SOME REACTIONS TO THE NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE DAILY

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80B01495R000600120004-2
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 4
• Document Creation Date: January 4, 2017
• Document Release Date: June 30, 2005
• Sequence Number: 4
• Publication Date: September 25, 1973
• Content Type: MEMO

Approved For Release 2005/07/22 : CIA-RDP80BO1495R000600120004-2
BEST COPY
A VAILABLE
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 Approved For Rel 2005/07/22: CIA-RDP80B01495R0J00120004-2
CIA INTERNAL USE ONLY
25 Septer?ber 1973
SUBJECT: Some Reactions to the National Intelligence Daily
1. I took three sample copies of this publication to `hc
EOB last week to elicit some reactions from NSC Staffers.
2. Hal Sonnen eidt was negative. He thought it wou:t.<
very difficult to educate readers away from the skeptica1 -
samptions with which they approach newspapers. When I coui.,c.
most Americans were used to taking in nformtior. vi=. ~-..
format, his answer was that they are used to receiving a
;,.;ally organized and unreliable data in this format. :ae r.
to say that governmen officials are used t,y reccvinc,
aria reliable information. , the form of gov,!rnment. doci-m- .
Twenty r: inutes of discussion about the flex bile -y aid
:.ages of the newspaper format did not alter Hal ` s rear-.-
3. Andy Marshall was favorable. He seemed to ap;
the newspaper as a sign of innovation. He thought it w?..,.
all right to absorb into the newspaper the specializes r ,. ~?,e .
publications in which he bas had a strong i.zteresz. he
w . s
.rush concerned with the problem, that bothered Sonnenfeld-`.
hoped that the capacity available in a newspaper would
us to present competing lines of analysis.
4. Andy called me a couple of days later to exprt.-:;
cern which had occurred to him on further reflection. .. v .
worried lest the need to fill up all that space would lean
to more reportage at the expense of analysis. I told him r1
we too were concerned about this and would be mindful of
tendency. Andy did not want this reservation to cancel 1;-
generally favorable reaction.
5. Larry Eagleburger was tied up in drafting Kissinc,e;, .,
UN speech and I did not get to spe him
Deputy Director or current Intel-LI, -C
STAT
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CIA INTERNAL USE ONLY
25 September 1973
MEMORANDUM OF CONVERSATION
SUBJECT: NSC Staff Reaction to the NID Proposal
Yesterday I talked for over an hour with Hal Saunders,
the NSC senior staffer for Middle East and South Asia, and
two of his assistants, Hank Appelbaum and Rosemary Niehuss.
I displayed the sample copies of the NID, explained the
origin of the proposal and what we hoped to accomplish with
it, and solicited their ideas.
Their reactions were essentially negative. Saunders
initially said that the quality of the product rather than
the format of the publications is the problem he is inter-
ested in; he subsequently went on to indicate that he does
not really see a high-level reader finding this medium very
useful or attractive. He cited the fact that the President
reads only page-size summaries of press and other items.
Saunders also expressed the feeling, which we have heard
before, that the newspaper format diminishes the credibility
of our reportage because of the association in the reader's
mind with the commercial press.
The concerns of the junior staffers centered on the
part of our proposal that calls for the NID to replace the
present variety of current intelligence publications they
receive. They were not entirely reassured by the idea that
the Red CIB, fortified with significant matter now only in
the Black version, would continue to be available. I also
held out the prospect of a Middle East/Africa and other
divisional publications which we could tailor to the needs
of special customers such as the NSC staff.
The juniors too professed to be turned off by the news-
paper format, although they were willing to admit that it
might be convenient for a high-level scanner. They urged
us to try something like the present CIWR which they regard
as a superior publication, as a daily.
Chi , i e East Africa Division, OCI
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CIA INTERNAL U;;.I.; C*11,Y
 Approved ForRelease 2005/07/22 : CIA-RDP80B014f000600120004-2
25 September 1973
MEMORANDUM FOR: Director, Office of Current Intelligence
SUBJECT NSC Staff Comments on OCI Newspaper
1. On 24 September I briefed Bill Jorden,
Senior NSC Staff Officer for Latin America, on the
National Intelligence Daily and showed him the sample
copies. His reaction was mixed, but somewhat more
positive than negative.
2. Bill expressed misgivings about the adjust-
ment that readers would have to make to receiving
their intelligence in newspaper form and expressed
concern about security aspects. He noted, for
example, that anyone like himself who talks fre-
quently with newsmen and foreign diplomats has trouble
keeping track of where he learned certain bit of in-
formation. Iiis system is to recall the format of
the report he read, i.e., in his mind's eye he sees
either a paragraph in "official" form (as in a cable
or CIB item) or a news column, the latter signifying
to him that the information is in the public domain.
He would have to retrain himself if he were reading
the Daily daily. He was also concerned that some
people might make assumptions about this newspaper,
particularly if not properly briefed, that they
commonly make about newspapers in general, e.g.,
that the information is not as reliable as official
reporting or that the stories are subject to inter-
pretive bias.
3. Nonetheless, Bill recognized the advantages
of the more flexible and timely format and said he
was "intrigued" by the approach. In discussing his
initial reservations, he suggested that he might be
more conditioned by past experience to expect tradi-
tional forms than he should be. In any case, he
thought the new venture was worth a try.
unier
Western Hemisphere Division
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ADMINISTRATIVE - INTERNAL 1K;1,; (AILY