LETTER TO THE HONORABLE GEORGE BUSH FROM JOHN F. ROOT

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP79M00467A003100010004-3
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 7
• Document Creation Date: December 16, 2016
• Document Release Date: June 2, 2005
• Sequence Number: 4
• Publication Date: February 18, 1976
• Content Type: LETTER

DEPARTMENT OF STATE
FOREIGN SERVICE INSTITUTE
WASHINGTON. D.C.
20520
February 18, 1976
The Honorable George Bush
Director of Central Intelligence
Washington, D.C. 20505
fixecutivenegatzy
7 '75'7 J`
We are now planning the 1976-77 session of the Senior Seminar
in Foreign Policy, the Foreign Service Institute, of the Department
of State, which will begin August 30, 1976 and-end June 24, 1977.,
This letter is to invite your Agency once again to nominate. two
qualified officers for the spaces reserved for CIA.
The two officers who are with us this year are excellent, are
contributing considerably to the Seminar, and are profiting from it
as well. I hope you can nominate two equally qualified officers for
the next session.
The Department of State considers membership in the Seminar to be
an honor to be reserved only for the ablest and most promising officers.
While nomination should be based on demonstrated excellence in leadership
and past performance, our main requirement is that it be given to those
who have the highest potential for future senior responsibilities, such,
as Chief or Deputy Chief of Mission. The Central Intelligence Agency
nominees should therefore:
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-- have a recognized potential for promotion to positions
of the highest responsibility;
?- be grade GS-16 or 17;
-- be between age forty and fifty, preferably in the first half
of the forties.
I would appreciate the opportunity to discuss these qualifications
with your personnel officials as they consider CIA's candidates for
nomination to attend the Nineteenth Seminar. I also request the oppor-
tunity to interview CIA's nominees soon after they_are_chosen.
I enclose a description of the Seminar course, a brochure con-
taining photographs and brief biographic sketches of the 1975-76 Members,
and a statement on costs and required security clearances.
Apprgvg?q FA ~RJffl 537
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I look forward to your letter, which I hope to receive before
April 15, nominating two CIA officers to the Seminar, or if the
names are not as yet determined, your indication that the reserved
spaces will be filled by your Agency.
Enclosures:
1. Description
2. Brochure
3. Statements
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II. SECURITY CLEARANCES
All Members of the Senior Seminar must possess
TOP SECRET and "Q" security clearances valid for the
duration of the Seminar. These clearances are to be
obtained by the sponsoring agency or department.
For DOD and military Members, AEC Form 277 (Standard
Visit Control and Classified Access), executed by the
proper certifying official, will serve in lieu of "Q"
clearance.
Certification for each nominee should be forwarded
before August 15, 1976 to:
Coordinator
Senior Seminar in Foreign Policy
Foreign Service Institute
Room 1209, SA-3
Department of State
Washington, D.C. 20520
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... NINETEENTH SESSION
August 30, 1976 - June 24, 1977
ESTIMATED PER CAPITA COSTS FOR CIVILIAN MEMBHRS
Tuition
Sponsoring civilian agencies will pay to the Department
of State, for each Member, approximately $7000 tuition.
Domsstic Travel
In addition to tuition, there will be an assessment of
approximately $3,900 per Member, payable to the Department
of State, to cover transportation and per diem costs for
group travel to various cities and military installations
within the United States. (A visit outside the Continental
limits of the U.S., i.e., either to Hawaii, Puerto Rico,
Alaska, or Canada, is usually included without adding
to the dollar figure quoted above.)
Travel orders for this travel will be issued by the
Foreign Service Institute.
Foreign Field Studies
As part of the Seminar curriculum, Members perform one
trip (usually overseas) to conduct individual investigations
connected with each Member's Case Study. These costs can
run as high as $2,500 per Member, depending on the itinerary.
Individual travel orders and obligation of funds for
the travel and per diem for this Case Study are issued. by,
and charged, against, the sponsoring agency or department.
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Description -2-
The Seminar meets, both in Washington, D.C. and on trips, with top
federal, state and city government officials,, senators and congressmen,
military leaders, scientists, businessmen, union leaders, academics,
students, farmers, religious leaders, artists, philosophers, minority
leaders, etc. Reading is related to these meetings, as well as enrnuraged
in general.
During the above time frame, the Members of the Seminar have the
opportunity to appraise their styles of management and decision-making
in an environment that individually shows them their strengths and weak-
nesses and points the way to more effective methods. There are also
speakers on analytical and decision-making techniques and systems and the
uses and potentials of computers.
Following six weeks (includr?g ;:ravel, research and writing) devoted
to individual case studies on domestic or foreign subjects chosen in
consultation with the Coordinator, the Seminar spends eleven to twelve
weeks digging into major world problems, U.S. foreign policy, and national
security and intelligence issues. In this period, there are trips to
military installations. Also, Members will make their oral presentations
and defenses of their case studies toward the end of this period.
The final.two weeks are devoted to summing-up and graduation.
Throughout the 43 weeks of the course there are in-house sessions for
the purpose of reviewing and evaluating areas of inquiry and trips and for
discussion of.selected issues.
IV. MET11OD OF STUDY
As its name implies, the Senior Seminar method relies upon colloquy.
For a decade and a half, distinguished citizens and officials, scholars
and professionals, statesmen and soldiers, entrepreneurs and artists,
workers and farmers have shared their wisdom with the Seminar. They-spark
and guide the dialogue that animates this ten-month program. It is to them
that the Seminar owes its reputation as a unique and rewarding experience.
V. RESULT
By the time the Seminar ends, its Members -- both as a group and as
individuals -- have composed a mosaic of America, based on what they saw
and heard during the months they spent together. While each Member sees
that final image in a particular light, all enthusiastically acclaim the
excitement and stimulation of this broadening experience. To some extent
the viewer is transformed as his viewpoint expands, and the colloquy of the
Seminar brings each Member into a new phase of his or her professional life.
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I R,
14
Department of State
EIGHTEENTH SESSION
September 2, 1975 - June 25, 1976
DESCRIPTION OF COURSE
I. MEMBERSHIP
The Senior Seminar in Foreign Policy is the senior most training
available to officials of United States Government agencies with foreign
affairs responsibilities. It is conducted by the Foreign Service Institute
of the Department of State and has a membership predominantly composed of
Class 1 and 2 Foreign Service Officers, GS-16 civil servants and colonel
level military officers.
The Eighteenth Session numbers 28, split 50-50 between Foreign
Service Officers and officials of other agencies -- three from USIA, two
from each of AID and CIA, one from each of the-four uniformed military
services and one from each of the following: Agriculture, Arms Control
and Disarmament Agency and the FBI. They all have had 20 to 25 years'
experience in government, including in supervisory and management positions.
1I. PURPOSE
The purpose of the Seminar is to give selected officials, prior to
their moving into upper senior positrons, a ten-month opportunity for
expanding and deepening their perceptivity of and perspectives on what
is happening and why in America and the world. The emphasis is on
broadening their understanding of the issues and forces at work in America
and the world rather than on training in methods and techniques of management
or other specific subjects. The Seminar encourages free and vigorous
inquiry into the complexities of U.S. domestic and foreign policy issues
and problems and their interrelationships.
III. CURRICULUM
The curriculum is composed of speakers on a wide range of-subjects,
travel throughout the United States, reading, an individual case study
and in-house discussions.
After an initial week for orientation and just over a week of overviews
.on the major issues facing America and the world, the Seminar spendi twenty-
two weeks on what is happening and in prospect in virtually all areas of
life in these United States. This includes concentrated attention on the
economic situation and trends during the third and fourth weeks. There are
also four trips by the group, in this period, to 1.4 cities in the Mid- and
Far-West, Canada and Appalachia, the Northeast and the South.
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 UNCLASSIFIED rONFIDENTIAL SECRET
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EXECUTIVE SECRETARIAT
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DCI
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S/MC
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DDS&T
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DDI
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DDA
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D/DCI/IC
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D/DCI/NI
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GC
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LC
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Comet
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D/S
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DTR
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Asst/ DCI
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AO/ DCI
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