STAFF MEETING MINUTES OF 9 FEBRUARY 1979

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP84B00130R000600010038-8
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 3
• Document Creation Date: December 20, 2016
• Document Release Date: October 29, 2007
• Sequence Number: 38
• Publication Date: February 9, 1979
• Content Type: REPORT

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9 February 1979
MEMORANDUM FOR THE RECORD
Staff Meeting Minutes of 9 February 1979
The Director was at NSA; Mr. Carlucci chaired the meeting.
Dirks noted there have been no significant changes in the situation
in Iran while Mr. Carlucci has been out of the city. McMahon added that
Wortman advised that in response to Mr. Carlucci's earlier request to
investigate the validity of suggestions that senior staff officers were
generating a pessimistic outlook in their talks to Agency training classes,
he spoke with the Director and Deputy Director of Training. They both
confirmed this phenomenon, and Wortman suggested the best way of counter-
ing it would be for attendees to address this problem at their staff
meetings. Later in the meeting McMahon said that he had learned it was not
individual presentations per se that were causing "gloom and doom" but the
overall impact of all of the presentations together, which could include
highlighting growing FOIA work loads, increased Congressional inquiries and
restrictions placed on counterintelligence activities.
Wortman highlighted the Presidential Management Intern Program, which
places top graduate students from well known public policy schools in two-
year rotational assignments in government agencies. One intern has been
placed in DDA and a rotation may be arranged for him in NFAC. Wortman
said that he favors increasing the number of interns at CIA to three and
encouraged NFAC, Office of the Comptroller, and RMS to consider placing
such individuals. said that they would be interested in
doing so.
In response to Mr. Carlucci's question, Hitz confirmed that Congressman
Burlison offered to include relief from the FOIA in the CIA authorization
bill. confirmed that the Agency FOIA proposal was included in the 25X1
budget pac age. In response to Mr. Carlucci's question about the status of
the Attorney General's task force on FOIA, Lapham said that the group imme-
diately bogged down and does not seem likely to be very productive. McMahon
noted that an appellate court recently sent back several FOIA cases because
the judges had not vigorously pursued the law in their decisions. The
appellate court decreed that judges have to address classification claims
de novo, justify every deletion made for security reasons, and outline the
potential impact of releasing the deleted information. McMahon suggested
that doing so could quadruple the time required for handling FOIA requests.
Lapham confirmed McMahon's account of the court cases, which claimed that
the government has been circumventing the act. He suggested that these
procedures would significantly add to the FOIA work load ~ 25X1
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Lapham reported that after four years the Justice Department has
dismissed the case against ITT official Berrellez. A decision in the
remaining case against ITT official Gerrity is expected within 10 days.
The latter case is less threatening from the Agency's point of view.
Lapham said that U.S. Ambassador to Chile Landau was in town, and he put
him in touch with the Department of Justice. The Ambassador made a very
strong presentation to Justice officials on the impact the ITT case would
probably will not be helpful.
Hitz noted that Senate Foreign Relations Committee Staffer Bader
requested a briefing on Taiwan, which was declined. Hitz added that
Senator Church also intends to look into the Iranian situation, which
have on Chile if it had been brought to trial.
said that the hearing is now scheduled for mid-March.
Hitz expressed concern about Congressman Aspin's proposed hearings on
sensitive collection operations. Mr. Carlucci noted his understanding that
the Congressman hoped to increase the reporting requirements for these
operations. Lapham explained that the Executive Order that was implemented
about a year ago calls for standards to be established by the President
regarding the review process for sensitive collection operations. He said
that numerous drafts have been written but none have yet been approved.
The Agency circulated a draft set of procedures six months ago for concur-
rence. The Department of Defense concurred, but the Departments of Justice
and State opposed them. Meetings have been held to try to reconcile
differences, and two days ago the Department of Justice circulated a new
set of draft procedures. McMahon said that he would like to have a set of
approved standards before attending Congressman Aspin's hearings. Hitz
Senate Energy Committee yesterday went very well.
Hitz reported that the energy briefing for the Minority members of the
Bowie expressed concern that NFAC did not receive a sensitive DDO
report distributed yesterday to the White House and the Departments of
State and Defense until late last evening. He noted this could have caused
some embarrassment. McMahon pointed out that the reports were disseminated
by NFAC's Operations Center.
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McMahon said that DDO is checking on a report that the Soviets are
hiuc1ng up Iranian currency at 8 1/2 percent higher than the market rate.
McMahon noted that the situation in Lebanon seems to be heating up
again.
Recalling that U.S. firms paid about $30 million in ransoms last year
for kidnapping in El Salvador, McMahon said that U.S. companies there have
begun hiring security people, many of whom are former Agency employees who
are now asking for intelligence information. He added that Cuban Prime
Minister Castro has reputedly given up on his efforts in Guatemala to
concentrate on El Salvador
Mr. Carlucci noted that he was surprised to learn from his DDO briefing
of the increasing number of independent ministates in the Caribbean
that have great potential for future instability. He suggested that NFAC
and DDO may want to consult on preparing a Presidential briefing on this
area. (Action: NFAC & DDO)
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