REMARKS BY E. HENRY KNOCHE DEPUTY DIRECTOR OF CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE-DESIGNATE AT AMERICAN LEGION CONVENTION WATERLOO, ILLINOIS JUNE 12, 1976

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP91-00901R000600030005-7
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 15
• Document Creation Date: December 19, 2016
• Document Release Date: October 18, 2005
• Sequence Number: 5
• Publication Date: June 12, 1976
• Content Type: SPEECH

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Remarks by
E. Henry Knoche
Deputy Director of Central intelligence-Designate
at
American Legion Convention
Waterloo, Illinois
June 12, 1976
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Ladies and gentlemen:
It is indeed a great honor and a pleasure to be with you here
this evening.
Far be it from me to display before this gathering of seasoned
military veterans something as boring as organizational charts or
schematic diagrams about the workings of intelligence.
Instead, I'd like to talk to you about what intelligence really
is, why America must continue to have an intelligence service second
to none in the world, and what the role of that service is in government.
Like most of you here, I have served in uniform -- in World
War I I and the Korean conflict. But I'm not here because I 'm an old
hand as a Naval officer; I 'm here because I'm an old hand in the
intelligence business.
When the President recently nominated me to be the Deputy
Director of the Central Intelligence Agency, I had served in that Agency
for 23 years.
Most of my service has been with intelligence analysis rather
than with the operational side -- or the clandestine side, if you will.
As an assistant to Director Colby I gained valuable insight into the
Agency's relationships with our Congress, since that duty linked me to
the various inquiries into CIA last year.
In another recent assignment, I served as Director Bush's
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Associate Deputy for the Intelligence Community, helping to coordinate
the government's intelligence components, including the military, the
State Department and the CIA.
So, I come to you tonight not only as an enthusiastic
intelligence officer, but also as one who has had the advantage of
seeing the many different aspects of the business.
Ever since the earliest days of recorded history, societies have
survived by more than just armed might -- they have survived by
knowledge. The Bible says: "...the Lord spoke unto Moses saying, send
thou men that they may search the land of Canaan... (to) see the land,
what it is, and the people that dwelleth therein; whether they be stronq
or weak, few or many......
Joshua later sent two men to spy secretly in Jericho. They
spent their while in the house of Rahab the harlot. In the best
tradition, Rahab protected the spies, misled the King of Jericho as to
their whereabouts, and allowed them to complete their mission without
ever once revealing their names. (Some say this story, told so well in
Joshua 2, shows that intelligence is the world's second oldest profession. )
In the world of today -- and in that of tomorrow -- our country
cannot afford to be blind or deaf to the preparations of potential enemies.
Our government needs solid facts and judgements on which to base its
policies and plans if it is to remain strong and free. And make no mistake
about it: every nation on this planet, whether strong or not, whether
free or not, uses intelligence information to improve its position.
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What is intelligence, then?
Is it just a collection of facts? I s it a single report from some
mysterious secret agent in some foreign land? Is it one brilliant
dispatch from one of our diplomats abroad? Is it a fact from an
encyclopedia or a pearl of information pried from an old book in the
library of Congress?
Actually, any or all of these may be part of intelligence.
But I have left out a major part, one that is far less glamorous
than what most people think of when they hear the word "intelligence"
or the abbreviation "CIA."
That unsung part is the evaluation or analysis -- by studious
and informed people -- of a great many pieces of information. The CIA
analyst gathers as many of these facts as he can find, he adds a
healthy dash of his own wisdom and, yes, imagination, and he turns out
what we call intelligence judgements or assessments. These are produced
objectively without fear or favor. We call them as we see them, regardless
of whether or not our political leaders will consider the judgements to be
good news or bad.
The United States has carried on foreign intelligence activities
since the days of George Washington. During the Revolutionary War, in
a letter to one of his intelligence officers, Colonel Elias Dayton,
Washington wrote on July 26, 1777: "The necessity of procuring good
intelligence is apparent and need not be further urged. All that
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remains for me to add is that you keep the whole matter as secret as
possible. For upon secrecy, success depends in most enterprises of
the kind, and, for want of it, they are generally defeated."
It was Pearl Harbor that dramatically focused American
attention on the need for a unified national intelligence service capable
of putting together facts, analyzing them, and disseminating the
findings to those empowered to take actions. Before the Second World
War, the United States had what could be called departmental intelligence.
The War Department had military intelligence, the Navy Department had
naval intelligence, and the Department of State produced, in effect,
diplomatic intelligence.
But, in today's terminology, no one was "getting it together.
All of the information that might have led an analyst to conclude that
the Japanese intended to attack Pearl Harbor was available in Washington.
But it was not in one place for an analyst to study; it was instead in bits
and pieces all over town, separate fragments carefully controlled by each
department. Without being fused together, the fragments were useless.
It was information, not intelligence.
After the War, it was clear that the United States was going to
continue to need information and intelligence on developments abroad
and that a central organization was needed to ensure that we were never
again caught by surprise as at Pearl Harbor. Many of you in this
audience can remember those days and how deep was P merica's commit-
ment never to be surprised again.
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And so, to create a centralized intelligence facility and a
unified military department, President Truman signed into law the,
National Security Act of 1947 creating CIA and the Department of
Defense.
Years later, in 1964, l had occasion to visit President Truman
in his offices not too far from here, in Independence, Missouri. He
reminisced about his role in establishing CIA, and in his inimitable
manner he told me: "The State Department and the military services
separately had bits of information I couldn't get my hands on, and I
needed an agency that could put the pieces together and tell me what
was going on. So, I set up the CIA. It was that simple."
All of you, I am sure, are aware of the battering our Agency
has taken in the last 18 months. We have been charged with nearly
every offense imaginable, from "massive" domestic spying to being
unable to warn our nation of impending attack.
(If you can imagine it, some individuals even made headlines
by claiming first-hand knowledge that the CIA once captured three beings
from outer space who had come on a peaceful mission. The charge was
that we put them in a freezer to make them talk -- and they died instead.
Another claim was that we had found and pilfered the remains of Noah's
ark and that the artifacts are somewhere in the basement of our
headquarters in the Virginia countryside to this day. )
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Yes, all too often only the accusations and the allegations
make the headlines. The denial and the truth of the matter never
seem to be heard. After all, someone's claim that we captured three
beings from outer space or that we found Noah's ark may make a good
story. But how many readers would be fascinated by the fact that we
did neither. It's something like a report that the Second National Bank
was not robbed today.
I hope that the American people never come to believe unfounded
allegations simply because they have appeared in print or because they
have been repeated so often. That sort of technique works in closed
societies. We must not allow it to work here.
I may be biased -- being a long-time CIA professional. But I
want you good people to know and share my pride in the men and women
of CIA who -- throughout the battering -- never flagged in their
dedication and professionalism. The President and his advisors
continued to be well-served by CIA information and judgements pertaining
to the international scene.
Sure, it was not pleasant as a CIA officer to sit before the
family television or at the breakfast table with the morning paper --
seeing one's children troubled by charges implying that their father or
mother somehow was perhaps less than an upstanding American, or
worse, making a living in some thoroughly disreputable business.
But there is mettle and back-bone to these people and their
families. And I can tell you tonight that our professionalism, our
dedication,pln.6(lU4rrF&tfig)oiggA5tlAk* dou~i~i da~d~b~3~f r'deaI.
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Total secrecy and silence -- these used to be the traditions
of intelligence work. A year or so ago, I would not have been here
giving a speech like this. But traditions change, and today we in
intelligence are trying to make sure that the American people under-
stand the intelligence profession and its vital role in ensuring our
nation's security.
Many responsible people have said that the old ways of secrecy
were used to cover abuses. Let me make this statement loud and clear:
we do not condone abuses. We will not call upon secrecy to hide
failures or wrongs in our past. As a matter of fact, it was we in CIA
who uncovered the questionable activities of the past. And corrections
were made internally three years ago -- long before the investigations
got under-way.
More recently, the President and Director Bush have issued
new and clear guidelines for intelligence activities. I want you to know
that CIA is a disciplined, Ioyal and responsive Agency and those guidelines
will be honored.
Meanwhile, the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence has
finished its work and issued its recommendations. Some say that the
Senate and House reviews of intelligence imparted to the world more
information about American intelligence techniques than is healthy or
helpful.
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But I am not here to criticize or complain. CIA is almost
30 years of age. Any organization needs a special look and some
reforms after such a length of time. I n the main, the Congressional
reviews have reflected the American process at work, and we in CIA
will no doubt be the better for it.
America's intelligence service must be responsible.. But
America's treatment of that service and its necessary secrets must
also be responsible. Senseless exposure of true intelligence secrets
can cause great damage.
It is time for you as Americans to ask yourselves whether it
is in your interests -- America's interests -- to expose intelligence
secrets and activities that are valid, yes -- even critically important
and that have nothing to do with "abuses."
Let me explain why secrecy is so important in intelligence work.
To get information about the state of the world abroad, we rely heavily
on open, unclassified information -- newspapers, magazines, technical
journals, books, radio and television broadcasts and the like. But this
doesn't give us all we need to know about foreign capabilities and
intentions. We must use clandestine means to try to colloct foreign
secrets. And we rely increasingly on advanced technology to help us
acquire information.
In the intelligence profession and in the law, these are known
as intelligence sources and methods. I f our sources and methods are
revealed, our adversaries can take steps to keep us from getting the
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information we need. This has nothing to do with keepinq the American
public in the dark, a charge made by some of our critics. It is a
simple matter of protecting our ability to get information. This is a
responsibility recognized in law. The Director of Central Intelligence,
by federal statute, is charged with protecting intelligence sources and
methods from disclosure.
True, the revelation of intelligence secrets- makes exciting
reading. A few readers may ask themselves what the point of such a
disclosure could be -- aside from providing a few minutes worth of
interesting reading over the morning cup of coffee. But most readers
will soon forget what the story was all about. Will our adversaries
forget? I assure you that they will not. As a result, enormously
complex and expensive technical intelligence collection systems can be
countered. Dedicated and courageous men and women who risk their
lives in the service of their country seeking vital information abroad
can be exposed and destroyed.
I don't think the American people want this to happen:
especially when our adversaries, dedicated to the proposition that we
eventually must be defeated, are hard at work.
I find some of the charges against the intelligence community
particularly upsetting. You have heard a lot about "intelligence
failures." You have been told that the American taxpayer is not getting
-his money's worth for his intelligence dollar. You have been told that
American intelligence cannot warn of imminent attack.
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That just plain isn't true.
America has good intelligence. America is safe from sneak
attack. The American taxpayer is getting a bargain for his intelligence
buck. And the American intelligence record is studded with success
after success.
Let me give you just a few examples:
-- American intelligence spotted the Soviet nuclear missiles
being delivered to Cuba in 1962 and supported the President as he
worked through 13 nightmarish days to force their removal.
-- American intelligence gave seven years warning on the
development of the Moscow anti-ballistic missile system.
-- American intelligence has pinpointed eight new types of
Soviet inter-continental ballistic missiles and judged their size and
effectiveness three or more years before each became operational..
--Two major new Soviet submarine programs were anticipated
well before the first boats slid down the ways.
--- We knew the status and design of two Soviet aircraft
carriers well before th*e first one put to sea for trials.
-- American intelligence has created a collection and
analytical capability sufficient to reduce the need for on-site verification
for certain kinds of strategic arms control agreements that have been
concluded with the USSR. The ABM Treaty and the interim agreement
on offensive weapons of 1972 would have been impossible without
intelligence of this kind.
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These are all military concerns, and they are crucial-
But what of other intelligence areas?
-- American intelligence last year warned of the imminent
danger of war between two nations friendly to the U. S. That warning
triggered urgent, quiet, and successful diplomatic efforts to head off
the hostilities.
-- American intelligence successfully monitors and predicts
trends in oil prices and tracks the flow of petro dollars, subjects that
affect your pocketbook and your everyday life.
-- Every year we turn to the task of assessing world crop
prospects. That has to do with famine and the world food problem and
with the price of the market basket we all must buy.
I hope that these illustrations help you understand our job
just a bit better. Many years ago, Allen Dulles, one of the early
Directors of CIA, spoke of the "craft" of intelligence. He underplayed it.
The bold technical thinkers; the brave people on hazardous duty in
strange lands; the clifted analysts puzzling out mysterious political and
military moves made by unpredictable people in far-off, closed societies:
these are more than craftsmen.
Intelligence is more than a craft. It is more than a science;
more than mere artfulness. We do not have a crystal ball, and we can't
yet give you a copy of the 1980 World Almanac. And we may not predict
the given day and hour of a particular coup or revolution -- any more than
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your local weatherman can assure you that it will start raining at
precisely 9:01 tomorrow morninq.
But precise predictions are not the main mission of
intelligence. Our main job is to give this country's leaders the deepest
possible understanding of the military, political, social, and economic
climate abroad where vital American interests are at stake.
Our mission is to see that our leaders know what is happening
in the world beyond our borders and about the forces and factors at
work there. And we must alert our leaders to what may happen tomorrow.
This combination of informing and alerting is what intelligence is really
all about.
Ladies and gentlemen, we do it well.
And we must continue to do it well. We must know and under-
stand the problems that lie ahead, so that we can give sound advice
to those whose job it is to develop intelligent policies to deal with them.
If you will, consider some of the toughest problems America
faces in the world around us..
-- Overpopulation and underproduction;
-- Nuclear proliferation;
Extremism and terrorism;
-- The economic imbalances between rich and poor countries;
--The exploitation of hitherto inaccessible riches in the sea
or in space;
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--The interdependence of economies and cultures;
--The acceleration of events by incredible improvements in
transportation and communications.
America must have systematic knowledge of these complex
subjects, full awareness of all our capabilities to deal with them, and
an understanding of the intentions of other nations on the scene.
Already, the intelligence machinery is good enough to assist
in the crucial task of peace-keeping. In more than one hot-spot uneasy
peace settlements are being kept because American intelligence is
keeping each side informed about what it faces on the othe r side.
I have tried to describe to you tonight what intelligence must
do in the days ahead. To do our job well, we must have the understanding
and support of the American people. We are -- all of us -- committed
to the same goal: making sure that America in the Tricentennial
continues to be free, democratic, and dedicated to preserving the peace.
We have every confidence this will be so. We will do our
share.
Let me conclude with the words of an ancient wiseman --
General Sun Tzu, who was a supreme military strategist in China long
before Christ was born.
Sun Tzu wrote:
"For to win 100 victories in 100 battles is not the acme of skill.
To find security without fighting is the acme of skill.
"And therefore the unit that in advancing does not seek
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mere fame, and in withdrawing is not concerned with avoiding blame,
but whose only purpose is to protect the people and promote the best
interests of the country, is the precious jewel of the State."
May the Central Intelligence Agency so conduct itself as
to be just such a jewel of the state.
Thank you for allowing me to be with you tonight.
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