FOREIGN POLICY: DISQUIET OVER INTELLIGENCE SETUP

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80-01601R000300160001-4
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 9, 2016
• Document Release Date: December 29, 2000
• Sequence Number: 1
• Publication Date: January 22, 1971
• Content Type: NSPR

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Followbi is the fifth Na .series of articles etploring t11e' behind-the.-scenes- : negotia
'
.Nixon Adrrtilristration's style in foreign policy:
-By BFINJAMIN WELLES
and the President
s re
warning to MoSCow not
service nuclear armed s'
...Special to The New York Times - . - ' l "in or front" Cuban bases.
WASHINGTON, . Jail. 21 ---`per cent of the total, or about Career. officials .in the ii
presidentNixon has become $4-billion, about $2.5-billion of mlin, itho reporters in;rbustit
dissatisfied with the size cost it on the strategic intelligence
and the rest on tactical. It con- views over several moi
and loose coordination of the tri'outes at least 150,000 mein- with Federal officials
Government's v; orlclwide in-. hers of the intelligence staffs, deal daily with intelligi
telligence operations. which are estimated at 200,000 matters, with men ret
front intelli
ence careers
g
According g to :.lnernbers of people.
active duty
Overseeing all the activities with solute on.
his staff, he believes that the is the c United States Intelli- dicate that President N'.
intelligence provided to help gence board, set tip by secret and his chief advisers ap
hint formulate foreign policy, order by President Dwight D. ciate the need for high-gi
while occasionally excellent,' Eisenhower in 1956 to coordi- intelligence and constune
is not good enough, day afterinate intelligence exchanges, eagerly:
day to u.stif its share of decide collection priorities, as- The community, for inste
' 1 Y sign collection tasks and help has been providing the P.
the budget. rrr.nara v,h^t ar known as na- dent with exact statistics
i'll. i'UXOIl, )L IS SO.IO, na.s tie-'itio,lal intelligence estimates.
gun to decide foe himself what The chairn]art of 'the board,
J
sought to comprehend the of Henry A: Kiss ger, e
vast, - sprawling conglomera-i I resident s advise., on nation-
. The President and -It!- aides
are said to suspect wide.
spread overlapping, duplica-
tion and considerable "boon-
doZ, gling" in the secrecy-
shrouded intelligence "com-
munity." ;..
In addition to ` the C.I.A.,
they include the intelligence
arms of the Defense, State
and Justice Departments and
the Atomic Energy Commis-
- sion. Together they spend $3.5-
billion a year on strategic intel-
ligence about the Soviet Union,
Con]nwaist China and other
countries that might har,m the
nation's security.
N hen' tactical intelligence
-' in Vietnam and Germany and
ret;onnaissance by overseas
commands is included, the a`n-
rinal figure exceeds $5-billion,
experts say. Tl
]5artment spend n 0
Lion of agencies, ' Nor, they
say, has he decided how bast
to use their technical re-
soures and pet?sonnel?---much
of it talented----iii formulating
policy.
Two Cases in Point
Administration use --- albeit,
tardy u.sc--of vast resources in
numbers, deployment
characteristics of Soviet
official observed: "Henry's im-
patient for facts."
Estimates in New Form
In the last year Mr. Nixon
and Mr. Kissinger have or-
dered a revision in the national
intelligence estimates, "which
are prepared by the C.I.A. after
consultation with the other in-
sance planes to help police -tile' telligence agencies. ' Some on
Arab-Israeli cease-fire of last future Soviet strategy have
August is considered a case in, been ordered radically revised
point. Another was poor int~lli= by,Mr. Kissinger.
gence coordination before .the Our kne .vledge of present
abortive Sontag prison er-cf-j Soviet capabilities . allows
war raid of No. 21,' at which), Ieniy and' others to criticize
time the C.I.A. was virttiall us for sole sponginess about
shut out of Pentagon planning. predicting future Soviet pol-
By contrast, the specialists icy," an informed source con-
point out, timely intelligence 11ceded. "It's pretty -lard to look
s in decision_makinc down the road with the same
hel
p
fl
i art or ,ne ~umltusLrr Ivu s tl~ e vn Llle 1ate
;G l .' ~, aboot
b0-rullllon to
~ t
t
-o
ree 10 per cen
marine buildupt Cicnft:egos, put and oiganication 0
the Intelligence )tioI?lties 'ii:ilStu,'ho is the President's I'C')I'c.'siles, nuclear subiliarInes
1
.t
a rpower for the talks with
ibe and where the money slloulda.:ntative, is the. Director of usslans on the Ji.mitativr
be spent, instead of ie.avillg itJ!Central Intelligence, at preset t ~tr2te,aiC armt.
J ichard I'lelms. The other incrn
hrgely (o the intelligence cal]t "We couldn't get off
hers are Lieut. Gen. Donald V. ground at the talks wit!
nsunit} lie has instructed.his~hennett, head of the Defense )histic
wit:
- so1
staff to survey the situai.ion Intelligence Agency; Ray S. this extremely
and re )ore back v?i'i-fn 7 ~'e it Cline, director of intelligence formation base," . an off
1 L 1
it is ]loped-v.recomacn-:and research at the State De commented. "We don't give
partracnt; Vice ' Adm. Noel our negotiators round figures
dations for budget cuts of as
Gayle- head of the National g
much as several. lurlldrecl nlil-I Security Agency; Howard C. --about 300 of this weapon.
lion dollars. mown Jr., an assistant general We get -it down' to the '284
Not many years ages the manager at the Atomic Energy here, here and -here.' When
Commission and William C. our people sit clown to nego
Cetitra.l Intelligence - A';.ncv bate with the Russians' they
SullivJn, a deputy director of
.and the ' other ititelli~;ence the Federal Bureau of Investi- know all about the Russian
bureaus wCre'portrayed as an ,gation. strategic threat to the U.S.--
are aware that's the way to negotiate."
'' irl isible empire" controltill,?,' Intelligence Inert
- 'of the President's disquiet, Too much intelligence has
fot?eit;ri -polio behind a veil its clrav.backs, some sources
httt they sa that until nova saY, for it whets the of secrecy. Now the pendu say Admirl-
~-h his term
litre has swung --haif-way thz?au ----he has never seriously} istratlott's appetite. Speaking
th
Helms Said to late Hir h ? .
? Sources close to the White
House. say that Mr. Nixon
and his foreign-policy advisers
---Mr.. Kissinger and Secretary
of State William P.. Rogers
and Secretary of Defense
Melvin R. Laird--respect the
professional competence. of
Mr. Hellas, who is 57 and is
the first career Had of the
Central Intelligence- Agfency.
Appointed by President
Lyndon. D. Johnson in June,
1.966, Mr. Helms has been
essentially apolitical. He. is
said to }lave brought profes-
sional ability. to bear ' in
"lowering the profile" of the
agency, tightening .discipline
and divesting it of.. many
fringe activities that have
aroused criticism in Congress
and - among the. public. His
standing with Congress and
among the professionals is
high. . .
According to White Houe
sources, President Nixon,
backed by the Congressional
leadership, recently offered
4ir. Helms added authority to
coordinate the activities of
the other board me;nbers. He
is reported to have declined.
A major problem, according
to those who know the -situa-