MEMORANDA ON NENNI

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80-01446R000100050012-9
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: November 9, 2016
• Document Release Date: March 18, 1998
• Sequence Number: 12
• Publication Date: October 25, 1956
• Content Type: MF

Approved For RQ~ase I 9 7C *& CIA-RDP80-0U46R000100050012-9
25 October 1956
MEMORANDUM FOR: Deputy Director /Intelligence
1. The attached memorandum is essentially my own, but the
other members of SRS are in substantial agreement with it.
2. I hope that it will be possible for the Director to read it.
I consider that this is a very critical moment for US policy in rela-
tion to the Socialist merger movement in Italy. I don't know whether
you have read the OCB program paper on the subject or are aware of
the rather considerable hassle that lies behind it. I myself am not
fully cognizant of the story, since I was out of the country at the time
it reached its final shape.
3. It seems to me that we, the US Government, are launched
in what amounts to an effort to frustrate the Socialist merger by
insisting that it be accomplished on an inflexible anti-Communist
basis. The Italians themselves probably look at the matter in a con-
siderably more flexible and sophisticated light. For this reason I
believe there will be a strong tendency, especially on the part of those
who have an interest in the success of the merger, to keep us out of
the picture. If this is the case, our policy is likely to end up leaving
us in a rather isolated position with a possible long range loss of
ability to influence Italian political life constructively.
4. Whatever the pros and cons of the policy matter, it seems
clear to me that our intelligence coverage is unsatisfactory. I have
followed the DD/P coverage as closely as possible and am forced to
conclude that it is at best incomplete and at worst tendentious. For
the last month DD/P has been issuing a series of reports based largely
on information obtained prior to the important events of late August.
This is no doubt worth doing in order to complete the record, but it
certainly raises the question why this spate of material was not pub-
lished when it would have been timely and useful.
a,.J
.~
~ ?..I 0; '.- ~ { S C
E Y E S ONLY AL""?DAT E: ' -
A p p r o v e d For Release 1999/09/08 CIA-RDP80-0144
5 Q
IRWIN
 Approved For R46ase 19
CIA-RDP80-04A46R000100050012-9
EYES ONLY
5. More serious than this delay, is the fact that a considerable
amount of reporting is slanted and of doubtful objectivity. I think it
would be worth your while to read the three attached examples which
seek to convey the impression that Moscow and the Com2A*9YQgkre
the moving force behind Nenni's concern with merger.
was a particularly he ~i mple. Note especially the sourc gI
2W1 1t on Page 2. and the comment thereon in -
-really should not be allowed to go unchallenged. It should be
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obvious to anyone that the remarks of a
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can not be interpreted as s
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25M%. I should point out that observations of
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with strong anti-merger bias have been given high-lig to
circulation to influential policy making levels as though they were the
equivalent of intelligence reports. Without knowing the source of such
reports, I am of course unable to corn it ob'ectivit , but I
5X1X6^ hat perhaps equally well informed &&J
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are not given the same
i
ng
7. I wish to assure you that these strictures on DD/P report
are not exclusively my own. I believe you will find the same opinion
among the better qualified analysts in the Agency and OIR.
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2
7CV1 5
a
1 Cr r O
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If his views had been more generally heeded at
that time I believe we would have been much better off in the face of the
actual developments. If it meets with your approval, I should like to
take the necessary steps to bring him here.
Approved For Release 1999/0
DP8