MEMORANDUM TO THE DIRECTOR FROM PAUL V. WALSH

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80B01495R000600170043-4
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 5
• Document Creation Date: December 19, 2016
• Document Release Date: October 17, 2005
• Sequence Number: 43
• Publication Date: November 20, 1974
• Content Type: MF

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'MEMORANDUM FOR: - The Director
In view of the concern in many quarters
about the usefulness of some of the more or
less institutionalized publications for sing
intelligence requirements, we asked
to take a look at the Economic Alert
List. The attached is his evaluation of same.
If Oreaction is typical of what we can
expect from the field officers, OER has made
great strides in finding a way of expressing its
requirements without flooding the collectors
with documentation
au Walsh 20 No 974
Acting DDI (DATE)
FORM NO. lol REPLACES FORM 10-101
I AUG 54 WHICH MAY BE USED.
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1. I had never seen these publications before
today. I evaluated them in terms of how I would regard
them if I were serving in the field in any of three
capacities: Ambassador, D.C.M., or Economic Counselor.
For each of these I found them invaluable.
2. One of the most difficult problems in the field
is allocating the time and attention of the staff t
those problems which are of greatest concern to the
mission as a whole and to the several Washington agencies.
3. The drawback of the old CERP requests was that
they were so general. In my experience the Senior
Staff always had then to make up its own list of the
specific questions that needed answering if one were to
understand the economy of the host country, and then the
Staff had to formulate the specific questions that they
thought were of greatest concern to Washington, hoping
and praying that these were also the questions that were
uppermost in Washington's concern.
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4. The great value of the Alert Lists is that the
several items should save the mission a great deal of
time and a great deal of fumbling around formulating the
right questions. It is a check list of what a mission
ought to be working on if it is to do its job for itself
and for Washington agencies.
5. I especially like the way the Alert items were
drafted: they were specific, custom-made, and relevant
to the country. Some clearly filled in gaps, others
sought local opinion. There were not so many questions that they
would overwhelm a staff. The subjects could be farmed out
in the field to whoever was best equipped to dig up the
answers.
6. I would think any Ambassador, D.C.M., or Economic
Counselor who knew his business would be delighted to
have these lists. I would have a good hard look at any
mission whose officers regarded these lists as a nuisance
or "unnecessary."
7. These lists should go some distance to improve the
quality, selection, and coverage of a mission's reporting.
Every mission suffers from sending in reports and never
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knowing whether they were ever read or used. It would help
if the receivers of the reports occasionally took time
to write an informal comment or criticism, ask for
elucidations, query a position, or express a contrary view.
In my experience nothing so sharpens an officer in the
field as having someone on the receiving end take note of
his efforts. The specific character of these items should
lend themselves to a more fruitful exchange.
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