RECOMMENDATION FOR AWARD OF THE DEFENSE DISTINGUISHED SERVICE MEDAL TO VADM E. A. BURKHALTER, JR.

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP88G01116R001202220001-2
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 6
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: April 5, 2011
• Sequence Number: 1
• Publication Date: July 2, 1986
• Content Type: MEMO

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DCI/ICS 86-3019
2 July 1986
MEMORANDUM FOR: Director of Central Intelligence
VIA: Deputy Director of Central Intelligence
FROM: Deputy Director, Intelligence Community Staff
SUBJECT: Recommendation for Award of the Defense Distinguished
Service Medal to VADM E. A. Burkhalter, Jr.
1. Action Requested: Your signature on the attached award recommendation
addressed to the Secretary of Defense.
2. Discussion:
a. In addition to any Intelligence Community award that you might
deem appropriate to honor Admiral Burkhalter on the occasion of his
retirement from the Navy, I believe that he should also be awarded the
Defense Distinguished Service Medal in recognition of his outstanding
performance while Director, Intelligence Community Staff. This award is
the highest for non-combat military service and is:
"awarded by the Secretary of Defense to any military officer of the United
States who is assigned to joint staffs or other joint activities of the
Department of Defense and who distinguishes himself by exceptionally
meritorious service in a position of unique and great responsibility."
b. The attached recommendation and proposed citation has been
prepared in the required format for your signature. If you agree with the
recommendation, your signature before departure for Europe hopefully will
ensure that the necessary review in DoD will be completed in time for
presentation at Admiral Burkhalter's retirement ceremony on 11 August.
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The Director of Central Intelligence
2 July 1986
MEMORANDUM FOR: The Honorable Caspar W. Weinberger
Secretary of Defense
SUBJECT: Recommendation for Award of the Defense Distinguished
Service Medal to VADM E. A. Burkhalter, Jr.
1. Under the provisions of Executive Order 11545, I recommend that
VADM E. A. Burkhalter, Jr. be awarded the Defense Distinguished Service Medal
in recognition of his outstanding performance while Director, Intelligence
Community Staff, from October 1982 until his retirement in August 1986. If at
all possible, approval of this recommendation would be appreciated to permit
thrdin
of thi
g
s medal at his retiremethdl
n ceremony sceued for 11 August.
2. As my senior adviser on both military and Intelligence Communit
y
matters over the past four years, Admiral Burkhalter's performance has
routinely and uniformly reflected superb managerial ability, broad experience,
and sound judgment. His advice and active participation in the management of
the Intelligence Community have been invaluable in forging a greater
cooperation and effectiveness among the intelligence organizations of the
United States than at any time in our nation's history.
3. In organizing and managing the Intelligence Community (IC) Staff, my
primary conduit for effecting day-to-day decisions concerning Intelligence
Community activities, Admiral Burkhalter has demonstrated extraordinary
initiative in establishing an organization that successfully solicits the
diverse views of the Community and provides, to the greatest extent possible,
an unbiased forum for consideration of issues important to our nation's
intelligence capabilities. He has tailored the IC Staff to be correctly
perceived as an advocate rather than an adversary of Community programs. As
such, the Staff enhances the effectiveness of each of the Community's elements
by providing coherence, coordination, and efficiency in the development of
intelligence policy, planning, and budgets. Admiral Burkhalter's unique
ability to get people working together toward a common purpose, without undue
consideration for their parent organization's parochial equities, has been
remarkable. He has maintained close and productive contact with State, CIA,
FBI, Treasury, Energy, OSD, the JCS and the Services to ensure the most
effective coordination on all issues. The spirit of cooperation that he has
inspired across these diverse entities has, in turn, helped us all focus on
the real intelligence problems of this nation and identify changes necessary
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4. Under Admiral Burkhalter's dynamic leadership, the Community has
systematically identified weaknesses in our intelligence capabilities,
structured innovative programs necessary to correct these weaknesses, and
actively justified the budget increases necessary to fund the major rebuilding
of intelligence that we have nurtured over the past six years. A key element
in the success of this unprecedented budget growth has been the convincing
justification before the Congress of the important role that intelligence
plays in the national security equation, particularly in supporting our
military planners and operators during peacetime, crises, and war. Admiral
Burkhalter's military background, broad intelligence experience, and personal
rapport with members of the Co s have been essential ingredients in this
educational process.
5. Admiral Burkhalter has also been an extremely valuable catalyst in
focusing the Community's efforts against a range of concerns of immediate
importance to our national security. He established in early 1983 and has
since chaired the Caribbean Basin Intelligence Steering Group (CBISG), a
coordinating body comprised of senior representatives from the Community
designed to share information and ideas on ways to provide intelligence in
support of US interests in that volatile region. Under CBISG auspices we have
sharpened our intelligence focus on Central America and have brought to bear
the resources-necessary to carry out Presidential guidance and the mission
assigned to the Commander in Chief, U.S. Southern Command. Admiral Burkhalter
has chaired the CBISG with fairness and distinction, having routinely
demonstrated his ability to be an effective, honest broker of Community
interests. F-7
6. Another effort which exemplifies Admiral Burkhalter's unique ability
to bring diverse interests to bear on an intelligence problem of national
concern is his work to improve our indications and warning (I&W) in the
European theater. He was responsible for overseeing the creation of an
imaginative program involving the joint participation of DoD and CIA field
assets to enhance significantly our I&W capabilities through innovative
melding of state-of-the-art sensor technology with good, human source
tradecraft. Due primarily to his strong leadership, persistence, and the
respect that he has earned in both the DoD and CIA bureaucracies, we were able
to field a system with demonstrated potential for greatly improving our
warning of warfighting preparations by the USSR/Warsaw Pact forces.
Additionally, this program has served as a model for other joint DoD/CIA
initiatives that have the long-term potential for greatly expanding
cooperative intelligence efforts in support of military operations.
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7. In addition to actively seeking solutions to near-term problems,
Admiral Burkhalter has also been a strong proponent of improved Community
planning to prepare us better for the challenges to intelligence that we
project through the end of the century. He initiated the DCI's Off-Site
Planning Conferences, at which Community leaders meet with the DCI at retreat
for a day and a half every six months to discuss, in an informal setting, the
major topics which will likely have significant planning and resource
implications in the years ahead. As a direct result of these conferences, the
Community has taken concrete steps in such areas as improved exploitation of
open source materials, establishment of closer liaison between intelligence
and the Strategic Defense Initiative efforts, greater protection for
information derived from signals intelligence, and recognition of exceptional
personnel engaged in human source collection through the establishment of the
DCI's Exceptional Collector Award Program.
8. Another planning effort in which Admiral Burkhalter has worked
diligently to articulate the issues and focus Community attention is the
improved survivability of intelligence assets in scenarios ranging from
natural disasters through full-scale nuclear exchange. He co-chaired with the
Assistant Secretary of Defense for C31 a Senior Review Panel responsible for
responding to the President's National Security Decision Directives 13 and 127
for improved capabilities in this arena. The resulting Nuclear Weapons Master
Plan is the first comprehensive description of the kinds of major investments
that must be undertaken by both DoD and the Intelligence Community if the
desired survivability of intelligence assets is to be realized.
9. Each of the foregoing examples is offered as illustrative of Admiral
Burkhalter's essential role as my principal advisor on all Intelligence
Community matters. His insight, management ability, leadership skill, and
tireless dedication have proven extremely effective in focusing the Community
elements on areas where genuine improvements in capabilities were feasible,
and ultimately achieved.
10. In sum, Admiral Burkhalter is an outstanding professional who has
left an indelible mark on our nation's intelligence apparatus. I strongly
recommend that he be awarded the Defense Distinguished Service Medal as
appropriate recognition of his unparalleled contributions to the security of
the United States.
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The President of the United States takes pleasure in presenting the
DEFENSE DISTINGUISHED SERVICE MEDAL to
Vice Admiral E. A. Burkhalter, Jr.
U. S. Navy
for service as set forth in the following citation:
"For exceptionally meritorious service to the Government of the United
States in a duty of great responsibility as Director, Intelligence Community
Staff, from October 1982 to August 1986. An extremely competent, experienced,
and resourceful leader, Vice Admiral Burkhalter served as principal advisor to
the Director of Central Intelligence on both military and Intelligence
Community matters. Vice Admiral Burkhalter's advice and active participation
in the management of the Intelligence Community have been invaluable in
forging a greater cooperation and effectiveness among the intelligence
organizations of the United States than at any time in our nation's history.
Under his dynamic leadership, the Community has systematically identified
weaknesses in our intelligence capabilities, structured innovative programs
necessary to correct these weaknesses, and actively justified the budget
increases necessary to fund the major rebuilding of the nation's intelligence
capabilities over the past six years. Vice Admiral Burkhalter has also been
an extremely valuable catalyst in focusing the Community's efforts against a
range of concerns of immediate importance to our national security in both the
Caribbean Basin and the European Theater. By his outstanding leadership,
judgment, initiative, and tireless dedication, Vice Admiral Burkhalter has
upheld the highest traditions of the United States Navy, and his performance
reflects great credit on himself, the Intelligence Community, and the United
States Government."
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SUBJECT: Award Recommendation for VADM E. A. Burkhalter, Jr., USN
Distribution: DCI/ICS 86-3019
Orig-DCI
1-DDCI
1-Executive Registry
1-EO/ICS
1-ICS/PERS
EO/ICS
07/02/86)
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