REMARKS BY LIEUTENANT GENERAL C. P. CABELL, DEPUTY DIRECTOR OF CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE ANNUAL CONCLAVE OF THE ARNOLD AIR SOCIETY HOTEL NEW YORKER, NEW YORK CITY

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP67-00318R000100610001-0
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 12
• Document Creation Date: December 23, 2016
• Document Release Date: June 14, 2013
• Sequence Number: 1
• Publication Date: April 18, 1957
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

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Remrkn by Lieuto t 60netai C. ?, Cab -ll
Deputy h et e of Oa.trai Intelligence
flint .7. CdAdIM bf the AX=.IA Air Society
Hotel New Lorkerp Nov 'Rork City
18 April 1957 - 3.0+5 AM
It is indeed a pleasure to have an opportunity to visit
here with you this morning in this Conclave of the Arnold Air Society.
General Arnold in my mind is one of the great .A&r- men of history.
His leadership in the establishment of the United States Air Force
is a matter of record. His personal greatness is clear to those of
us who had the high privilege of associating with him,, and working
under his direction. I, personally., profited much from my close
association with that great man during World War II. It was my
privilege to have formed, along with General Norstad., his Advisory
Council. This was a fancy name for a couple of personal assistants,
advisors, leg men, kibitzers--or whatever you want to call it, One
could not serve in such an intimate capacity with a man and not come.
out as either a great admirer or a severe critic.. As for Norstad
and me, we came out as admirers. If I were asked what I consider
the outstanding characteristic of the "old man", I would point to
his strong insistence that the expression, quote: "It can't be done."
unquote, has no place in-the American language. He was most insistent
too that he be provided with the "facts" in order to make proper deci-
sions. You can see that General, Arnold was one of my favorite persons,
and it is proper that this Society, which is dedicated to Air Force
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activities and trai.ning$ shbu A bear his namei
I have been asked to speak to you today on the subject of
the American Intelligence Officer. This is a favorite topic of mine.,
and I believe that it should be of interest to you here. As a matter
of fact, my service with General Arnold, before he turned me loose to
go out and fight the war, was essentially my first introduction to
Intelligence.
America today is faced with the great chore of leading the
world., from the menace of Communism, into the camp of freedom., where
the dignity of the i4c'ividual can be preserved and all men protected
from all forms of oppression. To do this, we must remain strong in
purpose and in spirit. We must spread our ideology through its volun-
tary acceptance by free people; and we must be ready to defend our-
selves and our way of life -,,ich all the forces of strength required.
Now., I am not going to suggt L that the world is in such
terrible shape that nothing can save it except the Cadets of the
Arnold Air Society. But it is going to take everything all of us
have, to come out in front, You here this morning--and your class-
mates--are already involved. We are all on the team. The team is
playing for conference leadership. The opposition has no rules. It
is without scruples. We in America have faith in the dynamic influence
of a free society, and we are determined to play the game-but from a
position of strength, not weakness. One of the primary requirement
for maintaining a position of strength., is a strong, effective and
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well-functioning Intelligence Service, so that, at all times, our
Government officials will be furnished with good information. Or
to put it another way, we must be sharp in detecting the other fellow's
play--in fathoming his strong and weak spots, his intentions--so that
we can adapt our own plays in such a way as to win the game. This is
the task of Intelligence today.
Intelligence is never more at war than in periods of normal
peace. As a matter of fact, Intelligence has already played a great
role in the process of unmasking the present world-wide Communist
conspiracy, and so ncinting-up this menace. We have opened many
eyes--not only in this country, but among people all over the world.
Until comparatively recent times, there had been no conti-
nuity of Intel."tgenec doctrine or organization in the United States,
On the other hand, hiitory io replete with colorful examples of the
i ort, e of Intelligence, and wish s;-pries of the part that good
Intelligence has played in final victory.
When G. W. Custis, adopted son of George Washington, was
told by friends that Washington's secret service had cost 2,000
pounds in gold, he wrote, quote: It was cheap, a dog cheap ba::gain.
For, although gold was precious in the days of the Continental cur-
rency, yet the gold paid for the secret service was of inestimable
value when it is remembered how much it contributed to the safety
and success of the Army of Independence," Unquote.
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Turning to another war, we can find colorful accounts of
the Intelligence activity of Jib Stuart, Confederate Cavalry leader.
Twice he raided completely around the opposing Union Armies, not
only gathering information, but also cutting communications lines,
sabotaging supplies, spreading confusion, and generally misleading
the enemy. You'll recall that as a result of the first circuit dash,
General Lee confidently sent Stonewall Jackson to fall on McClellan's
rear and flank in the Seven Dayst Battle, with the result that the
panicky powers in Washington ordered McClellan unnecessarily to-evac-
uate his army by ww'. *
Of course, most of you from Manhattan College are well
aware of the dedication to Tntelligence demonstrated by Major William
V, Holohan, for atom you have i amed your Squadron. From the records
pertaining to the mia ian and death of Major Holohan, and out of all
the confusion and legal uncertainty ;r?, t h surrounds the story, one
thing is clear. Major Holohan was selected personally by General
Donovan to undertake the mission on which he was killed, because of
his demonstrated loyalty, honesty, and integrity. These qualities
are a must to the business of Intelligence. Major Holohan was veil
aware of the dangers before him from the enemy, and of those behind
him and around him, from his supposed comrades in arms. Nevertheless,
he never questioned his assignment. He carried it out with abilitya
He disregarded completely the danger to his person, and as we know,
he met his death in the cold waters of Lake Orta, Italy. His name
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always will be honored in the history of intelligence.
I could go on and give you many more illustrations, but
when these were all added up they would point to tze fact that today
Intelligence is a recognized and honored profession, worthy of the
career decision of the highest type person-this includes ,you.
Now, when I speak of Intelligence as a career, you may
well ask--What kind of a person is this so-called Intellige,;ce
Officer? What are the things he does, and what kind of experience
or training must he have to do the job well?
In some w::s, the Intelligence Officer is a throwback to
the ideal of the Sixteenth Century when Sir Francis Bacon declared,
Vote : "All knowledge is my province.," Unquote. In the broadest
sense, the 0:;'f~ is engaged constantly in gathering
and studying informtLon, s,.nd he is called upon to report on the
meaning of events, oil over thte world, In another way, he is the
product of the Twentieth Century, and of the age of specialization.
He is a member of an Intelligence team composed of scientists,
economists, political analysts, librarians, statisticians, agricul-
turalists, engineers, accountants, doctors, business executives,
lawyers, anthropologists, military specialists, and communications
specialists--to name but a few. The team reaches to every discipline,
and the composite of these skills adds up to Bacon's ideal of, quote:
"All knowledge." Unquote. In this context, I thi?ak it is interesting
to note that one Air Intelligence outfit which is a part of a
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world-wide Air Force collecti.bi ne twtl'k1 has as itA motto) quote
"Knowledge is power." Unquote.
The Intelligence Officer must possess imagination. He
must have new ideas. He must be able to follow-through and apply
his ideas. He must have insight into the motivations of people and
nations. He must maintain a balance in the application of his know-
ledge, for oftentimes it is more useful to know the short cut through
a difficult piece of terrain, than all of the detailed histories of
great wars.
What are the things an Intelligence Officer does? The
answer to this question, I believe, can be found in citing a few
recent events which have required Intelligence. We all remember
that the past year !as baen ore of aggressive activity on the part
of the Soviets. Wh. ,;;n they have been pushing what they call a
"peace" offensive, there was at the mane time, marked intens-? fica-
tions of Soviet efforts toward economic penetration into the so-
called underdeveloped countries. We have watched the unfolding of
a well-organized Soviet Bloc campaign in the Middle East, including
the provision of arms to Egypt and Syria. At the same time, we have
seen the brutal butchery by the Soviet war machine on the freedom
loving people of Hungary, The timely and accurate reporting and in-
terpretation of these napes of Soviet activities, as well as those
of other countries, is essential to our Governmen is policy planning.
The intelligence Officer must be ready to answer such questions as:
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What is the strength and dispb'Ation of the Egyptian Army? How
much military aid is reaching Syria and Egypt from Russia? What
are the levels of trade and commerce between China and Western
Europe and the Soviet Sa:~ellites? Is the infection in the Communist
bloodstream that grew out of Hungary apt to spread? What are its
ingredients?
To get a s.wexs to there and thousands of questions l i] e
them, requires considerable information and study. This task falls
on In:t-elligence. Specifically; it falls upon what we call the United
States Intelligence 'C=mulity. This consists of all the elements of
those major departments of Government which are concerned with
Intelligence matters--the Central Intelligence Agency the Intelligence
activities of tae t11r Serv:L ,-~,_-,3, the State Department, the
Atomic Energy Corn i c=~i a, waC. the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
The task falls on the U. S. In ellig:.ac,~ Officer serving his place
in that Comm ty.
The National Security Act of 19+7, which gave birth to the
Central Intelligence Agency and to the U. S. Air Force, provided the
framework within which the well integrated Na.xion:l Intelligence
structure of today has evolved. As the present Deputy Director of
Central Intelligence, and as a former Director of InteLlig--nca for
the Air Force, I con attest to the fact that this evolnrtion has
taken hard work on the part of all of the Departments concerned.
Take Air Intelligence for example. At the beginning of World War II,
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Air Intelligence consisted of a small Air order of battle Section
within the G-2 Staff of the War Department. There were no basic
Air intelligence concepts or doctrines. In fact, the doctrine of
modern air power had itself still to come Into ful1 focus. The
early Air Intelligence methods and procedures did little more than
to transpose ground doctrine to Air Force operations.
You know--same Air Force Officers consider that Noah was
the first Air Force Intelligence Officer.. We find in Genesis,
Chapter 8, Verse Eleven, that Noah sent forth a dove to see whether
the waters which hca covered the earth were abateda and the dove
returned with an olive leaf. From this information gathered by -air,.
Noah knew that dry land was near. Now, there are those who wIl..l
argue that thi ; .fin. in = ay represented the takeoff from a. car-ic~.r
and therefore; was :^x.aZly Kn al i talligance y but i believe this
stretches a little beyond what I car to admit.
The task of developing the basic concepts of Air Intelligence
was ons of the i'i s t challenges faced by the newly created Department
i9v7
of the Air Force. During the period-19509 much was done V this
regard. One of the most important steps was to gather aoerps f
competent personnel with backgrounds in operations, planning and
logistics, and assign them to an organized :intelligence effort. TALs
effort in ten short years is now paying off. The Air Force has a
well.-defined Intelligence mission. It has established a worldwide
network of Air Intelligence collection, It has an analytical force
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constantly engaged in providing integrated Air Intelligence contribu-
tions to National Estimates. Recognizing the imFortance of success
in the first phase of a Nuclear war-=that is the early air phase--
Air Intelligence has geared itself to sharply focus on a potential
enemyts air power capabilities and intentions. This chore is a
highly technical one. It is one which must be accomplished effec-
tively if U. S. forces and policy makers are to be kept informed
and alerted to the dangers that are poised against us.
Considerable ss:ti sfaction--althhough little if any acclaim--
comes to the Intei.l .g,3nce Officer from a job well done. I know that
the U. S. Intellige?.ace Commun3_ty has not been asleep on its job, The
success enjoyed by the Intelligence Community comes because we can
draw on a vast of : ;ellige nce cls rived from a v ride range of
skills and knowlcdgc It s rtes because there is a National Intelligence
structure which open.-tes smoothly to >> ?' ig all the facts in a situs ion
into timely focus.
Recently the events of Suez and Eastern Europe have held the
spotlight, These events are but single scenes on the panorama of the
present world situation. Intelligence Officers are constantly watLbAng
many matters which never hit the headlines. For example, we know that
one of the most critical economic objectives in the Soviet Union, i.s
to raise per capita food production. We know that unless. the Soviets.
succeed in improving their agricultural output, their long-range grow$:h
will be impeded by an imbalance of their over-all economic structure.
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We see that one of the prin ijs7. measures to raise production is
the cultivation of new lands in the arid. regions of Central Auia,
and one of the major stops to increase livestock yields is to ex-
Pa-,ad corn production in the older agricultural areas. lntell.igence
Officers are watching these events with much interest, and are making
studies of rainfaa1, length of growing seaso;is. soil fertility, and
the like, in order to b? able to answer a question of the future-
-can the Soviets succeed in this effort and what are the consequences
of success or failure?
Take oil .r4nr) ;her example. We have seen that oil is not
always a --?rican.: when applied to international affairs, In fact.,
it has acted a the prime abrasive in the case of Suez, in causing
much of the prob. ~a1 '134,'`. zm W:?:yr;terra Euroijc depends upon this essen-
tial strategic mater-J".. !. f_romm. the Middle Eazto Now as a general matter,
Intelligence is concerned with the sta`.-au of petroleum reserves a d.
stockpiles,, both because of their economic importance and because
they are indicators to a nations capability to launch a ware And
so, constant attention has been given to the status of petroleum
reserves, the development of petroleum machinery., the exploitation
of new fields, the construction and outpat of refining facilities,
and the application of engineering skills in general in this impor-
tant area of economic activity. These studies pay off when the in-
forma: ion gleaned therefrom is applied to the total
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To undertake sitd?es of this kind, whether they concern
agriculture, petroleum, transportation., population, or industrial
production of military end-items, and to gather the significant
information on which they are based, Intelligence must rely pri-
marily on the skills which most of you here today are acquiring in
your studies and your Military training.
Intelligance Officers also focus on trends which have
possible consequences for the United States. For exarpple, with the
advent of the Nuclear Age, we must be alert to the shi. is in economic
and commercial pal t? ; ~s taking place throughout the world. We must
watch carefully the emergence of the indur trially underdeveloped
countries of Asia and. Africa and its meaning in terms of world
balance . We a. t b ,rarep re:4 to gauge changes which occur in stra-
tegic concepts, pax' :~. 1 ar ~? .f such charges have an impact on
Milite::y planning.
The ba-aic ~1,nfox gathering and. analysi
required to make meaning of trends of this kind, are essential.
One of the harder t jobs for the Intelligence Office-- is to keep a
steady view of these trends over a period of time, and of their
relationships with the events of the moment. He must be able to
identify the seeds which can grow into an international crisis, or
even a war--and this identification must be in time to allow our
policy makers to G: .e pr-aventive action. Titus, in the collection
and production of Intelligence, a clear view of the forest, and of
every tree in the forest, must be maintained.
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I have triad this morning to point but to you in positive.
terms SMe Pacts about the Intelligence business. It is not
necessarily only the thing you find depicted in movies and myiteriy
thril.ers,s such at, the famous story of Operation Cicero which many
bP. you will remember f-tas portrayed in the motion pictures " Five
fingers." I hope we shall always be able to find our, share of
iecxet agents,, but in Intr: ~.l,igence.. as in other professions,; there
is a grcot ted for many people of varied professional backgrounds
and. interests*
lntell i ;cn e nee yoi) g people Who combine. interest,
imaginatiozip and ao uon reuse with the most. advanced technical
knowledge. We need people who recognize that their personal
ecurii y depends upon the adequate protection, of our. National
aecu ty, We need people who-are dedicated to the proposititans
that ktowledge is a powerful weapon.. and that service to oteta
Cdiia is a high and noble duty. Superficially.. the re wards, are
U .ght... but I can think of no other game with higher stays:
The history of American InteUigencep:though not one continuous
stbry, has many glorious.chapters. The most glorious chapters;
however} are yet to be written and they will be written by young
people like yourselves.
Thank you very much.
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