NOTES FROM THE DIRECTOR EXECUTIVE ORDER 12036

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP81M00980R001700080072-7
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 4
• Document Creation Date: December 16, 2016
• Document Release Date: November 5, 2004
• Sequence Number: 72
• Publication Date: February 2, 1978
• Content Type: NOTES

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c/
Notes from the Director No. z,
2 February 1978
EXECUTIVE ORDER 12036
On 24 January President Carter signed the Executive Order that has been much
on our minds, and consumed much of our energies, over the past months. This
Executive Order shapes the intelligence structure and provides explicit guidance on
all facets of intelligence activities. Three cardinal features of the new order have
significant implications for the Agency and for the way we do our job.
(1) For the first time, a formal attempt is made to involve the country's highest
policymakers in establishing collection priorities, in relating these priorities
to resources, and in reviewing the intelligence product. Clearly the DCI and
the CIA should not have the last word in these areas. We are not consumers,
but instead provide a service and must know what our policy makers need if
we are to provide that service. The Policy Review Committee, a subcommit-
tee of the National Security Council, which I chair when matters of
intelligence are discussed, is the forum in which the policymakers will make
these deliberations. The Secretaries of State, Defense and Treasury, ? the
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the Assistant for National
Security Affairs sit on this subcommittee and, with the President, tell me
what they want and in what priority. This system has been in use for several
months and is working very well.
(2) The DCI's authority to act as the principle national intelligence officer of
the government, as intended in the National Security Act of 1947, has been
substantially strengthened. For the first time, the DCI has exclusive
authority to develop the National Foreign Intelligence Program budget. The
1979 Community budget was put together using this new process, and it
functioned splendidly. The interests of the Defense Department, State,
Treasury and others were considered and general agreement reached before
the budget was presented to the President.
Under the Executive Order, the DCI has been given authority to direct
the tasking of all Intelligence Community collection assets. This centralized
tasking should preclude needless duplication of effort and guard against
potentially dangerous omissions in collection. The cooperation which this
centralization encourages should also help us to anticipate Community
needs for the future.
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Importantly the Order does not provide the DCI with exclusive authority
over analysis. In this area we shall continue to strive for and encourage
independent interpretation. The Bureau of Intelligence and Research at
State and the Defense Intelligence Agency will not only have the right, but
the obligation to come forward with their independent analyses of the
available data.
The Executive Order authorizes the DCI to ensure proper distribution of
all information collected. In the past each collecting Agency has dissemi-
nated its own information. In some cases important consumers were
overlooked.
(3) Increased emphasis on the oversight process is the third cardinal feature of
the Executive Order. The new restrictions are an expansion of those
provided by Executive Order 11905. Under the new Order, the Attorney
General will approve guidelines for the entire Community to protect the
individual rights of U. S. citizens. We will work closely with the Attorney
General to establish procedures and policies to ensure compliance with those
guidelines and with the Executive Order.
The last major step in this overall reorganization process is congressional action
on statutory charters that will incorporate the Executive Order into law. The Senate
Select Committee intends to introduce its draft proposals in early February. With the
signing of the Executive Order and the work begun on codification, we have reached
a major milestone. In the coming months we will be settling down into a process
which I believe will strengthen our capabilities, challenge our energies, and from
which will evolve an intelligence philosophy which is uniquely American. We should
be greatly encouraged by the prospects.
Reprinted below are President Carter's remarks before and after signing the
Executive Order. An official Agency Summary of the Order is being circulated as a
Headquarters Notice.
STANSFIELD TURNER
Director
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THE WHITE HOUSE
REMARKS OF THE PRESIDENT
UPON SIGNING OF
THE INTELLIGENCE EXECUTIVE ORDER
THE CABINET ROOM
11:45 A.M. EST January 24, 1978
(before signing)
THE PRESIDENT: This morning we have gathered to sign an Executive Order
which makes a major stride forward in better coordination within the Intelligence
Community.
One of the pleasant experiences that I have had as President is to see the
professionalism and the competence of the collection and analysis and distribution of
intelligence information to me and to other consumers in the Federal Government.
Under Admiral Turner, this coordination has been superb, and I am very pleased this
morning, after months of work with the NSC, the National Security Council, with
the Department of Defense, with Admiral Turner, the CIA and the Congress
committees, particularly the Senate Intelligence Committee, to have evolved an
Executive Order which establishes in clear terms the responsibilities and. limitations
of the collection of intelligence, of counter-intelligence, and also the distribution of
material that hasn't been analyzed.
The Director of Central Intelligence, Admiral Turner, will be responsible for
tasking or assigning tasks to all those who collect intelligence. He will also have full
control of the intelligence budget and will also be responsible for the analysis of
information that does come in from all sources in the foreign intelligence field.
This Order also gives a great deal of additional responsibility for the Attorney
General to make sure that the civil liberties and the privacy of American citizens is
adequately protected and that the Constitutional provisions and the laws of our
Nation are carried out precisely. There is a clear description of the duties and
responsibilities of all those that are involved in the collection and distribution of
intelligence information.
I am very proud of this Executive Order. It will be a basis for Congressional
action on a charter to be written for the Intelligence Community and, I think later on,
we will have one for the FBI as well.
Under this Order, though, under counter-intelligence the duties of the FBI also
is spelled out. This is a fairly concise, clear delineation of how the Intelligence
Community will be operating in the months ahead.
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I want to express my thanks to all those that have been involved in the process.
After I sign the Executive Order this morning there will be a complete briefing for
the press by the members of the NSC, the Department of Defense, the Attorney
General's Office, and Admiral Turner on the Intelligence Community.
(after signing)
In closing, let me remind the group once again of what I said in the beginning:
One of the most professional and competent organizations with which I have ever
dealt has been the Intelligence Community. It consists of several thousand highly
professional, dedicated American people whose knowledge and experience stands as a
bulwark in protecting the security of our Nation.
Although there have been problems in the past, probably because of an absence
of a clear directive about delineations of responsibility, I think that this has quite
often obscured the sacrificial work that these good men and women have done.
Again, I want to express my complete appreciation and confidence in Admiral
Stan Turner, whose responsibilities under this Executive Order will be greatly
magnified. He has worked very closely with the Attorney General and with the
Secretary of Defense.
During normal peacetime, which I hope will prevail throughout all of our
lifetime, he will have the responsibilities that I outlined. In case of a conflict or
extreme national emergency, under the Executive Order the President has the
authority to shift part of that responsibility to the Secretary of Defense to defend our
Nation in time of war. But that will be done in a very careful, preplanned way.
And the present interrelationships that exist today to be enhanced by the
Executive Order between Defense, Justice and Intelligence, is very clearly defined
and is a harmonious working relationship.
This could not have been possible without a great deal of consultation, close
cooperation and I think a mutual purpose that was recognized for everyone. I think
this is a major step forward. I am very deeply grateful to all of you.
Thank you very much.
END [AT 12:00 NOON EST]
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