ALSO GULLIBLE - NEW SPY MAN? HE LOVES ROSES

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP75-00001R000100080091-9
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: November 11, 2016
• Document Release Date: January 14, 1999
• Sequence Number: 91
• Publication Date: April 18, 1965
• Content Type: NSPR

anitYzed Approved For, Release CIA
105,697
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By R013ERT HILBURN '
'ALSO_1_G` LLIBLE
Star-Telegram Washington Bureau
WASHINUTON-r le z7a ion
new master spy is a gullibl
fellow, by his own account.
In the spy business, this is no
the best of traits, and in th
case of Vice Adm. William
Raborn Jr. (ret.) it might giv
a leg up to the opposition.
It might, that is, if, this weal
ness of the ,director-designate
the Central Intelligence Agenc
extended beyond his h o,b. b
which is growing roses.
Fortunately for' Raborn, an
the country,:: ,rich ;'is.: not,. th
As any hobbyist canattes4j
gullibility in pursuit of the ulti-
mate is no vice.
Raborn, who soon will take
over command of the cloak and
dagger corps, bit once and bit
hard in his zeal to coax a crop
of champion rose blossoms into
bloom.
It seems- someone told him
(with .happy malice, it later de-
veloped) that spading, old fish-
heads into the soil would work
wonders. .
Raborn promptly paid a call
upon a seafood eatery and from
its perplexed management or-
1-1
used widely throughout industry,
got results: The first 'Polaris
submarine became operational
in 1960, three years ahead of
schedule.
"lie had the knack," one of I
his subalterns of this period re-,
calls, "of getting people to do
things because they wanted to.
"It never occurred to any of
us that we were not working on
the most important project it
was possible for us to be work-
ing on on this earth."
; Says another, "We worked all'
the harder just to prove you'
don't have to have an S.O.B.
fish heads, then hired-.t h r e e1~f a wiser rose gardener as well.Lrunning a program like this."
workers to help with the fer!' Native of Decatur I Set of Talents
tilizing, Raborn, a native of Decatur, Gregarious and down-to-earth,
- ---^-- : Tex., tells thi syarn on himself. Raborn will bring this same set
The fact that he can, and does, of talents to his new assign-
ite a bit about this sea ment and at the very outset his
ll
s qu
e
, dog who became an aviator, manner will stamp a sunnier
then a submariner and now, No: image on the CIA, in contrastl,
1 snooper. to the somewhat dour impres--
In a profession well larded ,ion left by his predecessor,:
with pomposity, Admiral Ra- John A. McCone, who, is retir-,
..born achieved an early reputa-ing?
*tion as a good-humored nice But dust how well Raborn s
,guy, but one who' could still get acknowledged abilities w i 1 l
things done. serve him in the spy field has
Although he gained distinction led to some crit.iclsm.
h as a brave and gallant World . He has had no 'significant ex~
Sanitized
Approved For Relea
s
It was a hot day. The aroma
got worse the longer they toiled.
Two of the workers, overcome
with nausea, retired to the al-
ley, Raborn and the other fin-
ished the job.
The admiral went to bed that
night dreaming of rosebuds, but
rest was not to be his lot.
Growling and snarling, a pack
consisting of all the neighbor-
hood dogs descended on the rose
garden, digging up the fertiliz-
'
s prized bushes
er, and Raborn
with it. .
It was not. only the end of an
periment but the emergence
War II flattop commander, his Pericnce in intelligence activ-
biggest naval achievement was ities, and there are those who
the Polaris submarine, which feel a military man should not
remains one of the prime de- have charge of the CIA, al-
~ ere s
terrents to all-out nuclear war. through th i precedence for
this. (Gen. Walter Bedell Smith'
! It was Raborn who was, rhos-
occupied the post in the early;
en late in 1955' to head. the
.
Navy's special projects office, 1950s )
On the credit side, in addition'
which was charged with de-
to his eminence as a "can do"!
veloping - an undersea ballistics
man, Raborn was responsible
missile.
for maintaining the secrecy of,
Raborn brought to the project
the Polaris program and the;
not only zeal but a persuasion
studying of foreign nuclear
technique that. came to be
development.
known as the "Raborn rededica- weapons
Besides, his mind is inventive
tion treatment."
and open to suggestion.
lie delivered ' pep talks
"I am not. the kind ,of man,"i
throughout the country, at every
he has been quoted as saying,)
plant and subplant that had
when he puts his pants on
anything, to do with the far- "who
in the morning thinks the whole
e
: flung program.
T
9 ,
Y
ai I report-?
'ttinued
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