AGENCY COMMENTS ON SECRETARY UDALL'S REPORT ON ELECTRIC POWER DEVELOPMENTS IN THE USSR

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80B01676R002900030003-7
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 12, 2016
• Document Release Date: April 11, 2002
• Sequence Number: 3
• Content Type: LETTER

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SUBJECT: Agency Comments on Secretary Udall's Report on Electric Power
Developments in the USSR.
1. Below are comments contributed by Agency officers on Secretary
Udall's report.
"The report of the Udall delegation on Electric Power Developments
in the USSR provides an excellent summary appraisal of Soviet electric power
growth and planning and the challenge this presents to the West. It illustrates
the value of a carefully planned and run exchange program with the USSR.
"This report is all the more valuable because as an authoritative
statement of top ranking U. S. officials in the electric power field it will be more
readily accepted and understood by the U. S. audience, particularly those in the
technological and industrial fields, than are comparable Soviet publications which
have met with considerable skepticism and indifference because of Soviet propa-
ganda techniques. It should therefore stimulate a greater understanding of the
challenge presented by the Soviets in this area of economic competition and also
of the social system on which that challenge is based. If anything, the differing
social systems, particularly in regard to the application and consumption of
electric power output, should be more strongly stressed in this report. In this
regard comparative statistical analyses, especially per capita indices, can be
very misleading and not truly reflect the Soviet system of resource allocation
and heavy capital investment at the expense of the consumer. Suffice it to say,
as did a recent State Department Moscow Airgram, that the electric power
output transmission facilities in Moscow are so overstrained that the streets
are only semi-illuminated because of lack of sufficient electricity.
"As was anticipated, the report itself contains little of direct opera-
tional intelligence significance. We did benefit greatly, however, from the
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discussion with Secretary Udall and members of his delegation at the debriefing.
It was most interesting to learn how such a ranking group would be received and
attended in the USSR, the type of controls that would be exercised, and the extent
to which the RIS would be in direct evidence. The fact that a ranking RIS official
was a member of the reception committee, apparently unknown to the delegation,
suggests that defensive briefing of such delegations is a practice which should be
continued. 11
3. Dr. Otto Guthe, Assistant Director, Research and Reports, states:
"The report presents accurate, up-to-date information on hydro-
electric power stations and extra-high voltage power transmission in the USSR,
along with supplementary information on the energy situation in the USSR. The
major intelligence gain contained in the report is the information on the projected
size of the Bratsk Aluminum Plant, known previously only as "the largest in the
USSR. " The report provides handy comparisons of Soviet dams, reservoirs, and
hydroelectric powerplants with similar installations in the U. S. (pp 49-51). By
pointing out that the two countries are at different places on a "normal growth
curve, " it presents, in graphic form, its own approach towards answering the
perennial question of whether or not the USSR is catching up with the U. S. in
power generating capacity (pp 56-64).
"Many of the data contained in the report have been published in the
Soviet Press and were available to this Office prior to the delegation's tour.
The Office of Research and Reports furnished extensive briefing materials to the
Department of the Interior before and after the tour, and an earlier draft of the
report was reviewed by a member of that Office. Many of the materials supplied
were incorporated in the report. " 25X1
man B. Kirkpatrick
Executive Director
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