COURSE REPORT/CHIEFS OF STATION SEMINAR NO. 8 31 OCTOBER - 10 NOVEMBER 1966

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP78-05795A000400030005-5
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 7
• Document Creation Date: December 9, 2016
• Document Release Date: March 20, 2001
• Sequence Number: 5
• Publication Date: December 6, 1966
• Content Type: MEMO

SECRET
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6 December 1966
MEMORANDUM FOR: Director of Training
THROUGH Chief, Operations School
SUBJECT Course Report/Chiefs of Station Seminar No. 8
31 October - 10 November 1966
REFERENCE Course Report/Chiefs of Station Seminar No. 7,
dated 29 July 1966
1. The 8th running of the Chiefs of Station Seminar was held during
the period 31 October - 10 November 1966 in Room 1A-13 in the Head-
quarters Building (see Course Schedule, Attachment A). 'There were
thirteen students, of whom two were designated as COSs; three, COBs;
seven DCOSs; and one not yet assigned (see Student Roster, Attachment B).
The length of the course was reduced by one day because Veterans Day
fell on what would have been the last day of the course. The average age
was 48. 8 years, the average length of service in the Agency was 14. 9
years, and the average grade was GS-13. 6.
2. Student critiques were, by and large, approving of the overall
thrust of the course. As usual they voted Mr. 25X1A9a
Oscar for outstanding performance. Both in the written daily critiques
and the final overall critiques, oral and written, the students made a
number of constructive suggestions for changes in the course, both from
the point of view of substance and from the point of view of technique of
presentation. In general the class tended to be impatient with the less-
structured presentations and with those that tended to be formalistic in
approach. Using these critiques as a starting point we shall proceed
with appropriate adjustments in the next running of the course. Details
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of these proposed changes are set out in a separate paragraph below.
This class seemed to be more eager than most to acquire "more
technical information which could be of use to the COS in his new job, "
as one student put it. Another commented that the class lacked exper-
ience which would have enabled them to "ask the right questions" of the
several speakers. We must bear in mind in evaluating the reactions of
this class that the majority of the class were going out as Deputy Chiefs
of Station.
3. For the record, the following units normally included in the
COS Seminar were not included this time, partly because of the holiday
which robbed us of eight hours of class time:
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k) Mr, n Trends in the International Communism
Movement.
Some of these units will be restored in future runnings of the course,
but as long as we must keep the course within the limits of two calendar
weeks, we shall always have more valid subjects to discuss than time to
discuss them.
4. The following new elements were included in this running of the
course:
valuable perspective on this subject. The following critique
by one student is typical of most: "Lively, iconoclastic and
thought-provoking. Good, stimulating discussion of what could
have been dull--thanks to ' Another commented,
"Most provocative session so far. Could use another hour on
this topic. "
c) An hour on was introduced in this
running of the course after a lapse of one year. This presen-
tation was well-received although some commented that the
subject was perhaps not of general interest.
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d) We completely revamped the presentation on the DDI
this time, with the assistance of Mr. and 25X1 Aga
the resultant package by the DDI himself, by the Director of
Current Intelligence, by the Chief of the Operations Center,
and by the Chief of the Collection Guidance Staff resulted in
a high impact presentation which was accorded high marks
by the students in their critiques.
e) Student presentations were introduced throughout the
course. Each student was asked to make a ten minute presen-
tation on any subject he chose which would illustrate an impor-
tant lesson from his operational experience. These sessions
were almost all lively and rewarding to the students and we
feel they should be continued and expanded. Not all the stu-
dents made presentations, since the time which had been
reserved for some of them had to be used for unanticipated
presentations, such as that b who tocZ5XlA9a
time out from his TDY from o chat with us about his
exploitation of the and that b 109a
the President's trip to the Far East and what it meant in terms
of work for our Stations there.
f) We re-instituted an hour of discussion on the subject of
unofficial cover and we were fortunate to have Mr~ 25X1A9a
of AF Division, who made a very forceful presen-
tation based on his personal experience, and Mr. 5X1A9a
_ DC/GCS. This hour was called useful by most stu-
dents. The following student critiques give the flavor of
student reaction to this session.
"Very worthwhile- points need 25X1A9a
stating, restating, restating... ! Let's evolve a
doctrine with authority behind it! !"
was terrific. Just the sort of material
an outgoing COS or DCOS should have in mind. "
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g) The _briefing was shifted from the usual class?-
25X1A8a room to riefing room which provided a welcome
change in scenery and made that presentation even more
effective.
h) For the first time we were fortunate in having the
DDS, who gave us a fascinating broad-brush view of the
future of the Agency from the support point of view.
i) Also for the first time we had a presentation on the
Directorate for Science and Technology. This was given
by Mr. Carl Duckett and it was unanimously applauded by
the students.
j) The FI/D presentation was preceded by a true-false
quiz which gave C/FI/D a clearer picture of lacunae in the
class understanding in the SI field, and he adjusted his pre-
sentation accordingly.
k) Lastly the presentation on Document Destruction
Facilities was enhanced by the long-awaited color film
on this subject. The film was well done and was praised
by the students.
5. Possible adjustments during the next running of the COS Seminar:
a) We should make another attempt to organize an informal
reception in the Executive Dining Room for members of the course
and senior officers of the Agency, including hopefully the Director.
Discussion with the class brought out the feeling that it would be
best to schedule such a reception from 5:00 - 6:30 P.M. on the
second Monday of the course. The reasoning is that the students
take about a week to feel really relaxed with each other in the
school setting, and that a reception on the sixth day would com-
plete this process and serve to facilitate intra-class communi-
cation during the second week of the course.
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b) We should probably show the excellent movie on the
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c) There was some feeling expressed that still more
of the factual material presented heretofore in lecture form
could be given to the class in written form. The class could
then be given time to study these presentations, and the time
when the erstwhile lecturer is in the classroom could be put
to better use in class discussion with him. We shall try to
move ahead with this suggestion in every possible area.
d) There was some sentiment that a tour of parts of the
Office of Communications and of the Cable Secretariat would
be useful, and this will be explored.
the CIA role in terms of our classical techniques. i. e
e) We would hope to institute class discussion sessions
on the subject of Station relations with Headquarters; on
various aspects of the COS's managerial and supervisory
roles; on the special problems and decisions facing a COS
during the first few days or weeks of his tour at the Station.
In addition, we should probably have some sort of panel on
the CIA role in Counterinsurgency to spark class discussion
of this important subject. We are thinking of a panel composed
of representatives from 25X1A
The point here would. be to ge way rom a orma. istic or
bureaucratic approach to Counterinsurgency and to discuss
f) The Chief Instructor was somewhat startled to discover
that there was a general demand among the students at the
last course for a briefing on the organization and leading
personnel of the Agency. On the assumption that this may
be a real need, we shall pull together materials for a short
briefing on this subject to be used if required at the next
running.
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6. Methodology. Instruction in this course is divided into two
categories, the first of whichhseerves to impart information, experience,
instructions, philosophy, and/like, while the second category serves to
bring out or elicit from the class members themselves possible answers
to problems. The second category lends itself to discussion of questions
to which there are no hard-and-fast or agreed answers. This should not
be confused with the procedure whereby students are permitted to put
questions to lecturers during the last ten minutes of the hour, since that
procedure merely serves to clarify for the benefit of the students the
strictures being imparted by the lecturer. At the last running, there
were about forty units of category one, or imparting, presentations, and
about ten category two, or problem-solving sessions. The category two
method is a good deal harder to organize and execute well, and it is more
time-consuming than the category one method. Students frequently com-
plain that in the category two method a whole hour is used and at the end
no one has told them the answer and they go away empty handed. One of
the advantages of the category two method is that it involves class participa-
tion and tends to force students to think problems through themselves. We
have by no means arrived at a firm formula as to the best proportion of
category one and category two sessions, and we shall probably continue
to experiment with this for many runnings to come. Attached are the
critiques of the students in this course on the case studies used this time
(Attachment C). It is apparent from these comments that we still have
some work to do in perfecting these case studies and problems.
ief Instructor 11
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Attachments: (w/orig. only)
A. Course Schedule
B. Student Roster
C. The Use of Case Studies
HT/OS/TR/ meh
Distribution:
Orig - DTR
1 - DDP/TRO
1 - C/OS/TR
1 - R/TR
1 - HT/OS/TR
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