LETTER TO LIEUTENANT GENERAL ROBERT M. SHOEMAKER FROM GEORGE BUSH

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80M00165A001800100036-6
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: C
• Document Page Count: 17
• Document Creation Date: December 15, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 20, 2004
• Sequence Number: 36
• Publication Date: January 13, 1977
• Content Type: LETTER

Approved For ReleYe 2004/08/30 : CIA-RDP80M00165A001800100036-6
DCI/IC 77-4204
13 JAN 1377
Lieutenant General Robert M. Shoemaker
Commanding General, III Corps
Fort Hood, Texas 76544
Dear General Shoemaker:
Ezecut1se F~eg stty
In addition to my personal thanks to you for an extremely well
organized and educational visit to Ft. Hood, I would appreciate your
conveying my compliments to the dedicated professionals at your instal-
lation. The generous availability of personal time extended by you,
General Meyer, and General Patton was extremely valuable to me. The
knowledge of the subjects covered, at all levels, was readily apparent,
and the enthusiasm to build and come to grips with problems was contagious.
I was particularly gratified by the frankness in discussions and
briefings which addressed both the good things being accomplished and
the identification of problem areas. The views and concerns about main-
taining quality linguists were of particular interest because the problem
has also been of special interest to me since being appointed Director
of Central Intelligence. I intend to pass these views and concerns to
the ongoing effort which is tasked with the total Community-wide problem.
I am also asking my Deputy for the Intelligence Community,
to ensure that appropriate elements of the Community are made adequately
aware of the impact which can be anticipated from problems associated
with the maintainability of small populations of expensive and complex
equipments. The problem was apparent with your current vintage equipment
and will undoubtedly escalate rapidly with the equipments under develop-
ment.
I am enclosing letters for three individuals who helped provide the
visible evidence of all the outstanding capability and effort going on
at your organization. I would appreciate your arranging for their
appropriate receipt of these letters.
Again, my sincere thanks for an extremely educational and beneficial
experience.
Sincerely,
/s/ George Bush
George Bush
Approved For Release 2004/8/30 : CIA-RDP8'0MOO165AO01800100036-6
 Approved For Release 2004/08/30: CIA-RDP80M00165A0 1800100036-6
DCI/IC 77-4204
DCI/IC/QPBD
Distribution:
Orig. - Addressee, LTG Shoemaker
k- DCI
ER
- IC Registry
I - OPBD subj
1 - OPBD chrono
Approved For Release 2004/08/30 : CIA-RDP80M00165A001800100036-6
 Approved For Rele'fte 2004/08/30 : CIA-RDP80M00165A001800100036-6
DCI/IC 77-4205
13 JAN
Captain Sherrel Mock
Office of Secretary to General Staff
Headquarters, III Corps
Fort Flood, Texas 76544
Dear Captain Mock:
I want to express my sincere appreciation to
you for the support you gave to me and my party during
our visit to port Mood on 13 and 14 December 1976.
The motel and transportation arrangements were outstanding,
as well as the fast-moving, educational schedule you
arranged.
I recognize the difficulty in arranging such a
visit and I commend you for a job accomplished in an
outstanding manner. Many thanks.
Sincerely,
Is/ George Bush
George Bush
Approved For Release 2004/08/30 : CIA-RDP80M00165A001800100036-6
 Approved For Rele' se 2004/08/30 : CIA-RDP80M00165AO01800100036-6
DCI/IC 77-4205
DCI/IC OPBD/
Distribution:
1 -
Addressee,
Captain Mock
1 -
DCI
lj -
~I -
ER
IC Registry
1 -
OPBD subj
1 -
OPBD chrono
Approved For Release 2004/08/30 : CIA-RDP80M00165AO01800100036-6
 Approved For Release 2004/08/30 : CIA-RDP80M00165A001800100036-6
DCI/IC 77-4203
13 JAN 19"
Lieutenant Colonel William Harmon
G-20 2d Armored Division
Fort Hood, Texas 76544
Dear Colonel Harmon :
I want to express my sincere appreciation to you for
the briefing and tour of your G-2 operation during my visit
to Fort Hood on 14 December 1976. I was particularly impressed
with the organization and varied activities pursued during a
command post exercise.
It is heartening to observe dedicated soldiers--both
men and women--enthusiastically accomplishing their assign-
ments under trying conditions. As you know, when you are in
the Washington environment you tend to forget what the real
soldier endures. Slogging through the mud, talking to
soldiers in that kind of situation, quickly brings things
back into perspective. Please express my sincere appreciation
to your entire organization. They are doing a great job for
a great country.
It is heartening to know and observe dedicated pro-
fessionals like you in the intelligence field. Keep up the
good work.
Sincerely,
%s! George Bush
George Bush
Approved For Release 2004/08/30 : CIA-RDP80M00165AO01800100036-6
 Approved For Release 2004/08/30 : CIA-RDP80M00165A001800100036-6
DCI/IC 77-4203
SCI/IC/OPBU
Distribution:
Orig. - Addressee, LTC Harmon
1 - DCI
i= - ER
`1 - IC Registry
I - OPBD sub j
I - OPBD chrono
Approved For Release 2004/08/30 : CIA-RDP80M00165A001800100036-6
 Approved For Release 2004/08/30 : CIA-RDP80M00165AO01800100036-6
TRANSMITTAL SLIP
ROOM NO. BUILDING
ROOM NO. BUILDING
FORM NO I REPLACES FORM 36-8
I FEB 55-24 WHICH MAY BE USED.
Approved For Release 2004/08/30 : CIA-RDP80M00165AO01800100036-6
 :.r
Approved For Release 2004/08/30 : CIA-RDP80M00165AO01800100036-6
DCI/IC 77-4202
13 JAN 197
Lieutenant Colonel Dudley J. Gordon
Commanding Officer 522d CEWI Battalion
2d Armored Division
Fort Hood, Texas 76544
Dear Colonel Gordon.
I want to express my sincere appreciation to you for
the briefing and tour of your activities during my visit to
port Hood on 14 December 1976 Your candid, straightforward
discussion of the good things being accomplished in the test
phase of your new battalion organization, as well as the
identification of problem areas, was most enlightening.
I was particularly interested in your views and concerns
about maintaining quality linguists. This too has been a
concern of mine since I was appointed Director of Central
Intelligence. I intend to pass your views to the ongoing
effort which is tasked with the overall linguist problem. I
am also asking , my Deputy for the Intelligence
Community, to ensure that appropriate elements of the Community
are made adequately aware of the overall impact of the
maintainability problems associated with small populations
of expensive and complex equipments such as you use now and
which are being developed.
I was delighted to see the enthusiasm of the men and
women of your command, both in the field and at the equipment
display area. As you well know, when you are in the Washington
environment you often forget about the conditions the real
fighting soldiers endure. Slogging through the mud with
members of your command brought the realities of the Army
back into perspective. Please express my appreciation to
all members of your command- -they are doing a great job for
a great country.
It is gratifying to see dedicated professionals like
you leading our tactical intelligence units. Keep up the
good workl
Sincerely,
/p/ George Bush
George Bush
Approved For Release 2004/08/30 : CIA-RDP80M00165AO01800100036-6
 Approved For Reltrase 2004/08/30 : CIA-RDP80M00165A001800100036-6
DCI/IC/OPB
Distribution:
1 - Addressee, LTC Gordon
1.- DCI
- ER
- IC Registry
1 - OPBD subj
I - OPBD chrono
DCI/iC 77-4202
V 14 11 ?1 Mil,!!
EV
Approved For Release 2004/08/30 : CIA-RDP80M00165A001800100036-6
 Approved For Ree 20
64/08/30: CIA-RDWO NY6,q~$~' i7o-~W~'WgLLIGGNCr,
D
I have reviewed the attached memo and find it
complete in every way.
I was most impressed by the dedication of the
people with whom we talked.
Lt.General Shoemaker was most generous with his
time. His knowledge of the subjects was
readily apprent and his"enthusiasm was contagious.
M. Gen Meyer was most impressive also.
I do want to make official comment on the officers
you mention in the attached note- to Jennifer, and
I await your guidance.
Thanks, Dick.
;4?
Approved For Release 2004/08/30 : CIA-RDP80M00165AO01800100036-6
 Approved For Rerase 20
4/08/30: CIA RUIbl~j~Y STAFF
6rz j~ c c~J~ Svc tG L~ (~?C cc ep
ell
PC -Z eelttl~e\ S2,,-e,
1 ., /1 t~ s ~- ~U cc x.1 1
IINFORMATIO
ee`7 `4 "e"' 41 dLLz4
J ?~G ~,~~~7 ~ ,emu,
GLuI (/q4, / y~ .fiee .
Approved For Release 2004/08/30 : CIA-RDP80M00165A001800100036-6
 Approved For R1' ase 2
4/08/30 : C~A1d$~$L111158~b7111-'~~-' STAFF
[NF"ORMAT[ON
Approved For Release 2004/08/30 : CIA-RDP80M00165A001800100036-6
 Approved For R eea a 2004%08)30 :`Cll( Dp8'ONf06165 00100036-6
DCI/IC 76-2061
27 December 1976
MEMORANDUM FOR THE RECORD
FROM
OPBD/ICS
SUBJECT: Trip Notes on DCI Visit to Ft. Hood, Texas,
14 December 1976
1. As follow-on to a 6 October 1976 Army briefing on
their Direct Support program, Mr. Latimer, Principal Deputy
ASD(I)/DDI, extended an invitation to Mr. Bush to visit Army
CONUS tactical SIGINT/EW units. Mr. Bush choose to visit
Ft. Hood, Texas units on 14 December 1976 and was accompanied
by:
Mr. W. Henderson, OASD(I)
Col. K. Greenlaw_ OASD(T)
2. The visit provided an opportunity to obtain a first
hand appreciation for the progress of Army intelligence in
providing support to tactical commanders. The itinerary
consisted of:
a. Discussion with LTG R. M. Shoemaker, Commanding
General of III Corps, emphasized the capacity for
realism, provided by the geography and experience level
of personnel assigned, in order to develop concepts and
doctrine for weapons systems and tactical intelligence--
user and provider interplay.
b. Briefings on the Opposing Forces Unit (OPFOR)
which provides realism to training exercises through
expertise and application of Soviet forces, strategies
and doctrine, with post exercise evaluations and lessons
learned.
Approved For Release 2004/08/30 : CIA-RDP80M00165AO01800100036-6
AL T
 Approved For Release 0476$Y~0i: CTA=R~7$QM~O65T800100036-6
c. Visit to 2d Armored Division while a local
command post exercise (CPX) was under way, and discussions
with MG G. S. Patton, Commanding General, to explore
user reaction to the intelligence function being an
organic part of his force structure. Also, a briefing
by LTC(P) D. Gordon, commander of the organic intelli-
gence unit, the Combat Electronic Warfare and Intelli-
gence (CEWI) Battalion, as to its status and future
with a demonstration of equipments currently available.
d. Discussion with MG S. C. Meyer, CG of TRADOC
Combined Arms Test Activities (TCATA), and a series of
briefings by his staff. These ranged over development
and implementation concepts for operational testing and
training needs associated with (1) the new systems
projected for the 1980's, and (2) the operational
implications of continued movement of intelligence into
the force mix under operational commanders. Included,
was examples of experience gleaned from a previous
exercise on input from national assets to operational
commanders.
3. Observations:
a. An extremely healthy environment for progress
was demonstrated through the enthusiasm, concern and
understanding at the senior levels of leadership.
Emphasized by General Shoemaker and strongly reflected
at all echelons,, was the expressed need to push hard
for "user articulation of requirements."
b. With respect to national assets input to
operational commanders, experience gained from past
exercise and conceptual planning appear to be leading
to some reasonable efforts. A noted problem, which did
stand out as requiring added emphasis in both doctrinal
and mechanical areas at the national and operational
levels, arises from the volumes of information flowing.
As described by briefers, (1) the volume flowing from
national assets could cause information inundation at
the field.force user level and (2) the high-speed data
rates associated with the national assets' information
mass must ultimately hit a relative choke (e.g., 100
word per minute interface) someplace at or prior to the
user.
c. Although current attitudes are enthusiastic
about the direct inclusion of the intelligence activities
Approved.For Release 2004/08/30 : CIA-RDP80M00165A001800100036-6
 Approved For RM."e
686 96_i~ 00100036-6
into the operating commanders immediate force structure,
distinct concerns for immediate deficiencies and the
future were apparent.
1) The user is satisfied with the present
inclusion as it is simply an add-on of existing
peripheral resources--he essentially gave-up
nothing as a trade-off. He understands his
provider's immediate problems and expresses active
support to seek correction. The major problems
set forth are linguists and direction finding
(DF). Basics of linguist problem include:
- identification and establishment of an
appropriate mix to meet division level needs;
- schools are not sufficient;
- difficulty with career incentives as
demonstrated by the poor first term retention
rate;
- realistic and productive peacetime
- maintenance of tactical skills (vocabu-
lary, jargon, etc.); and
- need for a national reservoir of
appropriately qualified linguists.
Recognizing the role that DF can play to provide
information on pre-hostilities deployment (warning),
to aid in the increase of effective use of smaller
forces (timing), and to achieve higher attrition
of energy forces (target acquisition), the equip-
ment deficiencies are self-explanatory as to problem
basis:
- currently limited to line-of-bearing
capability which are slow and only indicate a
direction without distance;
- radar equipment is circa late forties;
jamming equipments are circa '59-'60;
- generally not capable of reasonably
dealing with the oppositions use of the
frequency spectrum today; and
3
Approved For Release 2004/08/30 CIA-RDP80M00165AO01800100036-6
 Approved For Release 2004/08/30 CIA-RDP80M001-65A16 800100036-6
- the new equipments briefed are not due
- until the 1980's--in fact, pre-production
prototypes are not even available to aid in
current work to develop operations and support
concepts.
Further evidence in this area was the equipment
static display. In attempting to show Mr. Bush
how and what the equipments do, it was noted that
less than 20% was operative. This was the first
line equipment of the only existing Combat Electronic
Warfare and Intelligence (CEWI) Battalion.
2) The provider is equally concerned with
predictable future problems. A philosophical
summation of the problem was expressed as the fear
that "in 17 years, today's lieutenants will stand-
up and have the same concerns as todays colonels."
Implied is that the user will be less enchanted
with his "free" add-on of intelligence when the
sophisticated systems enter the inventory with an
associated jump in resource requirements which
could necessitate other weapons systems trade-
offs Will the enthusiasm to develop concepts and
to'support them continue? Lower availability and
reliability than anticipated from promises held-
forth in concept development could generate suf-
ficient frustration to put aside the new toy
before it has had a chance. Availability and
reliability will be directly affected by the
problems associated with small populations of
specialized equipments:
- logistics problems to maintain adequate
stock levels of unique, expensive parts with
low usuage frequency;
- maintenance problems to acquire and
keep skilled personnel--particularly qualified
on the unique equipment; and
- operating personnel problems to train
and maintain sufficient numbers of skilled
persons within a framework of limited career
incentives.
These problem areas are currently seen in the
aforementioned description of the linguist problem
Approved For Release-2004/08t3fl : CIA-RDP8Q U 65A001800100036-6
 Approved For F1e a 2004/08/30 ' CIA-RDP80M06'f~iA401800100036-6
and the inability to maintain acceptable oper-
ability levels on equipment which is much less
sophisticated than that under development.
4. In summary, the problems observed do not appear to
be insurmountable, but rather those associated with a growth
process. However, the roots of some of the problems are
very deep, and to come to grips with them will require that
the present user enthusiasm and understanding be maintained
and enhanced with recognition of previous experience gained
in the area of support and personnel problems. Also, peri-
pheral resources, such as those availab=p to the DCI, should
be continually available to aid in thy/development process
whenever requested. `
25X1
Approved For Release 2004/08/30 CIA.RDP80JV1001,65A001800100036-6