(SANITIZED) COMMENT IN THE PRESS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP87M01152R000500650027-2
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 3
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: February 23, 2010
• Sequence Number: 27
• Publication Date: January 7, 1985
• Content Type: LETTER

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/02/23: CIA-RDP87M01152R000500650027-2
~ -,--
Director, Otlice of Legislative Liaison 'J January 1985
NOTE T0: DCI
STAT Re comment in the press
o Attached are cover and page 6 of HPSCI
Annual Report which we received this A.M.
o If you are still considering responding
publicly, the HPSCI conclusion on page 6 moots
the issue.
STAT
ar es riggs
cc: DDCI
EX DIR
D/PAO
Distribution:
0 - DCI w/att
1 - DDCI w/att
1 - EX DIR w/att
1 - D/PAO w/att
1 - ER w/att
1 - D/OLL Chron w/att
1 - DD/OLL w/att
1 - C/Liaison Div/OLL w/att
.~'I`- OLL Subject w/att
1 - OLL Chron w/o/att
D/OLL:CABriggs;jms (7 Jan 85)
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 Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/02/23 :CIA-RDP87M01152R000500650027-2
Union Calend.rr No. G7J
98th Congrexs, 'ld Session - - - - - - - - - - - House l{cix~rt 98~ 1 .!IG
R E P O R T
ON THE
ACTIVITIES OF THE
PERMANENT SELECT COMMITTEE ON INTELLIGENCE
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
NINETY-EIGHTH CONGRESS
Pursuant to
Clause 1(d) Rule XI of the Rules of the
House of Representatives
J~rruwes 2, 1!185 --Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on
the State of the Union and ordered to be printed
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6
In fairness to the intelligence ofE-icials, however, it should be
noted that the Committee's review of problem areas indicates that
not all the fault lies with the intelligence agencies. In a number of
instances, the policy makers or military commanders failed to
make use of available intelligence or failed to ask the intelligence
community for the kind of information they needed or failed to un-
derstand what kind of intelligence could realistically be expected to
be provided.
There is a clear need for better coordination between the users of
intelligence and the providers of intelligence so that the best possi-
ble intelligence is available when it is needed. The Committee un-
derstands its role in helping improve this situation and will contin-
ue to press for better results.
These are not new concerns. President Carter, in a note to his
Secretary of State, his CIA Director and his Assistant for National
Security Affairs, expressed dissatisfaction with the quality of the
political intelligence he was receiving. In 1978, this Committee sub-
mitted to the House its first report following its creation in the
summer of 1977. It pointed out that while "great improvements
have been made in the collection, processing and dissemination of
data in the warning process ...improvements in analysis and the
integration of analysis with policy formulation have lagged far
behind."
Certain specific steps were taken by the management of the in-
telligence community (in part at the suggestion of this Committee)
to improve those shortcomings, but national security is not a static
affair. New challenges arise and old ones increase or change in
nature. The intelligence community must meet those challenges.
In its 1980 report to the House, the Committee noted that the
coming decade would present the intelligence community with
challenges that would be many, serious and growing." The report
noted that its Evaluation Subcommittee study of the analytic com-
ponent of the CIA has commended recent improvements made by
Director Turner and his deputy in charge of analysis, and especial-
ly their efforts to revitalize the National Intelligence Estimates
(NIEs) process.
The Committee is pleased that the current Director of Central
Intelligence has continued and expanded the effort to improve the
NIE process. Those studies represent the coordinated judgment of
the intelligence community and are issued under the authority of
the Director of Central Intelligence. They can be of particular
value to the policy makers.
The Committee has noted recent criticism in the press by a
former CIA employee who stated that he had been pressed to re-
write adraft National Intelligence Estimate to support Administra-
tion policy. Several Directors of Central Intelligence, including. the
current DCI, have taken the position that NIEs should represent
their own views and that any views that. differ should be included
so that-the policy maker can have the benefit of differing analysis.
The Committee examined the earlier drafts and the final version of
that.. particular NIE and found that dissenting views were printed
at;.the very beginning of the study, a practice the Committee ap-
plauds......
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