A CHAT WITH A MAN FROM THE CIA

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP75-00001R000400330072-9
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: November 17, 2016
• Document Release Date: May 24, 1999
• Sequence Number: 72
• Publication Date: December 9, 1965
• Content Type: NSPR

IOWA STATE DAILY
Approved For Release 2000/08/26 : CIA-RDP75-00001 R000400
DECEMBER 9, 1965
NA Chat with a ManA
From the CIA
By MARIJE1~N PUDENZ
Not all members of the Cen-
tral Intelligence Agency resem-
ble James Bond in appearance,
equipment, or In his forbidding
aura of secrecy.
I)r. Leo W. Sweeney, who vis-
ited Iowa State last month, looks
like he might be a professor, car-
ries a relatively innocent-looking
briefcase; .and works for the
Economic Research unit of the
CIA. This unit is concerned with
researching, analyzing, and re-
porting on foreign economics,
with, Dr. Sweeney pointed out,
'predominant interest in the ec-
onomies of Communist countries.
Concerning the economic
structure of Russia, Sweeney
said that while there is a louc-
range trend toward free enter-
prise, no substantial departure
has yet been made. Sweeney
said the area showing the most
definite trend toward free en-
terprise is that of consumer
goods, excluding food produc-
tion. He explained that in
an, area like clothing manu-
facturing, the government can
grant a . degree of freedom,
observe how the competitive
method is operating, and still
not lose control over the in-
dustry.
Can't Modify Agriculture
It is hard for the government
to modify the agricultural set-up
as it can industry, he said, be-
cause this would involve too
much exposure of the control
they feel is necessary. This lack
of control and the concept of
free enterprise in farming would
be so opposed to basic Commun-
ist ideology that Sweeney said it
is exceedingly doubtful that
free enterprise will ever be ad-
opted in Russian agriculture.
There is a small degree of free
enterprise permitted, as the
worker on the collective farm
does have some land and live-
stock allotted to him for private
use. The produce raised on a
private plot can then be sold
competitively in the market.
These small private plots are
very well sanded, Sweeney said.
Cuban Economy
Cuba also utilizes the state
farm as its basic agricultural
unit. There is more private own-
ership of land in Cuba than in
the USSR, Sweeney said, but this
land is heavily taxed and op-
pressed in other ways to discour-
age private ownership. Although
unskilled people may be better
off under Castro, the Cuban ec-
onomy as a whole is in worse
straits than under Batista, he
said. He cited the large man-
power shortage in agriculture as
an example. However, he said he
didn't think Castro felt he was
risking much in his new "open-
door" policy. "The people that
Castro is permitting to leave,
Sweeney theorized, "are probably
people whom Castro regards as
contributing little anyway."
Wants Researchers
Sweeney, . a former professo?
of economics at the University
of Iowa, was on campus Novi
15-17 interviewing prospective
employees for the Economic Re-
starch unit. Th elxch an-
alysal owlcd to pttblish.fc,_
search work. done on their. own_
tiiiie and`-'not containing classi
ffed'information, he said. Rath-
er than 007-types, he said, his
department is interested in grad-
uate students,' people who' are
specialists in certain areas, and
who- can handle research
xial. , .~.
Approved For Release 2000/08/26 : CIA-RDP75-00001 R000400330072-9