LETTER TO LEE H. HAMILTON FROM ROBERT M. GATES

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP87M01152R000400520020-4
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: C
• Document Page Count: 7
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: November 20, 2009
• Sequence Number: 20
• Publication Date: January 14, 1985
• Content Type: LETTER

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OLL 85-0143
14 January 1985
The Honorable Lee H. Hamilton
Vice Chairman
Joint Economic Committee
Washington, D.C. 20510
Your letter to me arrived just as I had finished preparing a
letter to you as a member of both HPSCI and the Joint Economic
Committee seeking your help on the question of omitting analysts
names from reports prepared for the Joint Economic Committee. My
original letter to you briefly reviewed the problem, enclosed a
copy of Senator Proxmire's letter to the Director and asked for
your support of the decision as a means of minimizing the risk to
our analysts as well as reducing problems in arranging analyst
travel overseas. In light of the questions in your letter, I
would like to take this opportunity to respond at greater length
than I had originally planned.
There were two reasons for my decision. As I mentioned in
my letter to Senator,Proxmire, the first reason is that the
treatment of American officials aboard the Kuwaiti airliner
represents the most vivid demonstration yet of the growing
terrorist threat to American officials traveling overseas and
made clear that CIA officers, in particular, are targets. The
JEC reports are widely circulated all over the world and read
with particular interest by our principal adversaries. Given the
known links between intelligence services in Communist countries
and the suspected links between those services and various Middle
Eastern terrorist organizations, it seems prudent (and probably
overdue) to take additional steps to protect our analysts.
Second, we have had increasing difficulty both with the
Department of State and our stations overseas in arranging travel
and extended stays abroad for our analysts who have been
prominently identified as CIA. We have actually had analysts
denied the opportunity to travel to Eastern Europe for this
reason. Thus, our attention initially was brought to this aspect
of the problem by analysts themselves who were concerned that in
CL BY SIGNER
DECL OADR
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The Honorable Lee H. Hamilton
Vice Chairman
Joint Economic Committee
14 January 1985
writing for the JEC they were thereby being forced to forego
future travel in Communist countries -- the areas of their
specialities.
I do not believe that this decision will have a serious
impact on our relationships-or contacts with the academic
community. Nor do I believe it is inconsistent with our
participation in conferences and professional meetings in this
country. We have expanded our contacts with the academic
community dramatically over the past three years. Many of these
contacts are on a one-to-one basis, with our analysts visiting
professors or specialists in think tanks in their home
institutions. These visits almost never are publicized. In
1984, some 1200 analysts attended nearly 500 conferences
sponsored by academic institutions or by other elements of the
government with virtually no publicity.
In response to your specific questions:
-- We do not believe that lack of identification of names
will be a disincentive to analysts invited to prepare
papers for JEC, particularly inasmuch as we attach
priority to these papers. Analysts who seek public
recognition generally do not find their way to CIA,
where people work throughout their careers in
substantial anonymity. Managers will see to it that
analysts receive appropriate recognition internally for
their contribution. And, we would allow analysts to
acknowledge their JEC work if applying. for other
positions or in discussions with their professional
peers.
-- I would anticipate no diminution in the number of JEC
papers prepared by CIA. Indeed, the same quality
control, management review and dedication of resources
are, and will continue to be, involved in the production
of JEC papers as for CIA publications. We intend to let
neither the quality nor the level of participation
decline. '
- Given the dramatically growing number of contacts
between CIA officers and specialists on the outside, I
do not believe the change in approach to our
identification in the JEC reports will diminish
interaction with and constructive criticism from outside
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The Honorable Lee H. Hamilton
Vice Chairman .
Joint Economic Committee
14 January 1985
specialists. Continuing to expand these contacts is an
important element of our effort to improve the quality
of our work.
-- I am not in a position to judge whether academics will
find it more difficult to evaluate papers whose authors
are anonymous; the work should, however, stand on its
own.
A number of analysts have specifically asked their
supervisors that their names not be cited as authors of
JEC studies. While some others may be disappointed that
their names would not appear with their work in the JEC
volumes, it is the judgment of managers in the
Directorate that this will not have a significant
impact. In any event, it will be largely offset by a
greater sense of equity on the part of-'others who have
contributed to preparation of these papers but whose
names have not appeared.
-- It is our judgment that our recruitment efforts will not
be impeded, particularly as long as the papers are
identified as being authored in CIA.
-- As noted above, participation in panels, conferences and
individual contacts involves little, if any, publicity,
in contrast to identification of our analysts in the
authoritative JEC documents which are disseminated all
over the world.
In closing, I return to the two overriding considerations
that were the basis for this decision. First and foremost we
must be concerned for the safety of our analysts traveling
overseas. While we cannot prevent occasional recognition of one
or another of our analysts, the JEC reports represent the most
visible such recognition in documents that we know are read by
our enemies. Over time our participation is sufficiently broad
that a high percentage of our specialists can be identified.
Second, to the degree that public identification of our analysts
in these reports is causing sufficient concern in our Embassies
and Stations abroad to lead them to deny travel, we must try to
preserve these opportunities for the analyst. As I hope I have
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The Honorable Lee H. Hamilton
Vice Chairman
Joint Economic Committee
14 January 1985
conveyed convincingly above, we do not intend to allow this
decision to degrade or diminish in any way our participation in
the JEC program.
Deputy Director for Intelligence
All Portions of This Memo
are Classified CONFIDENTIAL
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The Honorable Lee H. Hamilton
Vice Chairman
Joint Economic Committee
14 January 1985
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 Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2009/11/20: CIA-RDP87MO1152R000400520020-4 OFREPRESENTATPoES
..~-~
LEE N. HAMILTON. IND.
ROT . JR.. OEL
ABDNOR. S. OAK.
N D. SYMMS. IDAHO
'K MATTINGLY. GA.
ALFONSE M. DAMATO. N.Y.
LLOYD BENTSEN. TEX
WILLIAM PROXMIRE. WIS.
EDWARD M. KENNEDY. MASS.
PAUL S. SARSANES. MD.
DAN C. ROBERTS.
OCECUTTVE DIRECTOR
Connreso of tht 9~lmted %tatto
JOINT ECONOMIC COMMITTEE
(CREATED PURSUANT TO SEC SW OF PUBIJC LAW 304.75TH CONGRESS)
Waohinton, P .C. io5J0
January 9, 1985
Mr. Robert Gates
National Intelligence Council
Central Intelligence Agency
Washington, D. C. 20505
Dear Mr. Gates:
VICE CHAIRMAN
0IWS W. LONG. LA.
PAIIREN J. MITCHELL MD.
AUGUSTUS F. H AWKINS. CALIF.
DAVID R. OBEY. WIS.
JAMES H. SCHEUER. N.Y.
CHALMERS P. WYLIL OHIO
MARJORIE S. HOLT. MO.
DANIEL E. WNGREN. CALIF.
OLYMPIA J. SNOWL MAINE
DDI-t 00 ~ gs
I would like to register my concerns about the proposal to omit the
authors' names from papers prepared by CIA analysts for inclusion in Joint
Economic Committee studies of the Soviet Union and other socialist economies.
First, the many papers prepared by CIA analysts far the JEC over the
years, have been welcome contributions to an exercise whose purpose is to
improve our understanding of the socialist economies, and to further research
into these areas, by both government and non-government specialists. An
important feature of the JEC studies is that they have promoted professional
interactions between CIA analysts and the rest of the research community.
Before implementing the new proposals, we should ask ourselves the
following questions:
1. Will the fact that CIA authors' names will no longer be
identified be a disincentive to analysts who are invited
to prepare papers?
2. Will far fewer, if any, papers be written as a result of
the new policy?
3. If fewer papers are written for JEC publications, will an
important source of information and analyses be lost to
Congress and the general public?
4. If there are fewer papers, will the amount of interaction
with, and constructive criticism from, outside specialists.-
be significantly reduced, and will this adversely affect the
quality of work done within the agency?
5. Will academics and non-government specialists find it more
difficult to'evaluate CIA papers whose authors are anonymous,
and will they be inclined not to cite or rely on them in their
own work?
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Mr. Robert Gates
January 9, 1985
Page Two
6. Will the closing down of the opportunity to publish
writings in JEC studies, under their own names, have a
demoralizing effect on CIA analysts?
7. Will the agency's efforts to attract and retain high
quality analysts be impeded?
8. How is the new policy consistent with the objectives
stated in your December 12, 1984 article for the Washington
Post, in which you discuss efforts to rebuild the corps of
analysts, expand contracts outside government, and require CIA
analysts to have outside training every two years?
9. How is the new policy consistent with the agency's practice
of sending analysts to participate on panels and speak at
meetings and conferences at universities and other public
places?
I realize that the proposed change is motivated by concern about
the safety of analysts who may be required to travel abroad. In some
circumstances, withholding the name of an author may be justified. But
a sweeping prohibition against identifying any author seems to me to go
too far.
I look forward to your early response.
Lee Hamilton
Member of Congress
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