CIA: UNOBTRUSIVE

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP88-01315R000300380006-5
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 16, 2016
• Document Release Date: October 22, 2004
• Sequence Number: 6
• Publication Date: June 29, 1975
• Content Type: NSPR

B Bill McAllister
WASHINGTON POST :'i 7 u :n e '~s
lea 04/1111 ? C_IA-RDP86-0131570 Q06-5
Complex,- Employees Blend .int.
Washin tea Pori Staff Woten.
If you want to-see the
Central Intelligence Agen-
cy's headquarters, go to
Pizza Supreme on Old
Chain Bridge Road in Mc-
Lean. Sketched on one wall
there is a cartoonist's view
of the agency's massive
headquarters that are hid-
den two miles away in the
Virginia woodside.
There are some obvious
flaws in the drawing: the
cartoon building is too tall
and is topped by the letters
"CIA." But none of the res.,
taurant's customers-many
of them. CIA employees--
has ever complained to
pizza shop owner Mike
Mansy.
The drawing and the cus-
tomers' silence are among
the few reminders in Fair-
fax County of something the
CIA would just as soon have
everyone forget: both its
headquarters and a good
number of the CIA's esti-
mated work force of 15,ik:0
are nestled away among all,
the other backyard-barbe-
cueing and lawn-tending su-
burbanites.
Aside from a half dozen
highway signs directing traf-
fic to the CIA complex and
.a noontime crowd that sud-
denly appears at a small del-
icatessen called the McLean
Restaurant, there are few
other outward (or ";overt,"
as the CIA operatives would
say) signs that the nation's
spy center is located in the
Langley' countryside.
"There is nothing... This
agency could be in Tirnbuc,
too," said William Ladson,
principal. at McLean High,
School.
Fourteen years after the
CIA deserted most of its
downtown Washington of-
fices for the suburbs, the
agency has become an ac-
cepted, if not unquestioned,
fact of life in Fairfax
McLean countryside.
County officials seem only
too happy to have what
Douglas Harman, deputy
County executive, sees as
,,an excellent einploynient
center" and "a very quiet
neiglLbor."They readily dis-
miss any negative impact,
such as having a large num-
ber of county residents who
are disinterested in local af-
fairs; as many CIA. employ-.
ees seem to be.
"If you wanted to ... you
could spend your whole life
there-from womb to tomb,"
claimed former CIA em-
ployee Victor MarclrettL
Indeeel;, the agency pro.
vides its employees with. a
myriad of services right in-
side its compound. There's a
knitting and crochet club,
("It doesn't do much for our
-007 image," admits one
official), a skeet shooting
club called- ''The Sitting
Ducks," and two softball
leagues that include teams
named "The Gbod Guys,"
"Ballbusters," and "Wild
Things." -
"We're probably the only
spy organization in the
world that has a chorus that
sings Christmas carol!; to its
workers," said another CIA
officer. What's more the
agency also has a prayer'
and Bible study group.
Such programs are part of
the agency,.,
avower l.aternalisrn, but
some former CIA employees
s'aid the programs a l s o
breed an insularity that
they now find distur_din,.
CIA. employees are "never
tuned into the local ::gene,"
grumbles former CIA ern-
ployee Robert L. \:11'eik, who
this month finished last
among six Republicans seek-
ing nominations for f i v e
seats in the Virginia House
of Delegates from the north-
ern Fairfax District.
Welk, who had said he
thought his CIA ties would
help him in the primary,
thinks otherwise now. His
CIA colleagues, who he ex-
pected might support him,
..are completely oriented to
Uganda, not Reston," he
grouses.
Although the unveil n of
highway traffic simtns
in" to the CIA conrtr.:-_ated a small stir in 1o. 3
McLean city directory has
yet to ac
gency's pr,
the town's
their occup
Gov't.," w'ii.
dents say is
tion they'.vc
Few cour
that worry
spend any
where they
fax County
fus Phillips,
a district tt
agency and
the CIA.
"It means
ing," agrees
.ping Commi
Edward C.
works for tl
position he v
The CIA'.
Fairfax "is
from that
(Army post)
logical Sun
Bred in Re
says.
Just how r
this county c
C 113- 21. O , 2-- rr ~~
A X
Cti /-0Lf Wetk P04:01-1,
Ci,9 ? ro (. STAT
elf / y D/4 (j03 Atri
557,500 have ;icy a tuv
isn't known, The ag-mncv
doesn't re.ea,:c any employ-
ment figures and county of-
ficials can't recall if the-.-
ever asked.
A Falls Church ia~;y-er, or-
g,uing for a zoning chan_ e in
McLean, did ask about its
gears a o and "'.vent
through all kinds of shenan-
igans" before calling the
Russian embassa. `I made
out as a cab driver and got
some figure." recalls Lytton
If. Gibson, the lawyer.
Gibson was claiming that
the area around the CIA
was well developed and that
a highr'ise apartment com-
Plex would be in order. Al-
though he can't recall the
figure given him by the Rus-
sians, county officials
granted his client the zoning
change. (l ews reports at the
time said the Russian told
him the current figure of
3.500 would eventually ex-
pand to 11,000.) -
Today the CILA is, by all
estimates. one of the biggest
industries in F'airfax- and
e:i' cQm;r,t~ (!"vials cr.ncerle
"Really, we have very little
to do with them," says
courtly executive Robert W.
Wilson.
Bowing oat of the contro-
ve:?sy was Cotn:.-,iimat:t Lee
H. Wi _ren, a C I -1 emp inyee,
Ile said knew noth:r
about "the alleae_l ineir.enC",
Dnd his cloth's at the genre
weren't licked to it.
Th> Roc.teieller mmis-
sion, which investigated r_
CIA under a presidential -Ii-
f
rective, reriorted that. the
break-in was the only e;an.-
ple it discovered' wi ,z the
police actively t;artieicma:Cd
in a CIA
ie)eratinr,.
Fairfax City Force Chief
Leonard ?. Mine, r:ho
wasn't in charge of the rit'.~
police force at :he thee of
the CIA t reap-in..c'.isavo'.vs
any ties bet'.;een h s depart.
ment grid the a-t,noy. "lt-e
never had any re_atiorulrip
with the CIA and we don't
now." he says.
Fairfax County pJItr1 is.
sue a similar disclaimer. but
Lt. Col. Kennett Il. Wilson,
deputy chief of the force r.,.
knowledges the ceun;.v has
"an unwrtten policy" of no-
tifCln_^ Lorern uteat ;if'ercies
.hen one of
ees is i'P Ti..! til
county. :t woul,t i,r ti,e
same for the Befeau of the
Approved For Release 2004/11/01: CIA-RDP88-01315R000300380006=5 -