LETTER TO MR. RICHARD P. BRENGEL, EXECUTIVE SECRETARY FROM RICHARD HELMS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP84-00313R000300090010-9
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 9
• Document Creation Date: December 12, 2016
• Document Release Date: November 5, 2001
• Sequence Number: 10
• Publication Date: February 25, 1972
• Content Type: LETTER

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CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
25 February 1972
Mr. Richard P. Brengel, Executive Secretary
Distinguished Federal Civilian Service Awards Board
Room 3416
U. S. Civil Service Commission
Washington, D. C. 20415
Dear Mr. Brengel:
This is in response to Secretary Volpe's letter of 16 February
in which he invited me to submit nominations for the President's
Award for Distinguished Federal Civilian Service.
I am privileged to nominate Colonel Lawrence K. White for
this coveted award. Since the founding of the Central Intelligence
Agency in 1947, he has played a significant role in formulating its
policies. For over thirteen years as Deputy Director for Support,
he was personally responsible for the establishment and direction
of the complex structure which supports our world-wide intelligence
operations. As Executive Director-Comptroller since 1965, he has
implemented a decision-making process which controls Agency re-
sources and manpower in a manner which has served the Agency well
and has commanded the respect of other interested elements of the
Executive Branch of our Government. Colonel White's achievements
exemplify to an outstanding degree complete dedication to country
and public service and fully merit this ultimate recognition.
Sincerely,
Richard Helms
Director
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Title and. Grade Executive Director-Comptroller, Central
Intelligence Agency, EP TV
Date and Place of
Birth 10 June 1912, Union City, Tennessee
1929-33
U.S. Military Academy, West Point,
B.S., Engineering, Philosophy
1937
Infantry School, Ft. Benning, Georgia
1953
Human Resources Program
1959
Advanced Management Program,
Harvard University
1960
Management Analysis Conference,
Brookings Institution
Employment 1929-47
U.S. Army (Cadet to Colonel)
STATINTL
Central Intelligence Agency
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Colonel Lawrence K. White is honored for his distinguished
service to the Central Intelligence Agency. His achievements
exemplify complete dedication to this country.
Colonel White, an uncommonly talented official and a dynamic
influence upon the institutional character of the Agency, played
a prominent role in developing the first central intelligence
organization in the United States. As Executive Director-Comptroller
he has demonstrated that degree of vision and perseverance essential
to pioneering important advancements and improvements in managing
financial resources and manpower.
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It's a long way from the Philippine Scouts of pre-Pearl Harbor days to the
top managerial post in the Central Intelligence Agency. For Lawrence K. ("Red")
White, it has encompassed two careers, in successive stages of experience which
added up to unusual preparation for an executive position unique in the Federal
service.
In World War II Colonel White saw combat duty in the Pacific until a promis-
ing career was brought to an end in 191-5 when he was seriously wounded while
leading his troops in the liberation of the Philippines. He was retired in 1947
as Colonel, U. S. Army, with impressive military honors. STATINTL
When the Central Intelligence Agency was created, Colonel White's executive
ability and leadership were called upon to help organize the machinery for the
first American central intelligence organization. While there were some prece-
dents of wartime military intelligence operations, and a few foreign intelligence
services which could serve as partial models, there were no existing criteria
upon which to base a peace-time intelligence service as provided for in the
National Security Act of 1947. Colonel White met this challenge with exceptional
judgment based on experience and a background few could equal. Thanks to these
attributes and his imagination and managerial ability, Colonel White, from 1952
to 1965, was personally responsible for establishment and direction of the com-
plex structure which supports world-wide intelligence operations.
Among the many programs Colonel White fostered in those years are a world-
wide communications system which has been vital in transmitting intelligence in
times of national crises; a global security program which ensures the integrity
of our personnel and activities; a special finance system which is responsive to
immediate operational requirements throughout the world and yet at the same time
provides the most exacting controls and accountings; a medical, logistics, and
personnel system which serves the complicated demands of Agency operations and
activities.
In 1965 Colonel White was named Executive Director-Comptroller and his appli-
cation of the latest developments of our technical age to the Agency is typical
of the forward outlook he has brought to each of his Agency assignments. Colonel
White is the third in command after the Director and Deputy Director and his is
the overall responsibility for ensuring the vitality and effective functioning of
the Agency in a fast-moving, complicated world. To the traditional task of manage-
ment are added the unusual and sometimes exotic demands inherent in the functions
of intelligence. He must have a constant awareness of the external factors of
politics, technology, and social attributes which affect the Agency, and of the
impact of his decisions upon its institutional character. This he has; for in
forty-two years of public service, Colonel White has developed to an unusual degree
the abilities and understanding which enable him to contribute immeasurably to the
achievement of this Agency's objectives and thereby to the security of the nation.
Seldom does a citizen have the opportunity to give two careers to the nation.
Rarer still is the citizen who seizes such an opportunity and excels. Lawrence K.
White is one of those rare men.
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NOMINATION STATEMENT OF LAWRENCE K. WHITE
FOR THE PRESIDENT'S AWARD
FOR DISTINGUISHED FEDERAL CIVILIAN SERVICE
Colonel Lawrence K. White, USA (Ret.), enjoyed a long and successful
career in the Army before entering the field of intelligence in 1947 and re-
ceived the following military honors: Distinguished Service Cross, Silver
Star Medal, Legion of Merit with Oakleaf Cluster, Bronze Star Medal with
Oakleaf Cluster, Navy Commendation Ribbon, Purple Heart, American Defense
Service Medal, American Campaign Medal, Asiatic Pacific Campaign Medal with
two Bronze Battle Stars, Philippine Liberation Ribbon with Bronze Battle
Star, and the Combat Infantry Badge. The honors and decorations given to him
for meritorious service and bravery during World War II and the high esteem
in which he is held in the Central Intelligence Agency and the United States
intelligence community are evidence that "Red" White has a position of promi-
nence among men and women who have made unique contributions to the maintenance
and strengthening of our national security. STATINTL
Administrative Directorate. He served as Assistant to the Deputy Director for
Administration from 1952 until 1954 when he was appointed by Allen W. Dulles,
then Director of Central Intelligence, as Deputy Director for Administration --
a position now designated as Deputy Director for Support. In June 1965
Admiral Raborn, the Director of Central Intelligence at that time, appointed
Colonel White as Executive Director-Comptroller, the Agency's top executive-
management position which had been created in 1962.
As Executive Director-Comptroller, Colonel White is charged with overall
responsibility for directing the budget, program analysis, and all manpower
functions of CIA. He ensures necessary action by the proper components on
decisions of the Director and Deputy Director, oversees internal management,
and coordinates the activities of the four major Deputy Directorates of the
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Agency. Colonel White assumed the duties of Executive Director-Comptroller
at a time when the demands from the White House and the national security
departments and agencies for round-the-clock information and analysis of
complicated and fast-moving foreign situations were constantly increasing.
Colonel White is meeting the test and is effectively solving the complicated
personnel, financial, and other internal management problems caused by the
increasing demand for intelligence activity.
The enthusiastic response of the members of CIA to Colonel White's
appointment as Executive Director-Comptroller is evidence of their regard for
the executive ability, integrity, and dedication to the Agency which he had
earlier demonstrated as Deputy Director for Support -- a position in which he
was well known to employees at all levels in the Agency.
As Head of the Support Directorate, he was responsible for overall support
for all intelligence, operational, and related activities. He directed the
financial, personnel, training, communications, logistics, legal, and medical
activities of the Agency during a period when CIA was "growing up". These
responsibilities brought him into close personal contact with all principal
departments and committees of the Executive and Legislative Branches of the
Government, and he thus developed a depth of experience in public administration
and management, and gained a broad knowledge of Government practices which he
has effectively utilized in meeting the many unusual and complex requirements of
this Agency.
As Deputy Director for Support, Colonel White is credited with building
the Support Offices into service-oriented organizations sensitive in their re-
sponse to the Agency and employee alike. His leadership in the development of
new policies and procedures in the support functions of the Agency and his day-
to-day effective management of the many housekeeping functions which "keep the
wheels going" was and is of great significance to the effective functioning of
CIA on the home front and in maintaining its "eyes and ears" abroad. Possessing
a keen appreciation of the Agency's mission and the complexities involved in
conducting operational activities throughout the world as well as the vision
and imagination which pioneers new avenues of progress, Colonel White innovated
many important advances and improvements in Agency administration.
Some of the many programs fostered by Colonel White are as follows: a
Career Officer Training Program which competent authorities in the training
community have called the best of its kind in Government and industry; a world-
wide communications system which has been vital in times of national crisis and
has been praised by the President and the highest officials in Government; a
global security program which has been highly commended not only by many depart-
ments of the U. S. Government, but also by foreign governments; an Agency bene-
fits and services program which among other things includes health and life
insurance programs that pre-dated government programs and provided extensive
coverage and excellent protection for our employees; and the development of a
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highly specialized and complex financial organization which has contributed
greatly to the effectiveness of the Agency's mission. We should add to this
list Colonel White's contributions to legislation which has been of great
importance, for example, the conception and enactment of Public Law 88-6l3
providing for a Central Intelligence Agency Retirement and Disability System
for certain groups of our employees and, last but not least, we should mention
the major role Colonel White had in connection with securing a new Headquarters
Building for the Agency.
During his distinguished career in CIA, Colonel White has put forth efforts
significantly above and beyond the requirements of his position. His constant
search for vital information and means to improve the management and efficiency
of CIA is matched only by his capacity to integrate this information into
meaningful policy and lines of action. His role in making the Agency career
service system, which he helped to establish, function effectively is an example
of the rare combination of idealism and realism which he has demonstrated in
his solutions to very difficult and unique problems. This system includes the
career management of personnel through multiple "Career Services" representing
the Agency's major fields of vocational specialization in contrast to its organ-
izational structure. Colonel White applied this concept most effectively to
provide the broadest possible career opportunities to the generalist "Support
Officer" who performs administrative and managerial functions in the various
organizational components of the Agency. This system provides fluidity in
assignment, allowing support personnel to move from one operational component to
another to meet Agency manpower requirements and still achieve their fall
stature in their respective career fields. Executives in several other Govern-
ment agencies have evidenced a great interest in the successful way the Agency
has developed staff/line responsibilities in regaxd to management and career
development of personnel.
STATINTL
Colonel White is credited with developing management concepts and practices
which have resulted in notable improvements in the operational effectiveness of
our Agency. From the very start of his service with CIA he has been
a powerful influence upon the development of the institutional c aracter of
this Agency. It has been said that he is a down-to-earth idealist who is a
tough-minded executive having a human understanding that both guides discipline
and tempers judgments. His outstanding achievements exemplify to an exceptional
degree the primary characteristics of public administration: competence, char-
acter, integrity, and dedication to country.
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National Civil Service League Career Service Award
The National Civil Service League's Career Service Awards
Program is one of its major projects in its drive to bring about
a healthy, dynamic public personnel system -- a system able to
deal constructively with the flood of demands pressing today on
the public service. The League presents ten annual Career Service
Awards to promote excellence in Government service, to recognize
exceptional achievement, and to encourage the best young minds in
America to consider national service as a career. Colonel White
was one of the winners in 1969.
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