Dear Dick:

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP79B00972A000100410003-3
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: C
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: November 16, 2016
• Document Release Date: March 23, 2000
• Sequence Number: 3
• Publication Date: December 29, 1967
• Content Type: LETTER

Approved For Release200 /23 : CIA-RDP79B ,0972A0001 041OO 3
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THE DEPUTY SECRETARY OF DEFENSE
WASHINGTON, D. C. 20301
Honorable Richard Helms
Director, Central Intelligence Agency
As you know, many of our force decisions depend on likely Soviet
reactions. For instance, the analysis which led to the rejection of a
heavy ABM at this time was particularly, sensitive to the Soviet reaction.
If we knew more about the organizational behavior of the Soviet govern-
ment,, we might be able to improve our analyses by predicting Soviet
responses with more confidence.
My staff is conducting a study of the relationship between Soviet
strategic offensive and defensive forces and the way the Soviet govern-
ment makes military decisions. We intend to apply our military force
analysis techniques and recently developed organizational behavior
theories in analyzing information in the intelligence materials available
on the Soviet defense establishment. We want to try._._to understand why
some of the Soviet strategic force decisions in recent^years have not
bpeen those ~'?We are interested intsuch questionsoasd owobobthesvarious !
referable.
e emen-s of the Soviet defense establishment view force problems, what
are the relative strengths of these elements, and how do they affect j
decisions?
I have asked Ivan Selin of my staff to direct this study. He is
assembling a study group, including a small number of experts in
organizational behavior. Your agency can help greatly by working with
this group and providing briefings and background materials on the Soviet
defense communit For instance we would like to know in some detail the
history of its formal organization, its metood of al~oca ink resources,
its officer career system, civil-military relations and. alike.
Dr. Selin already has contacted Mr. Bruce Clarke CIA(0SR). Could
you make Mr. Clarke available as the official point of contact.in CIA
for this project? With your concurrence, he and Dr. Selin cak continue
to explore this matter and make necessary arrangements.
I believe that our cooperative efforts could contribute greatly
to our force planning task by improving our understanding of the behavior
of Soviet force planners.
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OSD-- _
Declassification/Release
Instructions on File
'.Approved For'Rel'ease,20Q0/05/?3FF: QJA RDP7~ pp972A000100410003-3
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