WEEKLY ACTIVITIES REPORT

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP61-00442A000200040111-2
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: C
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 27, 2016
• Document Release Date: December 16, 2009
• Sequence Number: 111
• Publication Date: May 27, 1959
• Content Type: MEMO

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2009/12/18: CIA-RDP61-00442A000200040111-2
Office Memorandum ? UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT
TO : Chief, Language and Area School DATE: 27 May 1959
FROM : Deputy Chief, Area Training
SUBJECT: Weekly Activities Report
A. SIGNIFICANT ITEMS
None
B. OTHER ACTIVITIES
1. First meeting of an informal inter-agency roundtable on
ne
0 J
.
u
area training will be held in our seminar room on 3
Meetings will be bi-monthly, to be hosted by each repre-
sentative in turn. Purpose, as with the language roundtable,
will be a useful exchange of ideas on philosophies and
methods, as well as of information on each other's facili-
ties. I have met an unexpectedly enthusiastic response to
our initiative in the matter. Agencies which have thus far
accepted our invitation are State (both FSI and ICA),
Defense (MAI), Army (SIS), and USIA. NSA is not yet firmly
committed, and neither Navy nor Air Force has an area
training program.
25X1
LDAI
2. The group which took the Training Officer Orientation 19-21
proved to be the most
May
was unable to
respons ve we ave me o a e.
join the group, and I shall suggest that he and perhaps
also DDTR and C/PPS, might wish to have us brief them on
LAS activities at their convenience. Partihas cularly
rlyiencout encourag-
ing was the word from Jthat On an organizational plan for career training which in-
cludes language and area. This is in line with the growing
sentiment I have previously reported in favor of coordinated
planning by all components for career training.
3. The current offering of RS - Czechoslovakia, East Germany,
Poland, in its third week, is progressing far better than
we dared hope. Handicaps are that this is a first running,
that the Chief Instructor has to brief himself on a
new area and immediately after is serious illness, and that
our new comparative approach - involving discussions of the
three countries at one time under each topic - poses the for-
midable task of finding single specialists or panels competent
to cover all three countries. We think repeated
25YEARFY'
RE-REVIE`AI
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 11 Z" IA "r I A I
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contributions have amply justified the sacrifice of his time
and the allocation of manpower needed to hoist him to the
second floor once or twice a week. Jack's lecture on ethnic
groupings in the area was richly flavored by his linguistic
background, and he will join a panel later on educational
systems. Highly competent outside speakers have included
Eric Fischer (AMS) on strategic geography and mass migrations,
Bob Delaney (VOA) on social structure, and John Karch (USIA)
on population shifts and recent relations of Czechoslovakia
and Poland with the USSR. The class of 16 is responsive
above the average level; no withdrawals have occurred to date.
ii. RS - EastAsia, in its sixth week, has likewise maintained a
high level of sophistication in discussion, but, in the
opinion of the instructor, there is difficulty in getting a
sufficient depth of treatment in a 10-week period, due to
the comprehensive coverage required for a six-state area
which includes such complex states as Communist China and
Japan. While attendance of auditors for special lectures
has been consistent, attendance of enrolled students has
suffered an unusually high rate of attrition due to three
absences for TDY assignments and two withdrawals. In the
future, shorter courses for East Asia should be offered on
selected themes or subjects now covered more briefly in the
current regional course (economics, government, politics and
administration, foreign relations, etc.).
'nAr tnC 9" III
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2009/12/18: CIA-RDP61-00442A000200040111-2