LETTER TO MR. FRANK A. LINDSAY FROM W. E. COLBY

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80M01066A001100080019-4
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 4
• Document Creation Date: December 16, 2016
• Document Release Date: November 1, 2004
• Sequence Number: 19
• Publication Date: January 21, 1975
• Content Type: LETTER

j Executive
.Approved Fo ejecpp Q04/12/Q1,:,CIA-RDP80M0.10W0.0UQ008 -4f'f 4,
21 J A N
Mr. Frank A. Lindsay
President
Itek Corporation
10 Maguire Road
Lexington, Massachusetts 02173
Thank you very much for your thoughtfulness
in sending along a copy of your note to Dick
with Raymond Aron's co-ents about CIA's analyses
during the Vietrian War. It i- indeed an
encouraging account, and,' I think essentially
accurate. These days any good comment about CIA
is of course both useful and deeply appreciated.
Thanks again.
sincerely,
W. E. Colby
Director
WEC:jlp (21 Jan 75)
Distribution:
Original -- Addressee
1 -? DCI w/basic
1 - ER
Approved For Release 2004/12/01: CIA-RDP80M01066AO0110008001974
 LxC.'.utive ria, %'-y
Approved Fq elease 2004/12/01 :CIA-RDP80M01Q. A0011000 0019 4
ITEK CORPORATION - 10 MAGUIRE ROAD
LEXINGTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02173 - (617)-276-3001
January 8, 1975
The Honorable William Colby
Director,
Central Intelligency Agency
Washington, D. C. 20505
I have sent the enclosed letter to Dick Helms to be sure
he has seen Raymond Aron's tribute to the accuracy of the
CIA analyses during the Viet Nam war. I thought you would
also like to see a copy of Aron's statement if it has not
already come to your attention.
FAL:nj c
Encl.
Approved For Release 2004/12/01: CIA-RDP80M0l066A001100080019-4
 Approved Fq,L2elease 2004/12/01: CIA-RDP80M0l0A001 100080019-4
January 8, 1975
Ambassador Richard Helms
Department of State
2201 C Street, N. W.
Washington, D. C. 20520
At a time in which the CIA is under fire it is particularly
important for you to remember the very important achievements
of the CIA during your tenure there. You may or may not have
read Raymond Aron's new book, The Imperial Re public. In case
you haven't, you should take great personal pride acid satisfaction
in the tribute lie pays to the CIA for the accuracy of the CIA's
political analyses during the period of expanding American
involvement in Viet Nam. On page 105 and 106, he has the
following to say:
"Equally striking is the contrast between the accuracy
of the analyses supplied by the intelligence services,
especially the CIA, and the frequent errors of the
civilian advisers, especially the academics. The CIA
had foreseen that the bombing would harden the North
Vietnamese leaders' will and would not prevent
infiltration, and that increased aid to the North would
be the response to any reinforcement of the American
forces. President Johnson, before starting the air
stcrikes, had transmitted a threatening message,
virtually an ultimatum, ti-cough the Canadian ]'Member
of tlcc International Control Coniuzission. This attempt
at "compelleneou had met with an inflexible determination,
which the. intelligence experts, unlike the armchair
theoreticians, had appraised at its true worth, and whose
Approved For Release 2004/12/01: CIA-RDP80M0l066A001100080019-4
 Approved F elease 2004/12/01: CIA-RDP80M0IW001 100080019-4
Ambassador Rue hard helms -2-
implications it had accurately predicted. Similarly,
these experts had repeated over and over again to
unheeding presidents and their advisers that the
roots of the war and the key to success - assuming
there was a key - lay in the South, not the North, or
in other words, that it was essential for the United
States to establish a government in Saigon capable of
winning popular support and installing in the South
Vietnamese a will to independence against the
Communist North. it
Warm regards,
FAL:nje
Approved For Release 2004/12/01: CIA-RDP80MOl 066AO01-1 00080019-4