MONTHLY REPORT -- AUSTRIAN BUREAU -- AUGUST 1981

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP83-00385R000200020009-0
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 3
• Document Creation Date: December 20, 2016
• Document Release Date: June 13, 2007
• Sequence Number: 9
• Publication Date: September 1, 1981
• Content Type: MEMO

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1 September 1981
MAU-1063
MEMORANDUM FOR: Director, FBIS
THROUGH : Chief, Operations Group
SUBJECT . Monthly Report - Austrian Bureau - August 1981
Austria got a new American ambassador this month as Theodore
E. Cummings and his wife arrived on 20 August. The new
ambassador, who is a 73-year old former real estate developer
from California, gave a reception at the residence on the
24th for all U.S. personnel. Except for
who was in the slot that evening, all the FBIS staffers and
wives, including new chief who had just
arrived earlier in the day, attended. Adding an Administration
touch to the occasion, the hosts arranged for each guest to receive
a large jar of Reagan jellybeans as the evening ended. We
hope to reciprocate soon by having the ambassador out for an
orientation visit to the bureau.
The rites of passage were also celebrated at the bureau as
more than a few 2-liter bottles of Austrian wine, not to mention
a full.spread of assorted foods, disappeared on the 28th
as we said farewell to and welcomed
and family. 0 formally took command on
the 31st as Bill prepared to terrorize the Austrian/German
autobahns one last time (to the relief of most Europeans) as
he set out for Bremen where he will leave his car for shipment
before boarding the train/ferry for London and some relaxation.
A. Monitorial/Editorial
1. August ended on a promising note for our recruitment
efforts as we received Hqs permission to hire one of our
Polish candidates, a second-generation Pole who grew up in
London. However, we may still have to wait until December
before bringing him aboard because of the extended length of
notice he is required to give his current employer. Although
we have not progressed quite as far in hiring a.Yugoslav,
several qualified candidates have surfaced, thanks in part
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to an ad in THE DAILY TELEGRAPH placed by London Bureau.
At month's end, we had interviewed, tested.and received
completed application forms from two of the individuals
we had located through our own efforts. We hope to be able
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Frlio resonded_ to the THE DAILY TELEGRAPH ad--one in the UK
and the other in Geneva--are interviewed and tested.
2. The August doldrums cut into our output this month as
our production dipped to 328,360 words, considerably less
than the year's average of nearly 500,000 words and the
first time we've fallen below the 400,000 mark since last
December. It was a busy time, however, for terrorism in
normally quiet Vienna. Various incidents during the month--
ranging from the arrest of two PLO personnel at the airport
armed with machineguns and grenades, the hasty departure._
shortly thereafter of the-localPLO rep ostensib1 y for
"vacation" but toting lots of luggage and a one-way ticket to
Damascus,, the bomb at the Israeli Embassy, and the attack-
on the synagogue--generated considerable reportage, including
charges and countercharges between Chancellor Kreisky and
the Israelis over the whole issue of maintaining.relations
with-the PLO.
B. Communications
1. The bureau chief and newly arrived engineer
met with Embassy CPO personnel for a tour and briefing of
their facility and discussion of the new State primary
communications circuit which we had hoped to change over to
in lieu of the current Autodin channel. Security problems
concerning our usage of the circuit have since surfaced in
Washington which may delay or even prevent us from obtaining
a channel.
2. This month's bureau-logged outages on our Mode V Autodin
totalled an unusually high 24 hours 12 minutes, some 13 of
which were on the 15th during a scheduled Pirmasens downtime.
The Pirmasens maintenance period provided us with another
of our rare opportunities to use the Telex after the VCVC
primary altroute also went out for about an hour. In other
developments, the month's low operator error rate of 1.75
earned us still another Pirmasens performance certificate,
our 7th this year.
3. The bureau's five Extel ASR B-315 keyboards were modified
during the month to simplify the MIDAS pinkie "BLNK" key
position problem for the wireroom operations. The "BLNK" key
was interchanged with the "Colon/Semicolon" key and the
appropriate wiring changes were made on the keyboards.
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A. Personnel
1. With all the personnel turnover this month, we were able to
complete the housing shuffle for all bureau staff employees
with minimum TLA costs. New engineer and family,
who arrived on 3 August--a day late due to unexpected new
car problems--have moved into former house and the
A 1 we need now is some
household effects and everyone will feel right at home.
2. Senior Electronics Specialist) (departed
Vienna 7 August enroute to a PCS assignment at Key West.
C. Lateral Services
We were called upon again this month by the local ICA rep
to provide videocassettes of several local TV roundtable
discussions, this time on the Administration's decision to
go ahead with the neutron bomb and the implications this has
for European security.
To the bureau: Regional Personnel Officer) and newly
arrived State officer Kurt A. Wagner on 5 August for general
briefing and orientation and detailed discussion of FBIS positions
for classification purposes (Lognote sent to Hqs); retired FBIS
Albanian monitor on private visit 19.August while on
holiday; Walter Mackie, Embassy Support Officer, and
safety officer from Washington, for safety inspection,
25 August; and new chief of Peripheral Reporting Section, John
on 27 August for general orientation briefing (Lognote
sent to Hqs).
FOR THE CHIEF, AUSTRIAN BUREAU
Attachments:
Publishable Wordage Report
Production Report
Staff Personnel Report
Nonstaff Personnel Report
cc: Chief, FBIS London Bureau
Deputy Chief
FBIS Austrian Bureau
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