be no attribution of any quotes, direct or
indirect, to the A y or Agency personae . 3. Briefings
are held only at Headquarters. 4. A list of unclassified
Agency reports is mailed t journalists and media
representatives monthly, and requests for these are filled at
no cost to media requesters.
In meeting speaking engagements, considerable care is
given to the choice of audiences to provide the best possible
forums for the Director of Central. Intelligence and the
Deputy Director of Central Intelligence. Similarly, some
television interview programs provide a better format than
others, and consideration must be given to satisfying the
requests of the networks in an even-handed way. Public
speeches by the Director of Central Intelligence and the
Deputy Director of Central Intelligence are recorded and
filed by the Assistant to the Director's Office to provide a
complete record of public utterances by these two officers.
Speakers for universities and colleges are drawn by
the Assistant to the Director from a list of Agency officials.
Smaller groups such as fraternal organizations, high school
visitation groups, etc., are addressed by an Office of
Training officer. We require a written invitation in all cases.
C-F
tA_~ /
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CIA-Connected Issues in the News
June 1976 - Present
1. COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS/NIE: Leaks to the press about the
contents of a National Intelligence Estimate on Soviet
strategic objectives claimed that outside experts
convinced CIA that Soviets were aiming for superiority and
not parity.
SWINE FEVER: Agency falsely accused of introducing swine
fever into Cuba in 1971 with major impact on Cuba's
agriculture.
5. PHILIP ACEE: Former CIA employee is the author of a book
closing CIA names and Latin American operations. He is
a perennial problem due to publicity given his criticism of
CIA activities.
6. EDWIN G. MOORE is former Agency employee who is accused of
trying to sell classified documents to the Soviets for
$200,000.
The CIA continues to be a frequent target of false
allegations by individuals in a variety of situations and out
of a variety of motives. Persons standing trial, adventurers
wishing to be admired as spies, authors and lecturers
seeking sensational publicity to promote themselves and their
writings are typical of these.
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CIA-Connected Issues in the News
1975 - Present
STAT
STAT
CHILE: Former Ambassador Edward M. Korry says everybody
lies about Chile and accused CIA of a "massive undertaking"
in the overthrow of Salvador Allende.
CUBANA. AIR LINER CRASH: CIA blamed by Cuba for sabotage of
plane in which-73 died. A Cuban exile leader and two
Venezuelans have been charged.
ASSASSINATIONS: Continuing stories on Lee Harvey Oswald
allege the Agency had information on his activities prior
to the assassination, withheld the information from the
Warren Commission, and then attempted to cover up the
withholding. In another case, an Agency release of material
in. an FOIA request triggered an AP story (picked up by TASS)
that CIA mounted a propaganda campaign to counter Commission
critics.
ROCKEFELLER AND CHURCH COMMITTEE HEARINGS:
Mail Openings
Drug Testing on Unwitting
Failure to Destroy Poisons
Domestic Surveillance of Dissidents
Assassination Plots Against Foreign Leaders
CIA-Mafia Connections
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 EXECUTIVE SECRETARIAT
Routing Slip
ACTION
INFO
DATE
INITIAL
1
DCI
2
DDCI
3
D/DCI/IC
4
DDS&T
5
DDI
6
DDA
7
DDO
8
D/DCI/NI
9
GC
10
LC
11
iG
12
Compt
13
D/ Pers
14
D/S
15
DTR
16
Asst/ DCI
17
AO/DCI
18
C/IPS
19
DCI/SS
20
D/EEO
21
22
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