CASEY NEEDS CURRENT EVENTS LESSON

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00806R000100670023-2
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: September 8, 2010
• Sequence Number: 23
• Publication Date: May 24, 1985
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

STAT Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/09/08 :CIA-RDP90-008068000100670023-2
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Casey needs current events lesson
There can be no question that CIA
Director William Casey or his
speech writer knows of current
events. Ironically, while Mr. Casey
may have meant to criticize Commu-
nist subversion throughout Central
America and the world, he also suc-
ceeded in listing a substantial num-
ber of American milit..ry and
foreign policy failures.
In turn, it is these failures, listed
in geographical terms by Mr. Casey,
that have given the Soviet Union and
its partners the opportunity to gain
influence. This is known fact, and
yet Mr. Casey fails to mention this.
Dramatically, Mr. Casey attempts
to force home the seriousness of the
ever-present Communist menace by
comparing a quote of Nikita Khrush-
chevwith Adolf Hitler's Mein Kampj
- two apocalyptic visions of the
future. We may have been "reluctant
to take Hitler seriously;' and Mr.
Casey implies that we viewed Khru-
shchev's threats differently.
The irony of this remark is that
the party line of "wars of national
liberation"espoused by Khrushchev
and quoted by Mr. Casey dates back
prior to, or coinciding with, the
period in which Hitler wrote Mein
Kampj. Is this "reluctance;' as Mr.
Casey suggests in hindsight, or is it
ignorance on the part of American
policy makers?
The points outlined in Mr. Casey's
speech are nothing new. These same
concerns are conveyed in former
President Nixon's book The Real
War. While the same argument is
parroted by the CIA director, he
offers no solution. There is only
Nixonian and Reaganite rhetoric.
Later in his text, Mr. Casey men-
tions the "Soviet blueprint" for
world domination. This is an accu-
rate assumption, and it is exempli-
fied by Khrushchev's boast and is
always present in Marxist-Leninist
writings.
Without consciously stating it, Mr.
Casey elucidates the fundamental
differences between American and
Soviet foreign policies. The Soviet
Union has been adhering to a pre-
conceived plan for the past several
decades; our foreign policies change
with each administration. Giving
life to the "Soviet blueprint" is the
dedication of the Marxist-Leninist
revolutionary. We lack such brazen
dogmatism. The Soviet Union and
her partners are not weighted down
with the same code of ethics that
restrict our ability to act decisively
to protect our own interests. ,
Given these fundamental differ-
ences and our reluctance to see
through the haze, is it really that sur-
prising that the Soviet Union has
been gaining the most?
CHRISTOPHER PHILLIPS
Washington
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/09/08 :CIA-RDP90-008068000100670023-2