NATIONAL INTERDEPARTMENTAL SEMINAR ON PROBLEMS OF DEVELOPEMENT AND INTERNAL DEFENSE

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP78-06204A000100050024-9
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 8
• Document Creation Date: December 15, 2016
• Document Release Date: May 22, 2000
• Sequence Number: 24
• Publication Date: February 1, 1967
• Content Type: OUTLINE

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A R E P O R T
O N T H E
NATIONAL
INTERDEPARTMENTAL
SEMINAR
PROBLEMS Of DEVELOPMENT AND INTERNAL DEf ENSE
FOREIGN SERVICE INSTITUTE WASHINGTON, D.C.
FEBRUARY, 1,967
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NATIONAL INTERDEPARTMENTAL SEMINAR
FOREIGN SERVICE INSTITUTE
WASHINGTON, D.C.
A REPORT ON THE NATIONAL INTERDEPAR']'MENTAL SEMINAR
ON PROBLEMS OF DEVELOPMENT AND ,INTERNAI~ DEFENSE
I. Authorty_ _f__or the _LV~.tional Interdepartmental Seminar
The National Interdepartmental Seminar was established
pursuant to National Action Security Memorandum (NSAM)#163
of June 14, 1962, to provide instruction on the problems
faced by the United States in dealing with developing
countries, particularly counterinsurgency problemsU
This authority was reaffirmed in NSAM #283 of February 13,
1964, entitled, "Uo S. Overseas Internal Defense Training
Policy and Objectives," which includes the following direc-
tives with respect to the National Interdepartmental Seminar:
"Officers Assigned to Key Positions
All officers assigned to 'key positions' (as
determined by the Special Group (G I) in the under-
developed world or i.n headquarters positions re_l.ated
thereto, will receive special instruction at the
National Interdepartmental Seminar This training
wi1.l be considered. as a prerequisite for assignment
to designated 'key positions' although it will be
available to other selected personnel on a case by
case basis. Exceptiari~to this training as a pre-
requisite to such assignment may be made only by the
head of the department or agency concerned.
"National Interdepartmental Seminar
The National Interdepartmental Seminar will be
the inter--agency training center for th ase officers
assigned to ?key pasitions~' In performing this
function, the Seminar will undertake research, develop
case studa.es, and offer instruction on the manifold
problems of development and internal defense and
improve the Uo So capabi]_ity to assist underdeveloped
countries to overcome these problems In addition
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the Seminar will serve as the focal paint of the UoS~
overseas internal defense training effarto Accord-
ingly, it will undertake to assist other mare
specialized UoSo Government institutions engaged in
related training activities by developing instruc-
tional materials an the non-technical aspects of
internal defense and counterinsurgencya"
III E~ackground
The National Interdepartmental Seminar is, in all respects,
an integrated. inter-agency pragramo As such, it serves two
separate, but related, purposes--bath relevant to the train-
ing needs of the participating agenciesU
The Seminar, pursuant to NSAM #283, provides specialized
senior-level training on the problems and the use of U.S.
resources in developing countries that have particular rele-
vance to averting threats of subversive aggression4
.Beyond this specific requirement, the Seminar also serves a
broader purpose. By combining an analysis of the moderniza-
tion process and its instabilities and vulnerabilities with
illustrative country and geographic area case studies
examined in the context of U.S. interests and policy and
program choices, the Seminar offers a unique i.nterdepart-
mental approach to senior career training4
The content of the course has been carefully tailared,ta meet
its assigned objectives. Its central concern is to develop
an analytical understanding of the nature of the moderniza-
tion process, its multiple dimensions and transitional.
instabilities, the potential for exploitation of these
instabilities by internal and external farces, and the
nature and extent of United States capability to influence
the processes of change. in directions compatible with our
interests and policy objectivesm
The importance of a coordinated inter-agency approach is
given particular emphasis throughout the four-week program,
with special attention to the use and coordination of pro-
grams of the several departments and agencies as they apply
to specific problem situations and abjectivesQ
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L I M I T E D O F F I C I A.L U S E
IIIo Orc~anizativn and Method
The Faculty, under the direction of the Coordinator and the
Deputy Coordinator, consists, as does the student body, of
representatives from the five participating agencieso
Since the Seminar's inception in 1962, through the final
session of 1966, there have been a total of 1,760 graduates,
including some 35 Ambassadors. df the 386 graduates in the
six sessions of 1966, 80 were State Department participants,
57 ware from USIA, 77 from AID, 123 from tk~e Department of
Defense, and 52 from CIAa
The four-week sessions consist of lectures, case studies and
reading and, in the afternoons, so-called "country team"
sessions. These teams are small groups of officers assigned
to the same geographic area and representing, to the extent
possible, all of the component agencie s These teams are led
by a designated student chairman supported by a Faculty
Advisero The objective of the afternoon sessions is to develop
a better understanding of country team operation and to give
participants the opportunity to apply to their area lessons
learned in the course
For lecturers, NTS relies on senior officials of the
sponsoring departments and agencies, academicians and outside
specialists, as we 11 as on its own faculty.
IVo Evaluation
In order to determine the extent to which the Seminar is
meeting the needs of the students and what changes, if any,
would better meet those needs, we ask for frank evaluations
of the course through individual questionnaires and through
the Coordinator's meetings with Country Team chairmen.
In the three sessions since July, 1966, every student stated
that the course was useful in some respects] most found it
useful in most .respects; and many offered suggestions for
improvement., Several suggestions have been put into effecto
There has been broad agreement on three principal benefits
of the Seminar: that it widens the perspective from which
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policy problems and programs can be viewedr that it provides
a broader comprehension of total UPS, policy considerations;
and that it offers practical exposure to the roles and con-
cerns of other agencies. The daily opportunity to work with
colleagues from other agencies has consistently been noted
as a valuable training exper~_ence
Student reaction to the last three sessions is consistent with
the conclusions drawn from questionnaires submitted in earlier
sessions A heavy majority of the students have expressed
their belief that their time in the Seminar was well invested.
Vim. Evolution of Seminar
We continue to base the cour.,se content on the U.S. Overseas
Internal Defense Policy (OIDP) and on NSAM #p283~ On the basis
of past experience and evinced need of the student body, the
curriculum has been modified over the past two years to
increase the emphasis on analysis of the causes or roots of
social dissatisfaction and political dissension which heighten
the danger of subversion or insurgency.
To re-enforce this emphasis, the afternoon "country team"
assignments have been redirected. The narrow focus on the
problem of a single country has been changed and, in the last
session of 1966, a procedure was introduced that puts greater
stress on analysis and on the relevance of lessons learned to
each individual's more particular need
VIo The NIS as focal Point of the "United States Overseas
Internal Defense Tra~.nina Effort"
The Seminar has substantially increased its assistance to and
collaboration with other Government schools concerned with
overseas internal defense trainingo
(a) Outside lectures:
The NIS serves as a lecture bureau for other Govern-
ment schools by providing lecturers from its own Faculty or
by helping to obtain speakers when Faculty Members are not
available NIS Faculty Members have lectured in the past
year at same fourteen Government schools, providing a total
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Qf 175 lectures or seminar discussions. They have also
lectured before a number of non-Government audienceso Lectures
were given at schools of each o f the Armed Services, at CIA,
the Defense Intelligence School and AID. Same 5Q lectures
were given as Bart of regularly scheduled courses at FSIQ
(b) Part$c~:pation of instructors from military schools:
The number of instructors from military schools who
have been students at the NIS has considerably increased
Partly as a result of this closer association, the demand. for
NIS Faculty Members as lecturers at these schools has also
increasedo
In December, 1966 and January of this year,' NI5 was
called on by the National War College, the Army War College
and the Industrial College of the Armed Forces to provide
six-rnan panels far "country team" presentations and to lead
discussion groupso
The Defense Intelligence School is planning one
week of its next course around NIS presentationso
(c) Coordination Conference:
The NIS has now conducted three annual Coordination
Conferences for Directors of Training in the field of
internal defense.
The basic objective of the Coordination Conference
is to provide a forum where, through lectures and seminar
sessions, United States policies, programs and training pro-
cedures and problems can be discussed, and where the conferees
can become better acquainted with current activities and accom-
plishments of the several departments and agencies involved
in internal defense operations abroad The Conference is
designed to give maximum opportunity to exchange views and
experiences and far the conferees to evaluate tT~e needs and
requirements of the field of instruction in which they are
engaged The Conference also enables NIS to determine how
it can better fulfill its responsibilities--within limits
defined by personnel and budget ceilings.
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Participants have been unanimous in recommending
that the Coordination Conference be continued. The Fourth
Conference is scheduled far June, 1967.
This Conference is the nearest thing to a forum on
development, internal defense and taunter-subversion training
that exists in the U. So Gavernmento
(d) Advice :
The NIS has been tailed on by a number of military
schools for advice and guidance in the organization and
structuring of their courses in "caunterinsurgency~"
(e) "Transition"
The quarterly publication, prepared and issued by
NIS, is now sent to approximately 3000 UoSv Government
addressees at home and averseasa "Transition" provides
original articles and reprints of significant material an
political and economic development, internal defense and
subversive aggression
(f) .Research
During the year, the Research Section has been
reorganized and given responsibility for preparation of the
program. While little original research has been undertaken,
a reference file is maintained of work being done both in
governmental and private institutions that pertain to our
subject
(g) Bibliography:
The preparation of up-to-date bibliographic material
for distribution throughout the foreign affairs community is
under way.
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