EX-SPIES GO TO BAT FOR THE CIA

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP91-00587R000100570002-9
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: February 9, 2011
• Sequence Number: 2
• Publication Date: May 27, 1985
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Approved For Release 2011/02/09: CIA-RDP91-00587R000100570002-9
PILE ONLY
CLEVELAND PLAIN DEALER (OH)
27 ray 1985
RROLIK f 'dinner meetin for .area members effective CIA. Just as C William Hood
V to! Association of ormerinteliigence e "I think the common wlsd'ol 4s'the
o , . .~ `Q!I7 The g a as f gostiihreat to world # eopW stabtilt
ewis f Lewton was recaft the j, deals series!' Pe4 l s,. ,
afirr u ninformed presl'denr," said Rood,:
time he was down near 11Xontggb ) ing ~~ Tonal 'Intelligence keeps us #tim makimj mis
' a `o CI e i Bay and got invited to observe the isc takes. Good inteliiffcane: Its a very com-
fliti'iin blie ta'Gon
g "Live and Let. Doe." Vat's OW ie t age n u plex world, x0d nobody can; stay on top of
lsetktes movie m which. Her Majesty's imd is 1 morale to a nadir. tlrffier the wbOle thing."
1peditl" ggeer~nt 007 was captured by the bad C$,K personnel felt they had to rally to their
guys and 4umped at a crocodile farm, Pre em 'a defense. ` ,Shine' 0' z quit the e'ndy,
i ai Molly has
ftnabfy as a snack for sonde future Gucci i,I,hees iving'as a
tremendous misunderstand earned , : er:_Hia X1982
idbag. n rsity book,' Mole," about a Soviet counteragent,
W`ill' m Hood looked up from his tuna ! about the intelllgeti~ce comrilunity,"- was a Book-of-the-Month Club selectiop.
said l i*Wn, a Clevelander and#ormer He hasg ntipel Wedaesda
"SPY y- d out
me' an et loose with a rumble of gray- '`We're tr in k l i within
- pea ell y laughter. yin g next winter. He writes extensive
Y guidelines and limitations` ittBrdped on li care `treattttel-
Ah, Yes, the crocodile farm," ,he said. mer.dents, about the need"-fVr.Intelli- g ,usually from a' strongly
' Used` it all the time. Great way to get rid 10 It's ' work that sometimes requires pro-CIA perspective.
J
cif pesky newspapermen. And other Provo yyo,u,, to; get down at the level. of the other
Though tie spent ohoy a year, at a Maine
Cattetirs ~Ide., juniorcollege, Hood's style is Ivy-
e
- Food glanced across the sitting room of casual: Blue , blazer Striped shirt BI e.
I Or
'y W1lllam Hood tells no Va dries He' '''tbe"downtdbrn club anditoavtied. Gray slacks. Black wlagtlpr. He, drinks
'aurnils rue was in the CI for, pearly, 30v down
~yr . " Ta uera
r -x Woe never get W' their level, he pq Y martinls, very dry, with a
ears and was stationed mostly in Western ~ lemon twist., At 64, his goatee and hair are
ItwYilshed
ro will conto quash KGO. efforts to ced he was in counter, lx grading; Anfte carts aapare tfre
mnle~thing, andt peop -
fnha~y the: military and tech cal'secrets from met d
oeoole Hehas lived in some of the world's Most
,
Rie."United States and its allies. Beyond 9a' ttave. left the intelligence come i ity sophisticated cities and crone nigh? i
lkt,you're on your own. feel ibeycan speak out and give you the Political analysis. Yet at the: bottoft, ne;
-5 art
' s de of the coin "' ``' he sees East-West strugles in nea ck-
`as
he ever a CIA station chief? a white terms. He describes the Soviet ion
nflhat's.what the (New-York) Times ha between the agency and its,alumgi and its political system as a .mans that
t'e uhf.. AFOI holds its annual convention
must be contained.
?Vit la, usually within shouting dis-
t' as he really executive director of cou i- Qce' of CIA headquarters in Langley. Its "`It's snot. so: much were smarter ,than
3eihlbtiligbride when he retired In 1976. membershipp includes former directors they ar "' be-said, explaining why' he
`''''That's what ilia Times says." Vi3liaisi Colby and Richard Helms, though thought k CIA was more effective than
t e G . Its that we have a stronger
'Hood wii# talk in general, terms about not Stand Turner'they'Carter-
:e ie intelli era chief who many old hnd!f.'gCl-lesbelievAYe lger,eft- society. An
tRber the agen~q crlppl open society is stronger than a
ed, oe James poliee.shite. People in an open society have
t
at stake. You don't have to be very
tal>iY a cratle woo ryas so despised during: rfef tenure more
smart to see the differences."
l{e actlula;: that his portrait was disfi redwith a host
lit` " ;ate "' between ity scrawled mustache, Former President Which is why, Hood said, the KGB so
astld war. Gerald R. Ford sits on AFOI's board "of often has to pay its informants and rely on
s:atpawers Cord directors, what he calls "cash and-carry" spies
Ut his
Aped tences and broad generalities. in carefully,
cll seYl litres. The group's big'moment came in 1978, "Ghances"are people who collaborate,
1 apologizes that hey Soule mes must When its-'members descended on. Capitol with any Western security service tend to
"1unt "either dumb or? coestipited" It''s I 'to. o tty against a. CIA char- be more sympathetic," Hood said. "I'm
of 111e old_ CIA, ha is each': not .to ter they considered t strictive. They sure no Western service turns its back on a
sources or methods, Part of the old succeeded in tempering some. elements of mercenary But usually, motivations are
cove's . constant worry about letting the. le 'station and, perhaps,, in making complex fn's no one element."
E,.f,Idf! rmatipds`slip pair; ' possible the agency,'s resurgence under. Hood's motivations for ettip .into inter-
ltof info
eUmea can't rep ember if. l read PY i~etit Reagan and incumbent Directory . ligence work ' were not terribly complex.
Wtllla tJ. Casey. - .1# etty'much drifted into it until he was
#teiq.g in the Times or in n;+Classified den
. g " ce.,tben, they've taken it: upon them- so p he couldn't get out.
ing per five a o, Hood said
Tape Years
he sdyt"very little, selves tat ucate legislators, : reporters and enlists 'iq, 11 1
the Army at the outbreak
' "; ?Ij 13 students about the im rt f the: CIA,
pA df;Wo armored
rid war ,Yidwas put in an
Ioodwas:ln town Friday to speak at the ' it`'is important=too have a'stro ,artillery unit But, he said, he never really
Approved For Release 2011/02/09: CIA-RDP91-00587R000100570002-9
 Approved For Release 2011/02/09: CIA-RDP91-00587R000100570002-9
L
,gorthe hang of firing a big gun at a target
he Couldn't'see., So in 1943, h n the Army
was` looking for intelligence specialists,
Hood` volunteered and was accepted. He
figured his schoolboy French might get
him an assignment working with-the Itesis-
tance.
Instead, he was stationed in Northern
Ireland in 1944 when another call went out:
Volunteers were needed for a dangerous
mission. Hood blithely said he couldn't
imagine anything more dangerous than
going to. battle with the unit he was in, so
he again volunteered.' '
He ended up working first for Gen. Wil-
liam (Wild Bill) Donovan at the London
headquarters of the Army Office of Strate-
gic Services (OSS), then for its Switzerland
chief, Allen Dulles. Dulles later became
director of the CIA.
When the war ended, Hood stayed on in
Switzerland. He was out of the Army, but
still in the OSS. So were many other intelli-
gence operatives. They were holding tight,
waiting for what they believed would be
the inevitable decision to form a perma-
nent intelligence-gathering agency. When
Congress created the CIA in 1947, they
went on its payroll.
Thus began the secret life Hood, can't
discuss. It wasn't marked, he said, by any
crusading spirit; it was more an extension
-of wartime service - nothing more,
really, than an interesting job he and his
colleagues considered important, though
not especially glamorous.
"People get the James Bond picture of
the agency," he said. "But I think the
important part. is the analytical staff.
Those are the guys who know economics,
who know political science. History. Phys-
ics. Nuclear engineering. I think it was
President (John F.) Kennedy who said .you
uld staff a pretty good college from the
A. He wasn't talking about-the spies; he
was talking about the guys in the back
rooms."
Hood said he thought it was irrelevant to
talk about CIA covert operations. How, he
grumbled, can you run a covert operation
in Nicaragua or anywhere else if newspa-
pers are writing about it and the Senate is
debating it in public? And, he said, the fact
is that with all those brainy desk jockeys
and some good counterespionage work to
keep "the other guys's hand off our
national treasure," you could probably get
along without any spies.
But that won't happen, because neither
side wants to surrender any potential edge.
Besides, Hood said, since we know the
Soviets are spying on us and they know
we're spying on them, "we'd be damn fools
not to do it."
Approved For Release 2011/02/09: CIA-RDP91-00587R000100570002-9