CENTER FOR THE STUDY OF INTELLIGENCE

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP79-00498A000700050007-2
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: C
• Document Page Count: 14
• Document Creation Date: December 9, 2016
• Document Release Date: June 30, 2000
• Sequence Number: 7
• Publication Date: July 30, 1975
• Content Type: REPORT

25X1A
CO,:WFIJBIJTIAL
Approved For Release2000/08/31 : CIA-RDP79-
CENTER FOR THE STUDY OF INTELLIGENCE
Attached is an initial report drafted by tLie Center's
research team on tie role of CIA intelligence support for
tie conduct of foreign and national security policy. It
does not attempt to reach firm conclusions, but rather seeks
to state tle basic issues and questions in a meaningful way
and tilers to establish an appropriate fral;iework for further
exploration.
The t ioughts recorded here stem from a careful reading
of the pertinent intelligence literature and from discus-
sions vita some 35 Agency officers :aiio are in frequent con-
tact with policy makers and their staffs. Tie team :gas, as
yet, undertaken no systematic into rviowiag of policy people,
though it is aware of certain of tie comments :;lade in tie
recent past oy ranking officials on the policy side. flow
best to proceed with twat phase is still to be decided. In
the immediate future, the team will give attention to a
number of case studies as another avenue of approach to 25X1A
ascertaining what impact CIA intelligence mates (or snnould
make) on particular policy issues of major importance. It
will also complete its interview process wit: Agency personnel.
an ill be pleased to have your ideas and com-
ments on this preliminary effort. The mailing address is
OT'?/II/CSI, Room 926 Chamber of Commerce 4 uilding; the
telephone number is extension 2337.
25X1A
Director, dent? r for the
Study of Int-,lli: ence
CONFI SENTI.Al
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BY 031434
 CONFIDENTIAL
Approved For Release 2000/08/31 : CIA-RDP79-00498*000700050007-2
CIA Intelligence Support for the Conduct of Foreign
and Aational Security Policy
An Initial Deport From tie Center for tAe Study of Intelligence
-TAere is no p iase of t_ie intelligence
business wAic i is more important tian
tie proper relations.iip between intel-
ligence itself an 1 the people wao use
its product. Oddly enough, taxis rela-
tionship, w2ici one would expect to
establish itself automatically, does
not do t.:ris. It is established as a
result of a great deal of persistent
conscious effort, and is likely to
disappear waen the effort is relaxed."
This quote from Herman Kent's Strategic Intelligence
For American World Policy (1^4O) , is but one of a number of
perceptive observations contained in the intelligence litera-
ture. Yet as helpful as such tAougAts are, they do not com-
arise a coherent doctrine applicable to the actual relation-
ship which has developed over the years between intelligence
producers and policy rakers. The model that the literature
describes is, in fact, starkly oversimplified.
TAe policy mater, as posited in the literature, assem-
bles information relevant to his problem, weighs policy:
options and tAeir implications, and procs ds to select a
course of action. Intelligence provides to factual and
interpretative background and projects tie probable impact
CONFIDE DENT I AL
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 Approved For Releases 20001.a818i-=!ECI . DP79-004986000700050007-2
and consequences of alternative strategies. The intelligence
producer has a sizeable, yet carefully delineated role, and
is admonished to guard against too intimate an involvement
in the policy making process lest he compromise its i ipar-
tiality and objectivity.
If there ever was such an idealized system, it is surely
not in evidence today. ''fore sophisticated analysis of policy
mating describes an intricate system of iuman and institu-
tional interactions in w"iica traditional conceptualizations
of tine role intelligence plays are no longer very useful.
Intelligence officers have come to attach less importance to
the alleged danger of being "too close" to policy ma"zing and
more importance to the difficult tas'z of contributing effec-
tively by providing iig.i-quality products and services that
are timely and relevant to policy _akers' concerns.
THE POLICY PEOPLE
A sine qua non for examining tie relationship of CIA
intelligence to the formulation of foreigr and national.
security policy is an adequate descrip,tio-A of the policy
audience. Taere is a tendency to think oC policy as being
formed largely or entirely by a few,,at t:-e very top--the
Presidents, tale 3undys, the P.ostows, and the Kissfingers .
Unquestionably suci figures play a key rope, especially .in
crisis situations, but there also is a -neat corpus of policy
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t-iat is -bade or influenced by ot-lers--by tae incremental,
Jay-t6-day decisions of country des_: and embassy officers
-)y tie staff people who write feasibility studies for Caeir
principals, by t-ie innovative suggestions of, say, junior
-;TSC or ISA officers, and even by congressional aides-.
;"ome policy decisions rest on deliberations ~by a very
feV:~?, others stem from recommendations of a !iign-level =body
reviewing the work of a middle-level committee that vs
derived fror: a series of options formulated at a lower
level on the basis of inputs from tile next level:down.
Policy also is made by muddling through in the middle an