LETTER TO MR. R. W. VAN DE VELDE FROM ALLEN W. DULLES

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP84-00313R000300190034-2
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 5
• Document Creation Date: December 12, 2016
• Document Release Date: February 1, 2002
• Sequence Number: 34
• Publication Date: September 14, 1960
• Content Type: LETTER

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I'~r. R. W. van de Velde
Faculty Secretary
Rockefeller Public Service Awards
Princeton University
Princeton, New Jersey
T am pleased to nominate Dr. Otto E. Guthe for the &ockefeller Public
Service Award. Dr. Guthe is Assistant Director for Research and Reports in
the Central Intelligence Agency and in this role heads the principal research
organization within the national intelligence community for the production
of economic and geographic intelligence on Communist states and on world areas
which are the targets of Communist penetration and subversion. Additionally,
as Chairman of the interagency Economic Intelligence Committee he coordinates
programs of research and analysis of economic intelligence which are carried
on by other government agencies engaged in foreign intelligence work.
Dr. Guthe has been in the Federal service continuously since 1935.
After periods of service with the Tennessee Valley Authority and the Soil
Conservation Service of the Department of Agriculture he joined the Depart-
ment of State in 19L,1. Shortly thereafter he was appointed Assistant Chief
of the Department's Division of Geography and Cartography. In this latter
capacity he participated closely in the development of economic and geographic
studies of concern to the Department in its program of forward planning. Im-
mediately after ~nTorld Tdar II he was designated Chief of the Department's Map
Intelligence Division. When he transferred with his group to the newly estab-
lished Central Intelligence Agency in 19.7, the Department arranged for his
concurrent service as its Special Assistant for Maps. In this capacity he
was responsible for instituting a map procurement and geographic attache
program which has become a permanent activity of the Foreign Service. It
became necessary for him to relinquish this responsibility in the Departrent
of State when, in 1853, he was appointed to the position he now holds.
Exercising a high order of executive leadership and bringing into play
a unique blending of managerial skill and professional expertise, Dr. Guthe
has developed this Agency's Office of Research and Reports from a relatively
inexperienced and. untested organization into a coordinated and ef'f'icient
team of professional intelligence officers. The reputation won by Dr. Guthe's
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staff for the production of economic and geographic intelligence on nations
in the Communist orbit is, I believe, unsurpassed within the United States
Government, among friendly foreign intelligence services and generally
within the academic community of this country.
Despite the obstacles to personnel recruitment imposed by security re-
strictions and a requirement for professional anonymity, Dr. Guthe has
drawn together a group of talented and dedicated economists, geographers,
industrial specialists, historians and others in response to the current
requirements for intelligence preparedness with which the United States Gov-
ernment is confronted. This group is called upon to produce intelligence on
virtually every sector of the Communist economy and the reports developed
frequently communicate data of urgent significance for guidance to those at
the top governmental level who must make the decisions in foreign and
military policy.
At the same time that Dr. Guthe has directed his own organization he
has been Chairman of the Economic Intelligence Committee. This Committee,
functioning under the United States Intelligence Board, coordinates the
production of economic intelligence by the various agencies comprising the
intelligence community. T'atient and invariably gracious, yet always con-
fident and confidence-inspiring, Dr. Guthe has carried on these responsi-
bilities for interdepartmental coordination with great effectiveness. xe
has been influential in reducing the previous duplication of tasks among de-
partments and agencies and in establishing higher standards in the quality
of economic intelligence reporting throughout the government.
In summary., Pr. Guthe's work is a contribution of the first rank in
answer to the need for economic and geographic intelligence for current and
long-range planning for the national security. The substantive accomplish-
ments for which he is responsible are of inestimable importance in the
decision-making process as it relates to our national policy. Because these
accomplishments so definitely reflect his leadership, his wisdom and his
profound knowledge, I commend to the Selection Committee Dr. Guthe for the
honor of a Rockefeller Public Service Award.
Sincerely,
%s/
Allen W. Dulles
Director
Originator:~sj 13 Sep 60
Biographic Outline D/Fern
Distribution: 0&1 - Addressee 1 - ER 1 - DCI: 1 - DDCI
1 - DD/: 1 - DD/S 1 - D/F'ers Subj. 1 - D/F'ers Reader/
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Dr. Otto Emmor Guthe
Personal Data
Date of Birth: October b, 1904
Residence : STATOTHR
~rlife: a Brine rno u e
II Position Data
Title: Assistant Director for Research and Reports, GS-l~s
Central Intelligence Agency
~rlashington, D . C .
III Education
1921-22 Heidelberg, Germany
124-27 University of Michigan, AB - Geology
1927-2$ University of Michigan, MA - Geography
1928-33 University of Michigan, Fh.D - Geography
IV Employment
1029-1935 Instructor, Department of Geography, University of Michigan
1935-1937 Geographer, Tennessee Valley Authority
1937-19/.7. Member of Staff and later Assistant Chief, Division of
Glimatic and Fhysiographic Research, Soil Conservation
Service, Department of Agriculture
1941-1947 Assistant Chief, Division of Geography and Cartography,
Department of State
191,.7-1953 Chief, Geographic Division, Central Intelligence Agency
1953 to Assistant Director for Research and Re~iorts, Central
date Intelligence Agency
V Additional Assignments
1943-1945 Vice Chairman of the Division of Geology and Geography,
Tdational F~esearch Council
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1945 Advisor to the Secretariat of the United Nations Con-
ference on International Organization at San Francisco
146 Advisor on U. S. Delegation to the Council of Foreign
Ministers in London and Paris
1951-1953 Vice Chairman of the U.S. Board on Geographic Names
1944-1952 U. S. Delegate or Observer to the fallowing international
conferences:
U. S. Delegate, 2nd Pan-American Consultation on Car-
tography, Rio de Janeiro (August 1944)
U. S. Observer, British Commonwealth Survey Officers'
Conference, London (August 1947)
U. S. Observer, 4th Pan-American Consultation on
Cartography, Buenos Aires (October 1948)
Delegate to 16th International Geographical Congress,
Lisbon (April 1949)
U. 5. Observer, 1st Pan-American Consultation on
Geography, Rio de Janeiro (September 1949)
Observer, Portrex Exercise, Caribbean (March 1950)
Delegate, Vth General Assembly, Pan American Institute
of Geography and History, Santiago, Chile
(October 1950)
U. S. Observer, British Commonwealth Servey Officers'
Conference, London (July 1951)
Delegate, Third Pan American Consultation on Geography,
Washington, D.C. (July 1952)
Delegate, 17th International Geographical Congress,
T~Jashington, D. C. (August 1952)
Delegate, VIth Pan American Consultation on Cartography,
Ciudad Trujillo (October 1952)
1956 U. S. member of the Commission of Experts to Investigate
the Ttalo-Yugoslav Boundary
For several years he was an associate member of the Committee on
Geophysics and Geography of the Research and Development Board,
Office of the Secretary of Defense.
VI References (Officials well acquainted with Dr. Guthe's work and
to whom inquiry may be addressed by the Committee on
Selection)
Dr. Wallace W. Atwood, Jr.
Director of Division of International Relations
National Academy of Sciences
Washington, D.C.
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Dr. Charles B. Hitchock
Director o# the American Geographical Society
15bth Street & Broadway
New York City, New York
~+Ir. Robert Amory, Jr.
Deputy Director (Intelligence)
Central Intelligence Agency
2.30 E Street, N. W.
Washington, D. C.
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