A/DDCI COMMENT ON 'EYES ONLY' LETTER TO DCI

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80M01048A001100080016-7
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 16, 2016
• Document Release Date: June 9, 2005
• Sequence Number: 16
• Publication Date: August 24, 1977
• Content Type: LETTER

Approved For 10ase 2005/07/01 : CIA-RDP80MO1048101100080016-7
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25 August 1977
The issue raised by the author is one of professionalism - how
are professional standards achieved and maintained? Whether we are.
dealing with matters of knowledge, technical skill, ethics and integrity,
loyalty, behavioral attitudes, or leadership, a profession aspires to
and of necessity must develop standards that are self-enforcing. That
is not to say that there should be no external audit; no society - or
bureaucracy - can risk the potential for arrogance and hubris in a
professional group subject to no restraints. But a profession which
has to rely on "outside objective observers" to insure the adequacy of
its leadership selection process is no profession at all..
This is not to suggest that the process has worked as well as it
should in the Clandestine Service profession. But the cleansing process
must be found, and I believe is being found, within the Service. Criticism
from outside can stimulate and energize the process, but cannot replace
the essential requirement for the Service to develop a.level,of pro-
fessionalism in its policies and practices for developing leadership -
policies and practices in which the members of the Service have confidence
25X1 This statement
both exaggerates the problem and naively
suggests a solution that would in the long run undermine the. goals of
professional expertness and elan that the author desires. We simply
must hold the Clandestine Service responsible for meeting the higher
standards for selecting personnel for advancement that we have set'out
for them.
25
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Date: 24 August 19
25X1 TO: A / DDCI
FROM:
SUBJECT:
Attached is a copy of an "Eyes Onl ' letter to
the Director. He has asked that I respond to
it, and in the course of preparing to do so I
discovered that the author has resigned already.
The Director asks you to give him your opinion
of the recommendations in this letter. Please
pass your response back through me so that I
may coordinate with the DDO's response for
the DCI.
Approved For Release 20
01048A001100080016-7 25X1