LETTER TO BILL ALEXANDER FROM JOHN L. HELGERSON

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90G01353R000600080004-8
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 6
• Document Creation Date: December 27, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 7, 2012
• Sequence Number: 4
• Publication Date: September 22, 1988
• Content Type: LETTER

STAT
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/08/07 :
CIA-RDP90GO1353R000600080004-8
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/08/07 :
CIA-RDP90GO1353R000600080004-8
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V > Central Intelligence Agency
2 2 SEP 1988
The Honorable Bill Alexander
House of Representatives
Washington, D.C. 20515
Dear Mr. Alexander:
The Director has asked me to respond to your letter of
7 September 1988 in which you requested bibliographic
references to changes in the Soviet Union during the
Gorbachev era.
While the Central Intelligence Agency does not collect
essays per se, I am happy to forward the titles of several
recent works dealing with the changes in the Soviet Union,
both from the internal and external perspective and their
potential impact on Soviet foreign policy behavior. Probably
the best work examining the broad issues contrasting internal
decay in the Soviet Union with external expansion is
The Soviet Paradox by Seweryn Bialer, published in 1986 by
Alfred A. Knopf. A book by the same author, concentrating
specifically on U.S. bilateral relations with the Soviet
Union, Gorbachev's Russia and American Foreign Policy, was
published this year by Westview Press. I would also suggest
the Zhores Medvedev biography, Gorbachev, published by Norton
in 1986 and Gorbachev's own book, Perestroika: New Thinking
for Our Country and the World, published by Harper and Row in
1987. There are also a large number of articles on the
domestic determinants of foreign policy including:
Robert Legvold, "The Nature of Soviet Power," Foreign
Affairs, October 1988, and John Gaddis, The Rise and Fall
and Future of Detente," Foreign Affairs, Winter 1983/84.
The Agency has, of course, published classified works on
various aspects of this broad topic which we would be happy
to provide once your interests have become more narrowly
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W
focused. In addition, we would make our Soviet experts
available to brief you on any aspect of current Soviet
behavior--be it internal or external--and where we see Soviet
foreign policy heading in the near term.
I hope that this information will prove useful. Please
do not hesitate to contact this office if we can be of
further assistance.
STAT
(/John Helgerson
Distribution:
- Addressee
- DCI
- D/PAO
- ER
- D/OCA
- OCA Record
STAT
STAT
Chrono
(20 Sep 88)
Director of Congressional Affairs
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IER 88=3477X
Executive Secretary
14 Sep 88
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CONGRESS
ofte
C(tttfeb Mates o f CXnteri ca,
September 7, 1988
The Honorable William Webster
Director
Central Intelligence Agency
Washington, D.C. 20505
Dear Judge:
COMMITTEE ON
APPROPRIATIONS
It was good to visit with you at the dedication of the new
Canadian Embassy and to discuss topical issues of mutual interest.
I
The recent political upheaval in the Soviet Union has been in'the
making for many years. Some would argue that Communism began its
decline in 1948, with the bolt by Yugoslavia under Tito resulting
forty years later in the "failure" of Marxism.
I am interested in exploring this issue in depth and would
appreciate any references to essays which may have been collected
by the agency which examines the changing relationship between
the West and the East in the Perestroika era.
With appreciation for your dedication and service to our Nation and
personal best wishes, I am
Sincerely yours,
I/
BILL ALEXANDER
Member of Congress
BA/js
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