REMARKS OF GENERAL CHARLES P. CABELL AT THE TWELFTH ORIENTATION COURSE 3 NOVEMBER 1953

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP78-03362A001100060021-8
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 3
• Document Creation Date: December 9, 2016
• Document Release Date: April 10, 2001
• Sequence Number: 21
• Publication Date: November 3, 1953
• Content Type: SPEECH

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REMARKS OF
GENERAL CHARLES P. CABELL
AT THE
TWELFTH ORIENTATION COURSE
3 November 1953
Six months ago I addressed the Tenth Agency Orientation Course.
I then gave my impressions of CIA as it looked to me after a very
short period as a part of the Agency. It has been a useful and
necessary exercise on my part to take stock after six months, and maybe
you too will be interested in the results. So, let us take another
look at those first impressions to see how, if at all, they have
changed.
At the time of that previous talk last May, I had actually been
a full-fledged official of CIA only a matter of days, although before
being sworn in, I had spent about two months being briefed by indi-
viduals-from all-parts of the various elements of the Agency. I pointed
out that I had been struck by the great devotion to duty displayed by
all of those to whom I had talked in CIA, and remarked on the absence
of "clock watchers" and people just filling in time. My closer associa-
tion with the people in CIA has reinforced that first impression. It
has confirmed to my satisfaction their unusually high motivation.
I don't believe that I have ever seen a group more dedicated to the
tasks that face them and more selfless in their desire to serve and
get their jobs done. Their willingness to work as long as necessary to
complete the assignment that is before them, to revise and refine, time
after time, in order that the product shall represent the very best of
which they are capable; that is the good, solid foundation that this
Agency has developed and it will permit continuing development throughout
the coming years.
As the Old-Timers among you will know, CIA has had its full share
of reorganizations. In 1952 we had our last major reorganization--the
one that put in their present form the co onents of the Agency with
which you are familiar: the DD/P, the DD7, and the DD/A, the Office
of Training and the Office of Communications. We have now lived with
this organization for over a year, and while there have been necessary
minor changes and adjustments, it has proved itself to be sound and
workable. It is unlikely that there will be any major upheavals in the
foreseeable future. There will, however, be changes. We cannot
stagnate. Once we settle down and say, "This is perfect and no further
improvements can be made," then we have come to a standstill and have
lost the ability to grow and progress. What is even more important,
the Director and I are very much aware that there are weaknesses which
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only careful administrative readjustments and better practices can do
away with, and we intend to take all the steps that we can to secure
here and
their correction. We can, therefore, expo to see minor changes
there in both organization and administration.
Looking back again to what I said last May, I voiced my enthusiasm
about taking over my job. I looked upon it as a most important job,
one that presented a tremendous challenge. With six months of it behind
me, dealing intimately with the problems of this Agency and working
closely with its members, I can see very clearly that "I didn't know
the half of it." This is an organization that deals with many facets
of government activity. The straight intelligence side I had been
familiar with for years as Director of Intelligence for the Air Force,
and as Director of the Joint Staff. It is an activity that has long
interested me very much. The special operations side was one with
which I was almost completely unfamiliar, but about which I am learning
more and more as time goes on. It is impossible to stress too strongly
the importance of accurate and timely strategic intelligence. The
decisions reached by the President and the National Security sCouncil
lb to
must be based on something more than educated guesses,
produce the necessary information, properly evaluated, which will enable
the heads of this government to make important foreign policy decisions.
That intelligence must be scrupulously worked up to ensure its accuracy.
Furthermore, it must be timely. A piece of intelligence otherwise per-
fectly done and completely accurate is no good, if it arrives too late
to used.
execution. But then
inntortheiraplanninglearning
ingenuity rthatspecial
care e and i g y
we cannot talk about them!
I am particularly pleased to see the new people le ofd to depend on
who are coming along to do the work. Originally
some of the old hands from OSS, Army, Navy, Air Intelligence, and State
to get the "know how" so necessary in intelligence work. We are now.,
through our own training program, developing new professionally
officers, both men and women, who are well equipped to join this
profession. We have produced, and are continuing to produce, intelligence
officers with a combination
ntsof training nsolid intelligence estimates,candted
upon to make sound judgm , produce
carry out effective operations.
We have gone to some lengths to set up a Career Service Board to
ensure that our people are most advantageously placed from their point
of view and ours, that their service is well rounded, and that they have
a chance to develop themselves to the utmost. At the same time an
effective Career Service Program will assure those who are best suited
to this type of work that, in continuing in it, they will have before
them a good solid professional career in government. They will have a
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career of which they can be justly proud, both because of the growing
recognition of the significance of their, contribution to the national
welfare, and because of the inner satisfactions which come from doing
a job that one knows to be important. But this career service goal
imposes on us, as an Agency, another responsibility: We must be highly
selective in our recruitment of new people. The very process of clearing
applicants weeds out a great many. It is pretty much the case of "Many
are called but few are chosen." Those of you who have been chosen,
therefore, represent the cream of the crop, and we already have an invest-
ment in you. As such you are a force to be carefully trained and nourished
in what has already become the tradition of U. S. Intelligence. And we
speak proudly of this developing tradition. Because you have been
carefully chosen, you on your side have the responsibility of seizing
every opportunity to increase your own fitness for the job that is
before you.
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