'THIS PLACE IS PRODUCING'

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-01208R000100070060-0
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: February 22, 2011
• Sequence Number: 60
• Publication Date: February 6, 1978
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

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6 Februirv 1978
To get'the view from the top at the
CIA, W'ashi,:gton bureau chief Mel Elf-
in and correspondent David Martin
talked with director Stansfie,ld Turner.
Excerpts:
NEWSWEEK: Every single person we have
talked to, without exception, says morale has
never, ever, been lower than it Is right now.
TURNER: I categorically deny that.
There is not a- morale problem in the
CIA today .. This place is producing.
The President of the United States is
pleased with it. And the product is high.
People work twelve-, sixteen-hour day4-
out here. I have people, at the drop of a
hat, working all day . Sunday, coming
over to my house Sunday night with the
results. They are dedicated, wonderful,
inspired people. Now, there are com-
plaints. There's griping. There is in
every organization of the government
And when } ou're in a period of transi-
tion to new objectives, new methods,.
new management systems, new styles of
:openness, of course there are people
who are .complaining, because it isn't
being done the way it was yesterday.
0. Your dismissal i42172 persons obviously
"'hurt morale. Wou;d you do it again, and in
exactly the same way?
A. What I will do differently the next
time is spread the notification out over a
longer period of time.'.. But I did what I
think was the. only honest, proper thing
to do for the agency and for the country
.. There's just nobody around here that
doesn't know that we're in a time when
we have to improve, we have to change,
we have to adapt _
0. Do you have eonhdenee in the rJandes-
Vne service, or are you afraid that there is
something Was hidden there?
A. I took a skeptical attitude and I
hired [Robert D. Williams) to come in,
and I gave him a carte blanche [to inves-
tigate). At the end of six months, I said to.
the clandestine service, "I am well satis-
fied with the way you are doing things. I
have no concern that you are doing
things deliberately without orders, or
contrary to orders." I also told them there
were-going to be 820 of them less, you
know. The good news and the bad news.
0. Can the United States still take action
covertly in a national emergency?
A. Yes. We're scaling that down in our
objectives.. - but l will fight to the last to
retain an arrow in my quiver to do politi-
cal action. But not thousands of people to
do paramilitary things like we had in
Vietnam-a small paramilitary capabil-
ity. Modest, tuned, honed and ready to
go. It's very important that it be there,
particularly to combat terrorism.
0. Have such things as the Congressional
hearings, allegations by former agents who
have written books and the fact.that many
people are leaving the. CIA in a disgruntled
mood caused any sources to dry up because
they are afraid of leaks?
A. Oh, that's just balderdash. I have
such confidence in these people who
leave. They're patriotic Americans.
Now, some of them have shown a very
unprofessional stance in running to the
press, but, you know, even Frank Snepp
was very circumspect in writing his
book, as far as I can tell. There is appre-
hension around the world as to how the
Congressional thing will settle out. But
we haven't had, to the best of our knowl-
edge, leaks from the_Congressional side
that can be pinpointed.
VMV
Turner with
Carter, Brzezinski and Mondale: 7 he President is pleased'
0. A retired CIA official told us recently that
If he had been a Russian working in the Soviet
Embassy in Washington, he could probably
have all the documents and information pres-
ently given to the Congress of the United
States within a year.
A. I don't believe it. I really don't: The
documents we give to the Senate Select
- Committee on Intelligence are held in
one series of closely guarded rooms, 24-
hour guards on them, alarm systems,
locks, the whole works._ They're not
running around in congressmen's offices.
I went to see a senator the other day,
just to pay a courtesy call on him. We got
discussing something, and he suddenly
tole) me, "Write it down.", He was so
security-conscious. His room hadn't
been debugged fora while and [when] I
slipped into saying something classified,
we started exchanging notes, just the two
of us sitting in the room there... I mean,
one of the benefits [in] oversight now is
that the Congress is really getting to
know ..what intelligence is about; they are
recognizing how much of a responsibil-
ity they're shouldering.
0. Have any of the friendly services around
the world shown reluctance to share informa-
tion with the CIA because of leaks?
A. I have heard that foreign services
are questioning how our procedures are
working out under these circumstances.
I have zero evidence that it has, at this
stage, resulted in a degradation in the
quality or quantity of information we get
from them ... What's changed in the last
decade is [that) technical-intelligence
collection has become so sophisticated,
so expensive, that in all areas of the
world we can do better in many of these
technical areas than anybody else..
0. fs it true the CIA had to contract out to
the Rand Corp. for the first draft of this year's
National Intelligence Estimate on the Soviet
Union? If so, does this reflect in any way on the most Important job you do around here,
which is the estimate? : -
A. We contract in a number of areas. I
don't want to discuss thatNIE in particu-
lar, but I see nothing wrong w ith getting, - I
in specialized areas, the very best talent E
the country can bring to bear on a nation- .
al intelligence estimate ... This. is only
one little piece of the Soviet estimate.
We went out and hired a fellow who
worked for us a few months ago. He was
working on this before he left
We [also] go outside when it is, in our
opinion, to the government's best inter-
ests ... to make sure all the divergent
views are represented. And if you don't -
happen to have hawks and. doves on -
some particular situation or you don't
have specialists on this and that, you
complement your in-house tallent.
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/02/22 : CIA-RDP90-01208R000100070060-0