RECENT AND POTENTIAL CHANGES IN CIA MANAGEMENT

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80M00165A002500110009-7
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 15
• Document Creation Date: December 15, 2016
• Document Release Date: April 5, 2004
• Sequence Number: 9
• Publication Date: February 20, 1977
• Content Type: MF

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Distributed 28 October 1976
(With Revisions as of 20 February 1977)
MEMORANDUM FOR: Senior Agency Managers
SUBJECT . Recent and Potential Changes in CIA Management.
1. During the months that I have been DDCI, I have
been devoting a great deal of my time and attention to the charge
given to me under terms of the President's Executive Order 11905,
to provide for the day-to-day operation of the Agency and, at the same
time, meet Director Bush's charge that I concert the Agency as one
institution. Accordingly, I have had discussions with the Deputy Directors,
heads of offices, and many others in the Agency on a number of very
large and troublesome issues. What are our most serious and pressing
problems? How should we attack those problems and in what order? What
sorts of solutions seem most promising? In short, we have been grappling
with questions about the past, present, and future management of CIA.
2. At this juncture, we still have more questions than answers,
but we have covered a fair amount of territory. Some ideas that were
amorphous a few weeks ago are beginning to take on shape and substance.
Some others have died a well-deserved death. I want Lo set forth here,
in considerable detail, just what we have done, what is under active
consideration, and what is not--in part for your information but more
importantly to give you a source of readily available, authoritative
answers to the man~ questions you are being asked by your co-workers
and subordinates. Rumors are a natural and inescapable consequence
of changed leadership and new perspectives, but we would like to feel
that we have done everything we can to keep all our employees as well
informed as possible on the facts, so that we can avoid the unnecessary
personal uncertainty and institutional disruption that comes from ill-
founded speculation.
3. Within days of being sworn in, I reviewed the proposed 1978
budget and--working with the Deputies and the Comptroller-made some
difficult decisions about the distribution of people and funds. In
that review, a number of fundamental problems became apparent, notably
our need for an effective central planning and evaluation mechanism,
our lack of precise knowledge about the functions and specialities
of our people, the absence of any coherent policy that would ensure
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the maximum effective use of building space in the Washington area,
the need for a clearer definition of our requirements for covert action
capabilities in the future, and the need to better control ADP costs.
Actions to remedy these deficiencies were put in train immediately after
the Program Review, and those actions have subsequently been integrated
into the management system we are evolving.
In the intervening months, a planning process
for the 1979 program has been developed and
resulting fiscal and substantive guidance has been
issued to the Directorates, following EAG
consideration of the issues involved; we have
undertaken a major review of the allocation
of personnel by function and specialities; we
have established an internal task force on the
physical (building) space question which will
report to the EAG shortly; and we are about
to consider a series of recommendations for
changes in the management and oversight of
our ADP (computer) resources.
4. As you know, the EAG was established on 22 June, replacing
the former Management Committee. I serve as Chairman, the Comptroller
as Vice Chairman. The four Deputy Directors and the General Counsel
are full-time members, and in addition, the EAG is augmented by others
on specific topics on an ad hoc basis. EAG usually meets twice weekly
(Tuesdays and Thursdays) to consider major Agency-wide issues and to
set the stage for policy and planning decisions. In making these
decisions, I confer daily with the Director who, of course, remains
the authoritative head of our Agency.
5. One overriding issue has been the thread connecting virtually
every EAG session to date: What are the goals of CIA? We began with
the conviction that we had to decide just what needed to be accomplished
by CIA within the next year or so before we could reasonably. expect
to be able to achieve anything substantial. And, since almost every
change made to date--whether organizational or in the nature of special
assignments for a dozen or so individuals--has been in response to
one or another facet of the goals question, we have structured the
progress and prospect report that follows around the five goals upon
which the EAG has agreed and the more numerous specific questions we
have committed ourselves to address in the next several months.
Goal: We must sharpen our capability to give policy-makers what they
really need.
6. Put so baldly, the single most urgent requirement facing the
Agency sounds like nothing more than a truism. But the EAG is addressing
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itself to a great many fundamental. questions about our service to our
customers that have not, to date, been satisfactorily answered.. In the
analytical field, we are concerned with improving our ability to interpret
all consumer needs, determining how we can satisfy the gorwing substantive
intelligence needs of Congress, determining how CIA elements can maintain
and strengthen links to customers when customer relations responsibilities
have been assigned in large part to the NIOs, ensuring that we maintain
and strengthen both our basic research capabilities and our ability
to respond rapidly to the immediate needs of policy-makers, and creating
a mechanism that will ensure that the low-probability but high-impact
analytical hypothesis is brought to the attention of policy-makers.
We are looking for ways to improve performance of our crisis management
and strategic warning responsibilities and to make our products more
widely available.
7. Another set of questions deals with DDO-functions. With Congress
having challenged portions of our role in SIGINT, we are seeking to
better define that role for ourselves, preparatory to responding to
Congressional questions. We are, as I mentioned, working to develop
more specific ideas of realistic future requirements in covert action.
We are working also to formulate new ways to develop more secure cover
arrangements, and we are looking for ways to sharpen our own counter-
intelligence (CI) capabilties and to develop new and better CI arrangements
with others.
8. Although we are still adding to the list of questions to be faced,
we have begun to take specific steps aimed at obtaining some answers in.
fairly _iort order. The DDI, Dr. Savre Stevens, has presented several
alternative organizational and procedural proposals that would reshape
the components that produce finished intelligence and enhance their
ability to provide the new kinds of product being sought by customers.
A related question is whether any reorganization should include integration
of the two DDS&T production offices--the Office of Weapons Intelligence
and the Office of Scientific Intelligence--with those now in the DDI.
An outside consulting firm has been engaged to give us independent
recommendations. We intend to reach some firm decisions on the or-
ganization and procedures of the production offices by the end of this
year.
9. Once these fundamental questions about organization have been
settled, Dr. Stevens will turn his attention to other, more specific,
questions such as those about customer relaitons, Congressional needs,
and wider dissemination of the product. We currently plan to address
these matters in the EAG early in calendar 1977.
In November, after discussion of various
alternatives, we agreed to a reorganization
proposal developed by the DDI in conjunction
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with consultants from Arthur D. Little which
made important and far-reaching changes in the
organization and management of our production
apparatus. Highlights include the decision,
since implemented, to transfer the two DDS&T
production offices to DDI, a parallel decision
series of additional, more fundamental,
changes in the resulting DDI production
apparatus to enhance our ability to do
interdisciplinary research and analysis and
to improve our ability to meet the needs of
policy-makers.
10. I have assigned Cord Meyer as my Special Assistant with the
responsibility for recommending changes in our crisis management and
strategic-warning procedures in an effort to improve our performance
in t ese neglected areas. The EAG expects to review the results of
his study in March. In addition, because of the urgency and magnitude
of the international terrorism problem, I appointed Cord as the centralized
point of reference in the Agency with which the Department of State can
deal on intelligence matters concerned with terrorism. He is in direct
contact with Ambassador Douglas Heck, Coordinator of the President's
Cabinet Committee to Combat Terrorism.
11. The DDO, Mr. William Wells, has proposed a number of DDO
organizational changes to the EAG. These fail into two groups, those
dealing with staffs and those dealing with new arrangements for establish-
ing and maintaining better cover for clandestine operations. The proposed
staff realignments, which will improve DDO management while saving
some personnel slots, have been approved and implemented. The proposals
for enhancing cover by creating a new Clandestine Corps, however, presented
a problem--cover enhancement would make the Clandestine Corps personnel
more distant, both geographically and procedurally, from the rest of
CIA, from management oversight, and from supporting services. Mr. Wells
has, however, satisfied our main concerns about the Clandestine Corps,
and I have approved the basic proposal in principle and have further
charged the DDO'to undertake periodic reviews to ensure that all EAG
concerns are properly focused. During the next year, Mr. Wells plans
a comprehensive review of the personnel strength of the Directorate--
a review aimed at trimming the size of the support structure, particularly
the clerical element.
Since this was written the DDO has
begun to implement the Clandestine Corps
concept; details are fully reflected in our
1978 budget request to Congress.
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12. With regard to covert action capabilities, we have taken a new
and more penetrating loo at DDO proposals for replenishment of the
contingency ordnance stockpile in the light of possible future uses. That
review resulted in some modification of the original DDO plans. But more
importantly, we have a better understanding of policy factors and planning
assumptions for the use of this capability. We have defined and refined
our concept of paramilitary operations and are prepared to put this
before the Operations Advisory Group, to ensure that the policy-makers
who make the decisions on whether and when to employ the Agency's
expertise know precisely what this option can do.
This item has to some extent been modified
by subsequent events. The OAG did review the
paper on CIA's paramilitary capability. The
NSC/SCC is now reviewing all covert action
activities and, of course, the revelations of
this week may directly affect this important area.
- 13. The EAG has also discussed a report from the Chief of the
Counterintelligence Staff on current activities and pressing problems--
particularly those rising out of E.O. 11905. As a result, just recently
the DDS&T and the Chief of the CI Staff agreed to establish a more solid
working relationship. DDS&T is planning to send two officers to the
next running of the Counterintelligence Operations course. The CI Staff
will be developing an abbreviated counterintelligence briefing program
designed for DDS&T officers departing for assignments at overseas sites.
In addition, on 22 October I approved a proposal for development of an
expanded counterintelligence training program under Harry Fitzwater's
direction in the Office of Training.
A further review of the Agency's CI
program is currently scheduled for EAG
consideration on 29 March.
14. One of the fundamental questions about the relationship between
CIA programs and other Community programs involves Signals Intelligence--
SIGINT. The issue of the proper role for CIA in SIGINT activities
has been raised repeatedly in the past; it has been resurrected most
recently by the House Appropriations Committee. As a result, a special
three-man task force was established in July. Jack Tams serves as
the Chairman and is assisted by Ed Ryan of Division D and
from the Office of ELINT. The three-man team is examining all Agency
COMINT and ELINT activities and will provide us with recommendations
on which specific programs are essential to the missions of this Agency
and which are principally contributors to national needs and could as
well be managed by NSA. The task force is also looking at the internal
organization of the SIGINT effort, which is now divided between two
Directorates, the DDS&T and DDO; it will give us recommendations for
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reorganization of activities that should remain solely in the CIA
program. And it is looking at ways that SIGINT from other Community
elements could better serve the needs of CIA. The task force has
met with the EAG five times so far; its final recommendations are due
by the end of January 1977, and they will be the basis for a report to
the DCI, the CFI, and the Congress on what changes, if any, we propose
to make in time for implementation by 1 October 1978.
In early January, the CFI (now the PRC)
approved a draft agreement negotiated between NSA
and CIA recommending certain actions. In imple-
mentation of this agreement, the EAG met on
3 February and agreed to consolidate Division D
of the DDO and the Office of ELINT1' in DL`S&?I into
one new office---the Office of SIGINT Operations?
within the Science and Technology Directorate. In
addition, CIA, in consultation with NSA, has
proposed to OMB the transfer
15. An obvious question that arises after addressing these issues
is the future size, shape and direction of the Directorate for Science and
Technology. At its first meeting, the EAG considered a proposal for
dispe s nir g the functions of the Office of Research and Development to
other components but decided against it, believing that the possible
damage to basic research outweighed the personnel savings that would
have resulted. We are not yet taking any other specific steps to consider
the future of the Directorate; until we have decided what to do about OWl
and OSI and what to do about that portion of the SIGINT effort now
housed in DDS&T, any such action would be premature.
Several decisions already noted have
significantly affected this question. The
transfer of two p roduction offices from the DDS&T
to the DDI,
nd the decision to consolidate the
conduct of all Agency SIGINT activities into one
office in the DDS&T have significantly altered
the character and mission of the DDS&T--largely
eliminating its substantive production role but
effectively consolidating all Agency technical
collection and research and development activities
within one organization.
16. Another aspect of the performance problem is physical space. Work
areas should be an incentive; they should enhance our efforts, not hamper
them. I am concerned about the apparent inequities in both the quantity
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and the location of space available to components. Mr. John Blake,
the DDA, has given the EAG a factual presentation on the current situation,
and he has been charged with developing an overall policy statement
to guide future space decisions.
As noted above, the EAG will soon consider
recommendations by a CIA Space Task Force on
physical. space needs and the allocation of
Headquarters space between components.
Goal: We must establish an effective Agenc management process
that will enable us to-coordinate and integrate the activities of
all directorates and make effective plans for the future.
17. The specific questions being addressed in reaching for this goal
involve mechanisms for near-term decisions and for better planning. In
accordance with the DCI directive, we need to ensure that the Agency is
one organization, not four. We must in the near term develop evaluation
techniques that will assist us in resource allocation and assure ourselves
that we can make trade-off decisions wisely. And we must prepare ourselves
for making the "right" decisions about investments in future capabilities.
To do this, we have to develop better, more specific, ways of projecting
the intelligence requirements of the 1980s. We need to decide rather soon
what satellite and telemetry monitoring systems will be needed, as well as
what kinds of collaborative DDO/DDS&T operational efforts will be required
and how such joint efforts can best be managed.
18. A number of changes, beginning with establishment of the EAG, have
already been made in our efforts to improve Agency management and planning.
The Comptroller's Meetings, through which month-to-month decisions on
resource allocations are made throughout the year, have been folded
into the regular EAG cycle. The former Collection Guidance and Assess-
ments Staff has been moved from the DDI to the Office of the Comptroller, to
ensure that there is a direct relationship between resource decisions
on the one hand and intelligence judgments and requirements on the other.
Renamed the Requirements and Evaluation Staff, this group will henceforth
have greater access to internal evaluations of all Agency components
and will have a ready channel for making a collective judgment to the
EAG. The Office of the Comptroller has been further expanded by the
addition of the former NIO for Special Activities--now the Special
Assistant to the Comptroller for Strate is Intelligence (SA/SI). The
particular responsibility of the SA/SI, is to ensure
that the Agency takes well-conceived and carefully directed cross-
directorate approaches to difficult collection problems involving a
combination of technical and clandestine techniques. 0 has
met twice to date with the EAG, to report on projects currently underway
and to discuss possible approaches to managing future projects. As a
result, a new project management approach has been agreed to.
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19. One major management issue is personnel levels. We face many
conflicting demands for personnel increases, and I want to be able to
consider such demands in the light of the overall personnel balance.
As a first step in that direction, the Comptroller and the DDA are
developing guidelines for an inventory of our current uses of people,
since we must know what the balance is before we can decide whether
it is appropriate.
The inventory referred to has been completed;
the results of this effort will have a significant
effect upon planning underway now with respect
to the 1979 program and on decisions later this
year on the actual operating plan for 1978.
20. Concurrently, the DDS&T, Mr. Leslie Dirks, has been charged
with proposing procedures for developing more concrete ideas of future
intelligence challenges and the possible re( irements for major-new stems
in the next decade. Both technology and the nature of the intelligence
questions we face are changing very rapidly. Moreover, the restrictions
placed on the clandestine collection activities of the Agency by E.O. 11905,
make it apparent that we must turn increasingly to technical collection
systems for fulfillment of our analytical requirements in certain areas.
Mr. Dirks' report is currently scheduled for
EAG review in April.
21. We are trying to take the first step toward development of a
better planning process in the next two months. One result of the new
organization of the Intelligence Community structure is that we will
henceforth receive guidance figures on our total permissible budget from
the CFI before the budget is first compiled by the components. Using
the preliminary figures for 1979 developed by the components as part
of the 1978 Program Review, we plan to have one or two EAG meetings in
December that will consider the major policy questions that will arise
in connection with the 1979 program. The idea here is to guide the
development of that budget in advance so we can be sure it will be -
a vehicle for achievement of specific, well defined objectives and not
simply an extension of current trends. Given the fact that major changes
are taking place that undermine the premises upon which preliminary
1979 plans were formulated, both the components and the EAG will have
considerable difficulty in addressing an overall strategy. But by the
combined efforts of the EAG members a workable program can be effected.
As noted, our planning for 1979 is well
underway. The EAG will meet 22 February to
agree on substantive and fiscal guidance for 1979.
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Goal: we must establish relations of mutual confidence with
oversight organs and the public.
22. The period of intensive investigation and public attention
to the Agency has ended, but we have a great deal of work to do to improve
our Congressional and public relations. We need to strive for far more
than simply reestablishing the level of communication and understanding
that existed before 1975. We must adjust to a whole new way of life. We
will be living with a far more intensive level of Congressional oversight
than in the past, and we have recognized that there is a new legitimacy to
reasonable degrees of public scrutiny of American intelligence. We are
confident all of these adjustments can be made without disclosing sensitive
intelligence sources and methods--disclosures which would inflict
unacceptable damage on us. As a matter of fact, we will be pressing ahead
with the new Congress to get stronger secrecy legislation to protect
sources and methods.
23. The investigations and reviews have made American intelligence--
what it is and what it is not--a fit subject for public consideration.
Right now, the public mood appears supportive of intelligence activities
but the public wants them to be well advised and controlled. The Director
arid I, recognizing the need for public understanding of our mission
and roles, believe it is advisable and necessary to continue to speak
openly and candidly about the CIA and the Intelligence Community, once
again without violating secrecy and the need to protect intelligence
sources and methods. To assist in this important task, Mr. Andrew
Falkiewicz has joined us as Assistant to the DCI and is taking a fresh
look at how best to address this question.
24. As to media relations, Mr. Falkiewicz has been named chairman of
a new Publications Review Board which will look at unclassified articles
proposed for publication in open literature by CIA personnel. The Board
will review articles not only for security implications but also for an
assessment of potential public impact. The general charge is to ensure
that we are at one and the same time more forthcoming with information and
more alert to the potential consequences of what we provide. We intend
to review existing policies on both public and press relationships in
the EAG in early 1977.
25. Good working relations have been established with the new Senate
Select Committee on Intelligence. Experiences with the Committee members
have been uniformly encouraging, particularly with regard to the Committee's
understanding of the need for secrecy and security, and personnel throughout
the Agency report favorably on their initial contacts with the Committee and
its staffers. The Senate Appropriations Committee has recently appointed a
full-time staffer, Fir. James Fellenbaum, to handle intelligence--a development
that provides us with the opportunity for developing a strong relationship
with the second of the two key committees in the appropriations process.
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The Legislative Counsel, Mr. George Cary, has had two discussions
with the EAG on recent developments in the Congressional relations area,
and he has prepared a draft notice on procedures for coordination of
Congressional relations that will be reviewed by the EAG.
Since the section above was written, the
EAG has met and agreed to proposals for establish-
ment of a staff within the Office of Legislative
Counsel designed to ensure coordinated review of
all information flowing to Congress. The
revelations of last week have however raised once
again serious questions as to the adequacy of
our overall control over the flow of information
from CIA to the rest of the Executive Branch
and the Congress. We are currently considering
how to undertake a comprehensive look, probably
under the aegis of the Inspector General, at our
total information flow problem, leading to
recommendations for action inside CIA and else-
where as to how we can get better control
of this problem area. In addition, the EAG
will meet again in April to consider ideas as to
further steps we can take to improve Congressional
support for us and our programs.
then our command and control
Goal: We must streng
to ensure that we are protected from improprieties
arrangements
26. Underlying this ::Ample-sounding goal are a number of very thorny
questions. Intelligence is a business in which originality, imagination,
and risk-taking are essential ingredients of success. But we are--and
want to be--part of a uniquely American system which depends for its strength
on the rule of law. How can the inherent creativity of our people be
enhanced while all of us are assured of the legality and propriety of
our actions? What can we do to reconcile operational-demands with legal
restrictions? Internally, what comb nation of regulations, guidance,
inspection, review and reporting will protect our integrity without
degrading our effectiveness?
27. As one early step toward answering some of these questions, the
Inspector General, Mr. John Waller, has formulated and the EAG has approved
an initial short-term IG inspection plan that will cover all components
and identify potential problem areas for more careful study. These initial
inspections will be completed by the end of this year. In addition, the
General Counsel, Mr. Anthony Lapham, will discuss with the EAG his proposals
for improving guidance on legal restrictions--proposals based primarily
on the concept that we should develop specific, detailed guidance for each
category of Agency employees facing a particular set of problems, rather
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than attempt to develop general guidance for all employees on all possible
problems. In a third phase of this effort, Mr. Waller and Mr. Lapham have
jointly alerted the EAG to the set of potential problems growing out of
real or apparent conflicts between operational requirements (e.g., cover
considerations) and local--as opposed to Federal--laws and regulations.
The EAG has set up a task force (led by Mr. Lapham and consisting also of
the four Associate Deputy Directors, the Assistant Comptroller for
Resources, I I of my office, and Mr. Waller) to provide an
interim report by November on the following matters:
?--how we should impart keener awareness of Headquarters
regulations to all employees in order to ensure that we
remain within our established operating framework;
-how we can ensure that each group of employees gets all the
guidance it needs and a minimum of guidance that is irrelevant
to its needs;
--what further steps we can 'take to guarantee individual employees
ample opportunity to surface problems that trouble them;
--how we can improve the communication of additional guidance
as appropriate from top management to individual employees; and
--what steps we should take to deal with the problem of possible
conflict between operational needs and established laws.
The EAG met on 3 January to review results
of the IG's Phase I program outlined above. In
general, the IG has concluded that we are in
compliance with the provisions of E.O. 11905 and
that employees are adequately sensitized to the
new guidelines to which we must adhere. The
additional steps to consider better ways to
control the flow of information from CIA to others
briefly noted above are an important part of our
ongoing consideration of the command and control
issue.
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Following a 15 December meeting of the EAG
to discuss this question, we tasked the Office
of the Comptroller with developing the requested
criteria and proposed review process for further
FAG consideration and decision.
personnel=policies for the benefit-o
pl icants
employment.
29. This last goal is in fact one essential for development of all
the others. Our basic resource and key to success is pople--and that
means individuals, not some abstract--like positions, or some aggregate--
like intelligence officers or secretaries. We must, of course, continue
to hire the best possible people in the first place. But we want to
ensure that we do everything possible to capitalize on the strengths of
each individual. The EAG will be taking a very hard look at all the
personnel policies and practices that have developed over time. We want
to promote career development opportunities and effective early-career
training and assignment practices. We want to relate the intelligence
needs of the 1980s to the hiring decisions of the present. We will
look at the exisiting career service structure, to determine if it
truly serves our needs; in a related area, we will continue to take
advantage of opportunities for cross-directorate experience. We want
to develop means for giving greater recognition to superior individual
performance and clearly establish means for early recognition of less
than adequate performance.
3U. We will continue to give very special attention to our EEO program.
The record of the last several years has been poor, but we are determined
to improve in this area. The Office of Personnel has been directed to
take concrete steps in the EEO area. The most important single decision
that shapes our EEO progress is the decision on who is hired and who is
not; for minority applicants, that decision will now be made by the Deputy
Directors, and they will be directly accountable to me for their decisions.
In addition, I have instituted a new system under which the Deputies report
directly to me, in detail and on a quarterly basis, on EEO progress.
31. As a first step toward tackling the general personnel issues,
which are important to every Agency employee, the DDA provided the EAG
with initial recommendations on 20 October. In that meeting, the EAG
approved a proposal for EAG review of nominations to key operating
positions, and the Office of Personnel and the Comptroller have been
charged with developing a system to accomplish this. In addition,
LAG asked Personnel to formulate detailed proposals on uniform promotion
and separation policies and on the supervisor's role in training and
developing newly hired employees. We will also be looking more closely
at rotation policy and our personnel mix. We expect to make changes
in these areas, but not precipitate ones. We have evolved our existing
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practices over many years, and we are not interested in change for
its own sake. We want to be sure that the new approaches we take
to these old problems are significant improvements.
Although the EAG has met three times to
address personnel managment issues and we have
taken some useful steps in this area, I am
unsatisfied with our progress to date. Although
there is some dissatisfaction and concern among
employees and at management levels about our
present personnel management practices, we
have had a very difficult time identifying
exactly the issues involved and the possible
remedies.
On the plus side, we have taken positive
steps to make uniform the criteria to be
employed by the various individual CIA career
services with respect to the promotion and
separation of employees, and we have under
development a process which will soon allow
top ;management for the first time an
opportunity to review nominations from all
Directorates to some 5U key management
positions.
On the negative side, we have so far been
unable to come to grips with some of the more
basic questions about the degree of central
management responsibility over many other
important aspects of the personnel management
process. It is my current belief that we will
need the services of an outside contractor to
cut through all the mythology surrounding
this most basic issue and provide us with
objective insight into the overall quality
of our personnel management processes.
32. In a slightly longer time frame, the EAG also wants to look at
all current Agency training programs, to make sure that they are relevant
to the needs of our employees. And we want to look at an area of particular
interest to me--the question of whether there is a real or perceived
difference in status accorded those in our service elements and those in
our more widely known collection and production elements and, if so, what
can be done to end that difference. We currently plan to address these
issues in the EAG in early 1977.
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What has really changed?
33. With all the references above to studies, proposals, pressing
questions and as yet unresolved problems, it is easy for those without
direct access to the proceedings of the EAG and the daily decisions of
the management of the Agency to conclude that little fundamental difference
has been made since July. I, for one, believe that things have changed
already and that further substantial change will occur in the next
several months.
34. In this regard, it is important to look at specifics. The long-
standing desire for more unification and less parochialism in the Agency's
four parts has been translated into a number of new appointments to senior
posts--appointments of individuals from different parts of the Agency
and of individuals from outside. These initial top level appointments
are leading to an increase in cross-directorate assignments at lower
levels; we are determined to encourage this trend. The individuals on
the SIGItT Task Force have been detached from their components and are
reporting directly to me; they are developing an Agency position on SIGINT,
rather than two Directorate positions that would have to be reconciled.
The first semi-annual report to the National Security Council on sensitive
activities was reviewed by the FAG and revised in accordance with its
instructions; this is precisely the sort of document that would have been
handled bilaterally between the DCI and one Deputy in the past. Similarly,
the LAG dealt collectively with the specific issues arising out of
Congressional action on our 1977 budget.. Also in the resource area, we
are developing a prioritized list of those planned 1977 projects and
expenditures of least value to the Agency as a whole, so that any
funding adjustments we have to make during the year will reflect conscious
choices about what to do and what to forego.
35. In summary, I believe we are making progress in meeting the
terms of E.O. 11905; we have started in the new directions called for
by the Director who seeks a "one Agency" solution to past problems;
we enjoy new and strong support within the Executive, in the Senate,
and among the public at large; and we have the satisfaction of knowing
that our daily, bread-and-butter work in support of the Government has
not been disrupted; that work continues and can be improved: working
together, improvement is assured.
E. H. Knoche
Deputy Director of Central Intelligence
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,T Whom It May Concern:
Full text of the attached from Knoche
and a Envelope marked Personal for Turner
from Jack Blake
were hand-carried by Watch Officer courier
to Turner's office at EOB on Monday, 2/21.
Monday, 2 /21.
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