C.I.A. SAYS IT HAS RESTORED LINK TO CAMPUSES TO GET MORE ADVICE

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00806R000100030053-9
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: February 2, 2011
• Sequence Number: 53
• Publication Date: January 20, 1986
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

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Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/02/02 : CIA-RDP90-00806R000100030053-9
ARTICLEAPPL1= NEW YORK TIMES
ON PAGE _-t_.L..,. 20 January 1986
C.I.A. Says It Has Restored Link
To Campuses to Get More Advice
By STEPHEN ENGELBERG
Spenal to The ',e, York Times
WASHINGTON, Jan. 19 - Twenty
years after the Central Intelligence
Agency was all but banished from
American campuses, the C.I.A. says it
has re-established its ties and is receiv.
ing research and advice from a grow-
ing number of university professors.
Robert Gates, the Deputy Director of
Intelligence, said the agency had
sought to accelerate a trend, begun
under President Carter, of soliciting
help from "the best minds in the coun-
try "
But the C.I.A.'s dealings with profes-
sors have been challenged by critics in
Congress and within the universities as
a threat to the independence of aca-
demic research.
The questions over the proper rela-
tionship between the C.I.A. and aca-
demics came into sharp focus at Har-
vard University late last year in a dis-
pute over the dealings between the
agency and Nadav Safran, the head of
Harvard University's Center for Mid-
dle Eastern Studies.
A. Michael Spence, dean of the fac-
ulty of arts and sciences, concluded in a
report this month that Mr. Safran had
violated Harvard's rules when he failed
to disclose that the C.I.A. had contrib.
uted $45,000 to a conference on Islamic
fundamentalism held at the university
last year.
C.I.A. Money for Book
Mr. Safran also received a $107,000
grant from the agency to support re-
search on his latest book. Mr. Spence
blamed the university for failing to
challenge the arrangement after Mr
.
The new emphasis on seeking outside I Sat ran gave Harvard officials a copy of
view
i
po
nts was prompted in pat
,r, by a
review of past intelligence failures.
Mr. Gates said. Some of these such as
g p
-
, mistaken ltshed and prohibited Mr. Safran from
predictions in the 1970's I
discloi th
snge source of his funds. Both
about the future of the Shah of Iran, , conditions violate Harvard's rule.;
could be traced, he said, to the develop- Mr. Safran is to resign his post as
ment of a "U.S. Government perspec- head of the center at the end of this aca-
tive." I demic year but remain a tenured pro-
"There were scholars out there say- fessor at Harvard. He has said he views
ing the Shah was in trouble, and some-,I the C.I.A. as no different from any
any official assessment," Mr. Gates
said in an interview.
"What we are after is people who will
challenge us constructively, offer us a
different perspective, who will stir up
the pot a bit and who will help us con-
sider all points of view, particularly the
unnrthrvinv "tin -:a 'IT --_,. - ---..
cracies like this one have difficulty ''vNmise co congress
pro- that it would not covertly sponsor publi-
moting imagination and creativity." cation of books in this country.
"Can you imagine," he continued. "They're not supposed to operate
"what people would say if we con- within the United States," Mr. Ed-
tended that no one in the academic wards said, "and as far as I'm con-
world has anything to offer us. that cerned, this is operating within the
United States."
th
i
ere
s no information or
rs Pe pective
that could help us do our job? It's incon.
ceivable that anyone would make that
point."
Mr. Gates said that approximately a
fourth of the agency's intelligence esti-
mates are now reviewed in draft form
by professors or other outside experts,
including retired military people.
Previously only a "minuscule" amount
of the agency's research was reviewed
in this fashion, he said.
since 1982, the C.I.A. has been the
host of 75 conferences a year in which
its analysts met professors and experts
outside the Government, Mr. Gates
said. Only three to four such meetings
were held annually in past years. In
addition, agency analysts are attend-
ing more academic conferences on sub-
jects of interest to the C.I.A.
the agency the right to review the
manuscript and stop it from bein
ub
Representative Don Edwards,
Democrat of California, chairman of
the Judiciary Committee's subcommit-
tee on Civil and Constitutional Rights,
said the agency should publicly dis-
close all contracts with professors.
Mr. Edwards contended the agency's
support for Mr. Safran's research vio-
aca
emic community.-
The
C.I.A. advises professors to c
orn
-
Ply with the rules of their universities,
some of which, including Harvard, re-
quire that senior officials be advised of
any contracts involving the intelligence
agency.
Mr. Gates heads one of the C.I.A.'s
four directorates. He is responsible for
preparing all of its written work for dis-
tribution throughout the Government.
The analysts he supervises study a
wide variety of material, including un-
classified studies, information gath-
ered by covert agents, intercepted
communications and sateilite photog-
raphy.
variety of Contacts
Mr. Gates said the C.I.A. had several I
types of dealings with professors. Most
common, were the confer-
ences, sponsored by the agency or out-
side groups, in which academics and
agency analysts inter-
national issues. These do various involve
classified information, Mr. Gates said.
Academic experts are also called upon
to review the agency's findings.
More rarely, he said, the agency con-
tracts for research papers on particu-
lar topics. Finally, a handful of profes-
sors take leaves and are hired for year-
long positions as scholars in residence
at the C.I.A. The number of professors
now under contract is relatively small
when compared to the ? many hun-
dreds" of academics who attend
agency conferences and serve as paid
or unpaid consultants, Mr. Gates said.
The C.I.A.'s early history in the
1950's was replete with senior scholars
who took leaves to hold posts with the
Mr. Gates said that the agency does ! agency or worked as consultants. But
not commission or underwrite books. 1 Mr. Gates said that in 1960's, the
He said academics doing research agency and other arms of the Amer-
under C.I.A. contract sometimes ask 'tf Government became "Persona
permission to publish articles or books.
In these cases, the agency will not
allow its support to be acknowledged in
the book.
or those dictated by the Government.
Until now. the C I.A. has reserved
the right to rc.:aw before Publication
any work published by an academic
Iwho held a C.I.A. contract for research
on the same subject. This, Mr. Gates
I said, was to make sure no classified in-
formation was inadvertently released.
Change of Policy
Under a new policy, he said, the
agency now has the authority to waive
this review if the work does not involve
classified material.
"The business at Harvard is really
an anomaly," Mr. Gates said. "There
is generally a great deal of willingness
to talk with us, share ideas with us. It
stands out only because it is so rare,
given the breadth of contacts we have
were shaken by anti-Government pro-
tests. it was disclosed that the C.I.A.
had
covertly funded adil
n manpuated
Mr Gates said that disclosing what the iational Student Association and
subjects the C.I.A. was researching se.;; etly used academics to write books
could influence events abroad."Let's and acher materials to be used for
say it was officially confirmed that the propaganda purposes abroad.
C.I.A. had authorized a study of the Under Stanfield Turner, Director of
possibility Slobboof- ,a inancial collapse in Central Intelligence under President
he said "One could Carter the agency began to rebuild its
see how that would make inter-iatiunal ties to academic experts, and Mr.
institutions lending to Lower ' .,,obovia Gates said the Reagan Administration
very nervous." had sou t to broaden the t elationship.
Also, he said that the formal ac- C.I.A., he said, favors fu
knowledgment of C.I.A. participation rther in-
would embroil an author in questions of creases in the agerde,'s use of profes-
whether the conclusions were his own sors and other outside experts to con-
duct basic, unclassifi,_~o research.
"We are working on zn awful lot of
issues we weren't working i0 years
ago," Mr. Gates 3a,.:. 'If or?sent
trends continue, witho,:, some ...1p,
we're going have trouble kseping up.-
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