SKEWED HISTORY: U.S. INTELLIGENCE-GATHERING AS A FAILURE

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000707000001-0
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: December 2, 2011
• Sequence Number: 1
• Publication Date: April 22, 1985
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

STnT
Declassified in Part -Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/12/02 :CIA-RDP90-009658000707000001-0
y
,as a failure .,
? ~ U-. S. rote . ' ence-ga erln
d hlsto .. _ ~ _ _ _ --
~kev~e rY y -
d `cable in and out of the German Embas-
---- ~ - - -- ~ ~
a~(-~LE hP'~A~m ~ ~ ~ ~~~
~~r ~ . 1: -
genee? 1 think not; ~ Mr. Volkmann- faults intel
. ~?,
f ` Bence (not General MacArthur) with a: "blunder.' . - ~:.
.: Mr._ Volkmann does offer tidbits that are inter
esting at first glance. but which gradually destroy,:
~- his credibWty. For instance. as an examPl~ of the;..
'
"Warriors of the Night" Ernest Volkmann. Morrow. .
~~~'443 pages. S17.95. _ ~. ~.;.~??.
' ~ Let us give Ernest Volkmann his due. "Warriors
of.~?ihe Night" is sui generis in the field of intelli-
fence literature. I happen to collect nonfiction
about espionage, and this afternoon I did a faoff e
y~eyv , of the 1,200-odd volumes on my
i shelves. if anything dumber exists on the subject 1.
copld not find tt ;_ ~ - - ' -
-.Mr. Volkmann: a master in the construction and
~ demolition of straw men,, works from a simplistte
j tZZ!esis: American intelligence has been a "long lit-
~ay of failure," from World War I through Vietnam
and Central America. Further, of the foreign policy.
rdi~sters suffered by presidents Wilson through
'Reagan, "an astonishingly high percentage of them
Eiayolvedj intelligence failure." He curtsies in rec-?
~ ognition that dumb presidents and others might -,
lust might -- share blame. But; alas, for spooks: A.
f~w~chapters of Mr. Vollcmann, and one blames the'
pational Security Agency for-the Colts move to In-:
?..!,,Lord knows our spies have gravy staing on their
frencYicoatsr~ Bti'f= what Mr ,;;Volkmann' does,. not -'
$~tm to understand. (he must know better) is thaf`
ir7~telligence agencies do noti:conduct:foreign policy
or run military_operations:~ A headstrong military,
commander such as. Ger3? Douglas MacArthur-can-;.
scoff at.figld reports in the spring of,.1950 of mss-.
s"ive,North Korean.~troop?and tank movements to='
.wardthe~Btlth'paraliel, and the~clearing of farmers
L frDm he.~border == both clear invasion signals.
Since general MacArthur controlled Fas.East intel-
ligen the infant. CIA ?had three _me? in? all. of
;Japan .can the lack of?warning about ? e 1950 in-.
!vasioad,on2he-doorstep of Amerijcan' intelli=_
IYuma~s.
"drivel that passed across President
e
th
-
ten nn -?
statements" ? on subjects', about, :which: Ir claim a
~: smidgin of knowledge"'.As America entered World",
r' War I;? intelligence` consisted of?"onlysomething:
r~ _ called U1; a State Department bureau -that func-
. tinned as an 9nformal centralized intelligence-agen-'?,
cy:'.'",~Vell, not exactly. Commencing in early '1915, ;-
~'~ Wils~bn's Justice Department agents.read most let-
~~_ters and overheard every telephone call: and_moni;?
anus, o........ -~~- --- -?-~
~, ~:' This experience. (at page 43) prompted close at-;.;
c ..~
ti ' to Mr " Volkmann's sources: ~ and" to his
Soviet. Union . a _ .:
aboard a submarine in i 940. -.^- ~ :, '=^" ~;
- Mr: Volkmann's story warrants a march to -the:
~. source;.; notes: L;"Hoover.- intelligence: confidential;
source:" G1ven the FBI`s security role in~ ~~d ~'
-. hattan Project: a mammoth undertaking; ::
Hoover. have_ seriously believed the Soviets had con b
'~:?structed an A bomb in,?thc cramped: confines of a
;.
a
Hoover_ reporting
desk. he has J. Edgar.
'h d = developed` an atomic .bomb
BALTIMORE SUN
22 April 1985
to every
re
sy. I would call this intelligence. The Wilson papers
contain crates of such material.
My. eyebrows are raised. and two wars later.
when we -reach Korea, my hackles go skyward as
well: for 1 find myself being cited as the "source" of.,
a passage so mendaciously garbled that I yelled for .
my house counsel. This Volkmann anecdote deals
with CIA "boom and bang" operations against Chi-
na after the Communist victory of 1949.
Mr. Volkmann writes, "among its more notori-
~ ous (and useless) oper~.tions was atwelve-hundred.
( man guerrilla 'army' composed mostly of ex-Na-
tionalist Chinese soldiers who carried out raids into
. China and North Korea."? ?. . .
~' The guerrilla band of which I wrote (in "Korea:
The Untold Story of the War") was composed en-..
tirely of Koreans,doth north and south. The words
"notorious and useless" are Mr. Voikmann's, and
they are not_supported by the source he cites. (In a
footnote: Mr.? Volkmann repeats . a libel against
Hans Tofte, the CIA guerrilla commander. lifted .
from an ?author who had to apologize: I suspect Mr.
Volkmann and his publisher will hear from Mr ?
Tofte in due course) -`--~-- ~^: _ ;-.;A , ~'.,.:r.:
'~ Mr. Volkmann's previous writings on espionage
I? in Penthouse and elsewhere, have evoked amused: ?
~ chuckles` `from` professionals in the. intelligence
~ community Warriors? of thc .Night ':, will solidify
his reputation ?~~~~ .~ , ~;r? . ,_M..:.t _
-i; . ~. ? ?; ~ r y-~:t~; t.ta.a ': . ~ JOSEPH G GOL7LDEN ~:
~ Mr. Goulden is the author of "Death Mercbaat," about.
j the renegade American iatelligeaoe officxr Edwin P.:
r Wilson. Among his tbre~ h'~Oks in.pmogress are a dice .
tiona:y of espionage term~.'aad a biography. of Wood~;.I
Declassified in Part -Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/12/02 :CIA-RDP90-009658000707000001-0