NO SURPRISES

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP78B02992A000100050006-6
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 3
• Document Creation Date: December 20, 2016
• Document Release Date: December 15, 2006
• Sequence Number: 6
• Publication Date: April 16, 1975
• Content Type: MF

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W
iiSTR_1TIVE--INTERNAI, USE ONLY
16 April 1975
MEMORANDUM FOR: Deputy Director for Science and Technology
Deputy Director for Intelligence
Deputy Director for Operations
Deputy Director for Administration
Deputy to the DCI for the Intelligence Community
Deputy to the DCI for National Intelligence Officers
General Counsel
Inspector General
Legislative Counsel
Comptroller
Administrative Officer, O/DCI
SUBJECT : "No surprises"
1. It was a great shock for me to be informed by a previous
Director that he had recently learned of certain activities of this Agency
prior to his Directorship but which continued during it. The shock was
compounded by the statement that the decision not to inform him had
been a conscious one.
2. Such a situation is totally intolerable. It casts the gravest
doubts on the integrity of the Agency, its discipline and the possibility
of maintaining this important service to our country.
3. I cannot believe that such a situation exists at this time, nor
that it would be countenanced by any of my colleagues in the Agency
today. Further, I believe our mechanisms today are such as to elimi-
nate any such possibility. The full authority of the Inspector General
to investigate any matter in the Agency, the yearly reminder to all
employees of their duty to raise with me or the Inspector General any
matters which in their opinion might be questionable, the functioning
of the Management Advisory Group at the Agency and the Directorate
levels, the intensive effort made by all of us to keep direct contact
with the working levels of the Agency, the interchange which exists
in the Management Committee, the exchange of experiences
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ADi%.OISTRAT IVE----IN ERNAL USE ONLY aw
through the Midcareer, Senior Seminar and similar courses, and the
confidence I have in the integrity and discipline in the command struc-
ture here, all convince me that such an event is not possible today.
4. To reinforce the above, however, and to make our policies
on this completely clear, I am establishing as Agency doctrine the
management style of "no surprises. " I have undertaken the commit-
ment that the authorized supervisory bodies over me have "no sur-
prises" with respect to CIA's activities. These include the National
Security Council, the President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board,
and the appropriate oversight committees of the Congress. In order
to implement this commitment, I insist on a corresponding policy
within the Agency, i, e., that it is the obligation of my subordinates
and, below them, their subordinates, to raise with me every matter
of which I should be informed so that I have "no surprises" if some-
thing comes to my attention independently. This policy can be con-
ducted within the limits of classification and compartmentation neces-
sary to our sensitive material. It can also be conducted by describing
matters in summary rather than in detail when the detail is not essen-
tial or would be impossible to absorb in raw form.
5. As indicated above, I believe that there are "no surprises"
to me existing in the Agency at this time. I do request each of you,
however, to review this matter and to reassure me that this is in fact
the case or bring to my attention any matters which may have been
left out inadvertently due to the press of time and other business. I
would expect to hear from each of you orally or in writing by 1 May
1975.
ADMINISTRATIV..E-IPTTE tITAL USE ONLY
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STAT
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