'RED' RABORN AND THE CIA SPY WHO CAME IN COLD

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP75-00001R000100080069-4
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: November 11, 2016
• Document Release Date: January 14, 1999
• Sequence Number: 69
• Publication Date: April 19, 1965
• Content Type: NSPR

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Iced' .~aborn and tie CI.A
Shy Who Came in Cold
i For four months it was a typical
ashington guessing game. Who,
!. he guessers were asking, would
~ ake over when John A. McCone,
2, retired -as director of the CIA?
As usual, the guessers had plenty
f candidates for the Central Intel-
igence Agency's top job. Among
hose mentioned were Maxwell D.
aylor, ambassador to South Viet-
! am; Cyrus R. Vance, deputy De-
ense Secretary; Roswell L. Gil-
atric, Mr. Vance's predecessor;-
.: nd, before he was named Com-
erce Secretary, pharmaceutical
xecutive John T. Connor. Last week
he game' .ended. The job went to
man who had not figured in the
peculation, retired Vice Adm. Wil-
iarn F.. Raborn,. Jr., 59.
j It was, in some ways, an odd
j hoice, For one thing, the Ad-
inistration had seemed determined
I o name a civilian to the post,
CIA-director Al-
len Dulles, has
the agency had
a military boss.
Too, it is ironic
that tk~e man
M r .. Johnson
nominated t o
head the na-
ing weight to
charges that the
CIA is domi-
nated by "war
hawks." N o t
since 1953, be-
fore the days. of
Adm. Raborn
tion's far-flung Bence ne wor
has relatively t e experience in
intelligence wor .
IIe `Rememb everyone'
But "Red" R orn (he acquired
.the nickname a n auburn-haired
plebe at Annapo i has several as-
sets that, in r sident Johnson's
view, outweigh se liabilities. He
is atop-flight a inistrator with a
reputation for tting tough jobs
done." Beth as d ty chief of naval
operations ford lopment and, for
the past 2r/Z .yeas as a vice press--
dent of Aerojet- eral Corp. of Cal-
ifornia, he intr d ced .a manage-
ment-control sy
that requires
.
constant review o a program and
permits adminis tors to spot pos-
sible bottlenecks fare they occur.
Admiral Rabor ' administrative
talents will no d u t prove valuable
at CIA headqu r ers, where en
1
ions ps on ap o
than did. his two immediate prede-
cessors. Though both Mr. Dulles and
Mr. McCone were held in high re-
gard by lawmakers, they were also .:
considered somewhat aloof.'Admiral
Raborn, however, is a natural poll-
tician. "He is the kind of man," says
an associate at the California aero-
space company, "who comes into a
roam and remembers everyone."
It was on Capitol -Hill that the
59-year old Navy man first came to
the attention of Lyndon Johnson. As
special-projects chief for the Navy
n the mid-1950s, .Admiral. Raborn
appeared frequently as a witness
efore then-Senator Johnson's Mili-
ary Affairs subcommittee on pre-
paredness, which kept tabs on rnis-
ile developments. His. smooth
andling of the development of the
olaris missile, an accomplishment
e attributes to his management-
control system, earned him national
recognition: ~ -
ilnsnagging the II'olaris
A native of Decatur, Texas, Ra-
born grew up in Marlow, Okla., and
saw the sea for the first time when
he enrolled at the Naval Academy.
A naval aviator at the outbreak of
World War II, he went on to become
a command officer in the Pacific.
He has been atrouble-shooter for
Aerojet-General since his retirement
from .the Navy in September 19G3.' .
Admiral Raborn's reputation as
a man of action is well established:'`.
When snags developed in the Polaris
program, he flew by jet to every
plant that had a role in its develop-
ment, lecturing: "Polaris is every- ,
body's business. Stop' a second and .
grab yourself by the back of the
eck. Your neck, that's. what it will
e if we fail." `
Some critics decry Admiral Ra-
orn's "hard-sell" technique, but it `
ay be just what's needed at CIA,
here the competent but undramatic
eadership of John McCone has failed
o stop a gradual decline in morale.
orate has lagged particularly since
r. McCone's intention to retire
rom public life became known last
ecember.
Admiral Raborn's lack of intelli-
ence training may not turn out to
e a serious handicap. The Press-
ent also nominated Richard G.
San 'do ia~i~~tr v ed AFOrrReRe_a ro~~l~lcal~pFra.~ th9~~~#~1
j born also may able to cultivate
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0080069-4