COMMENTS ON IC STAFF PAPER 'SYSTEMIC PROBLEMS IN INTELLIGENCE ANALYSIS OF THE SOVIET UNION'

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP86B00985R000300080039-9
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: C
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 19, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 14, 2001
• Sequence Number: 39
• Publication Date: February 24, 1977
• Content Type: MF

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24 February 1977
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Center for Policy Support
SUBJECT Comments on IC Staff Paper "Systemic
Problems in Intelligence Analysis of
the Soviet Union"
1. The IC paper includes a brief and general
rumination about the need for the community to draw
more on Soviet specialists in the academic community
(page 11). As you know, I have been working on spe-
cific proposals designed to do that for analysts
throughout the directorate and recently briefed the
DDI Production Production Board on several of them.
You should also know, however, that opposition to
expanded efforts in this area is strong in some DDI
offices. In this instance at least, our efforts and
those of the IC Staff.may well prove to be parallel.
2. First, you should know generally about the
dimensions of present efforts aimed.at promoting ties
with academic specialists interested in Soviet affairs.
During the second half of 1976, my predecessor in
academic relations mailed seven different unclassified
reference aids to about 25 leading Soviet scholars.
Many of them have been receiving such materials for
years and are in regular touch with Agency specialists.
OSR and OER separately sent out more than 100 copies
of other Soviet-related reference materials during
the second half of last year. During that period, a
half dozen or more DDI people attended various academic
conferences devoted to Soviet matters, and individual
contacts--about which I do not have complete records--
undoubtedly are conducted profitably.
3. Though some offices express full satisfaction
with the extent of their people's outside ties, I firmly
am of the opinion that they ought to be increased and
improved. One of my suggestions--received with derision
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by one office chief--could have useful results if
it is carried out professionally and with proper
safeguards. There are more than 30 graduate centers
devoted to interdisciplinary studies of Soviet and
Eastern European affairs at American universities.
Most of the country's most prestigious and productive
25X1 1- AD/CPS
t ex are affiliated with them I am told.
I have proposed adding these centers to our mailin
re e nce aid reci cents with the o ective
7
o-uing regular mailings as a wedge for opening
constructive, two-way dialogues.
4. Other proposals I am now refining include
conferences and symposia of various types to intro-
duce more of our Soviet experts to some of the best
on the outside. I plan to visit and otherwise assess
the research programs` o most of the adin~_private
think tanks in the US and new relationships with So-
vie specialists hopefully will result. Many other
things can and ought to be started this year. We
should have no illusions about how long it will
take to build a network of substantive relation-
ships or about the obstacles to such efforts both
inside and outside of the agency. Even modest efforts
begun now could have positive results consistent with
some of the main points of the IC paper, however, so
that in a not too distant future, analyses of Soviet
affairs by prviate scholars could intersect better
with ours.
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