A CRITIQUE OF THE NATIONAL WAR COLLEGE PROGRAM

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80B01676R000100120011-8
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: C
• Document Page Count: 5
• Document Creation Date: December 14, 2016
• Document Release Date: November 12, 2002
• Sequence Number: 11
• Publication Date: July 9, 1963
• Content Type: MF

a ! i
Approved For Release 21302/11/22: CIA-RDP80B01676R000120011-
9 July 1963
MEMORANDUM FOR: The Director of Central Intelligence
THROUGH: Mr. Lyman B. Kirkpatrick,
Executive Director
SUBJECT: A Critique of the National
War College Program
1. The National War College course lasts from mid-
August until early June. The class numbers approximately 130
students; about 100 are from the military service; the
remainder are civilian government officers with the largest
number (15-20) drawn from the Department of State. The
faculty is largely military but also includes two foreign
service officers and two or three professors from the
academic world. The faculty does not teach in the usual
sense. Its role is largely advisory and administrative in
nature and is a secondary element in the overall program.
2. The course is a comprehensive review and critique
of U. S. national security policy in its broader aspects. It
includes consideration of national objectives, strategy and
capabilities, the roles of power and diplomacy, policy formu-
lation and implementation, and specific area and functional
policy problems. There are five primary elements in the
program. They are:
a. The daily lecture by speakers drawn from the top
ranks of U. S. Government, industry, labor, press, and universi-
ties.
b. The discussion groups following each lecture for
which the class is divided into 12-15 man sections to discuss
the substance of the lecture and the impact of the speaker.
c. A series of committee problems for which the
class is divided into 6-7 man committees for three or four
weeks to prepare written committee "solutions" to specific
problems of national security. Some of the solutions are
selected by the faculty for oral presentation to the class.
T AL
y~11 olr+u
Approved For Release 2002/11/22 : CIA-RDP80B01676R000100120011-8
 Approved For Release 202/11/22 : CIA-RDP80B01676R000W0011-8
d. An individual research project on a subject of
the student's choice. This is a thesis approximating in
scope a Master's Degree dissertation. It is researched and
written with the guidance of a faculty advisor. Each student
makes a 30-minute oral presentation of his findings or con-
clusions to one-half of the student body.
e. The annual overseas area trip of approximately
three weeks comes late in the academic year and affords the
student an opportunity to test some of his ideas in the field.
In addition there are three-day orientation trips to the
United Nations and to selected military installations.
2. Attendance at the National War College is a highly
individual experience. The benefits one derives from it
differ widely from person to person. The atmosphere, facili-
ties, and opportunities to pursue a wide variety of interests
are available. Students are encouraged to select individual
research projects and area trips which are outside their
professional specialities so as to broaden their experience.
3. One of the most valuable aspects of the program is
the opportunity it affords the student to expand his horizons--
to take his eye off the sights of his rifle, get his head up
out of his own fox hole, and see what is going on about the
battlefield. Problems of national security policy in the
broader sense, area problems, strategic problems, the attitudes
and problems of the military services, the Department of State,
and other agencies of Government all come to the surface and
are aired in the course of the year. There is much valuable
cross-fertilization of ideas and experience among the members
of the class. In many situations the members of the class
assume the role as teachers, seeking to make the viewpoints,
and the purposes and capabilities of their agencies more
meaningful to those of other services and branches of govern-
ment. The discussions following the daily lecture and the
process of arriving at common solutions to committee problems
are hard-hitting affairs with no-holds barred. These dis-
cussions inevitably cause each participant to constantly
defend and reassess his own points of view, and the position
and role of his agency or branch of service. In the course of
these discussions the student learns a great deal about the
U. S. Government as a whole as well as about his own Agency.
Another valuable aspect of attendance at the National War
College is the host of friends and contacts which one makes in
the course of a year of intimate association. Many of these
friends and contacts are certain to be of great professional
value in the future.
2
Approved For Release 20021441/, FI.tkfi$L676ROOOlOOl2OOl1-8
 RRE TiAL
Approved For Release 2902/11/22: CIA-RDP80BOl676R000100 20011-8
4. We found the CIA image among many members of the
National War College class to be a fuzzy one. In some few
instances there was obvious hostility to the Agency and its
role in national security policy. Three Agency members of
the class, by day-to-day demonstration that they are stable,
responsible, and reasonably intelligent people can make some
headway toward keeping the image of CIA in reasonably good
focus. Several students commented at various times during
the year that they felt CIA should have larger representation
in the class.
5. In view of the present and probable future professional
status of most of the members of the National War College
classes, we believe that a continuing effort on the part of
the Agency to educate this particular group as to the Agency's
capabilities and role will pay dividends. Special attention
should be given to the Agency presentations to the National
War College. To make the greatest favorable impact, we
believe that the Agency should be as direct and forthcoming as
it can with National War College classes. By our estimate,
about 20% of the members of any given class have been well
read into Agency activities in their past experience as
attaches, as members of the intelligence components of State
and the Armed Forces, or during assignments to CIA. About
40% to 50% of the class have had some personal experience
during their career with Agency personnel, activities, and
production. Of the remainder, only a few are completely
innocent and uninformed with respect to CIA. The class is a
knowledgeable group of men quick to sense a lack of candor and
impatient with superficialities.
6. The Director's speech to the combined classes of the
Industrial College of the Armed Forces and the National War
College in the fall of 1962, the handling of the question
period following that speech by Ray CLINE and the presentation
by Lyman B. KIRKPATRICK were very favorably received, and
stimulated a great deal of intelligent and constructive dis-
cussion about the Agency and its role. The Director's address
to the National War College class on graduation day, Friday,
June 7, 1963, made a very favorable impact on the class.
7. The visit of the National War College class to the
Central Intelligence Agency in May 1963 evoked a generally
favorable reaction from the class. Everyone was deeply
appreciative of the CIA effort and arrangements. The first
part of the program which dealt with technical collection
activities and capabilities, presented by Dr. Albert D.
WHEELON, was especially effective.
3 -
Approved For Release 2002t1 ~1~ C1 X?01676R000100120011-8
 Approved For Releas 02/11/22: CIA-RDP80B0l676R0001 676ROO
The presentation on the insurgency situation in Columbia
by Mr. J. C. KING was rich in detail and interesting insights,
but it did not give the class a feeling for the Agency capa-
bilities for, or its approach to, counter insurgency. The
tour of the building and displays prepared for the class were
for the most part well received. Many were especially
interested in the display of CIA publications having had no
idea of the scope and depth of the Agency's production.
8. We suggest that the Agency presentations to the 1964
National War College classes emphasize the Agency's role in
the implementation of national security policy and in the
collection and coordination of intelligence. A brief, candid
presentation on national intelligence estimates process would
be helpful to the class. We also suggest that the presefita-
tions emphasize those functions and capabilities more or less,
unique to the Agency. Visits to the cable secretariat, the
security control center and demonstrations of electrical data
retrieval systems could be eliminated. We also suggest, with
some temerity, that some of the Agency's many National War
College graduates be called upon to make some of t(e Agency/
presentations.
OHN F. BLAKE
25X1
25X1
Approved For Release 2002/11/22 : CIA-RDP80B01676R000100120011-8
 Approved For Release_2002/11/1C M
EXECUTIVE MEMORANDUM
OFFICE OF THE DIRECTOR
EXECUTIVE MEMORANDUM No._j
DATE t Am "*$ !q
DEPUTY DIRECTOR (PLANS)
DEPUTY DIRECTOR (INTELLIGENCE)
DEPUTY DIRECTOR (RESEARCH)
DEPUTY DIRECTOR (SUPPORT)
COMPTROLLER
INSPECTOR GENERAL
GENERAL COUNSEL
ASSISTANT DIRECTOR
FOR NATIONAL ESTIMATES
Attached is a cTitiga of the Na#a ai, 'air afte a pxogra .
pr" red by the three Ag e y tlccare w attea ed the
1963-1964 aissa; it has i por t vi a for er a stdsratla ,
at all c po eat? .
LBK: drrn
Distribution; To Executi se Com ni.ttee; I -DCI; 1-DDCI;(DER; I >ExD r
This memorandum contains information for the addressees. Ad-
dressees may give this memorandum additional circulation within
their components as required. All copies should be destroyed not
filed, upon completion of circulation. A master file will be kept in
the Executive Director's Office and will be available upon request.
" ...a i__ anxJ r ""a
Approved For Release 2002/11/22 : CIA-RDP80B01676R000100120011-8
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY