LETTER TO JAMES G. WATT FROM WILLIAM J. CASEY RE WORLD ENERGY PROGRAM

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP83M00914R001000070012-5
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 20, 2016
• Sequence Number: 12
• Content Type: LETTER

Approved For Release 2006/05/16: CIA-RDP83M00914R001000070012-5
The Director of Central Intelligence
Washi%lon. D. C. 20505
The Honorable James G. Watt
Secretary of the Interior
Washington, D.C. 20240
I am writing to call your attention to the World Energy
Program, a relatively new effort at the US Geological Survey
that has been of great help to the Agency over the past few
years. We recently learned that this program might not be
funded by your department in FY1983. Basic geologic research
on Soviet and Chinese petroleum and on Soviet uranium by USGS
plays an important role in supporting our estimates of the
energy outlook for those countries. Loss of this support will
hurt CIA's-research effort.
Since its inception, the World Energy Program has been
a steady contributor to our analysis of Soviet oil prospects.
More recently, the program-has shown promise of assisting us
in a similar way with our work on Chinese oil and Soviet
uranium. As you are well aware, these research areas reflect
key intelligence ipsues oft keen national security concern.
The contribution from USGS is now more important than ever.
Increasingly, the Soviets--as well as other countries--have
limited our access to data that would allow CIA to make accurate
estimates of their energy supplies. To fill the gap, our
analysts have designed estimative methodologies that depend
on detailed geologic and engineering assessments for their
validity. In this process, CIA has looked to your World Energy
Program fo'I a significant portion of the basic geologic data
and associated analysis needed to make its estimates.
Consequently, we believe the USGS World Energy Program--
and, in particular, its research on Soviet and Chinese energy
sources--is an important effort that needs to continue. That
such research is performed at USGS only increases its worth
in terms of;quality and professional acceptance, and we are
convinced tt\is contribution would be difficult to replace.
Yours,
William J. Casey