WEINBERGER, SENATE PANEL DISCUSS UNIFIED U.S. INTELLIGENCE STRATEGY

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00552R000303570053-7
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: January 12, 2011
• Sequence Number: 53
• Publication Date: July 13, 1985
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/01/12 : CIA-RDP90-00552R000303570053-7
ASSOCIATFD PRESS
13 July 1985
Committee to discuss development of a unified policy regarding what e
ItiEINBERGER, SE'ATE PANEL DISCUSS UNIFIED U.S. INTELLIGENCE STRATEGY
BY TIT! AHERN
IVASH I NGTON
Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger met Thursday with the Senate Intelligence
called the muc maligned but vital business of intelligence
After a 90-minute session behind closed doors Weinberger called the meeting
constructive and useful.
He added that "intelligence frequently has been considered to be the kind of
an unmentionable topic that somehow is a dirty business.
"Unfortunately, in the world in which we live it is a vital business,"
Weinberger said, "vital to our survival."
Committee chairman David Durenberger, R-Minn., said Thursday was the first
time the panel had met with a defense secretary in its nine-year history.
One subject that did not come up was the current Navy spy case, in which four
men have been charged with passing military secrets to the Soviet Union.
Weinberger has described the case as causing serious damage to U.S. national
security.
Durenberger said the Walker case deliberately was not discussed. He said it
would be addressed later as part of a separate review of counter-intelligence
efforts aimed at blocking Soviet efforts to recruit U.S. spies.
Durenberger has pressed the panel to come up with an overall intelligence
strategy w is would end es among the various intelligence agencies,
including the Central Intelligence Agency, Defense Intelligence Agency,
and the National Security Agency.
"A long-range strategy would have pinpointed the difficulties that we
inherited in Central America," said Durenberger. "The shortfalls that we have
experienced in our intelligence abilities in this vital section of the world
might not have occurred in the first place or might have been anticipated and
planned for."
Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., the panel's vice-chairman, said there had been "a
great deal of concern expressed" by congressmen in recent years about "the
quality of our intelligence (and) how we plan."
The meeting came a day after the Democratic-controlled House reversed itself
and voted to renew aid to U.S-backed Contras fighting the leftist Nicaraguan
government.
Undersecretary of State Michael Armacost also met with the panel, out his
testimony was interrupted by a vote an the Senate floor and will continue at a
later time.
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/01/12 : CIA-RDP90-00552R000303570053-7