LETTER FROM EDWIN C. MAY PH.D./SAIC TO MR. C. RICHARD D'AMATO/APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: STARGATE
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP96-00791R000200190035-9
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: November 4, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 31, 2004
• Sequence Number: 35
• Publication Date: December 7, 1993
• Content Type: LETTER

Approved For Release 2004/09/09 : CIA-RDP96-00791R00020?190035-9 I SG1 I
7 December 1993
Mr. C. Richard D'Amato
Appropriations Committee
Science Applications International Corporation
An Employee-Owned Company
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119 Dirksen Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
Dear Dick,
Joe McMoneagle said that he had recently been in contact with you and suggested that I write.
I have wanted to contact you, because I am concerned that there may be serious miscommunications about
the overall project. I believe our many accomplishments are not fully known by the group at Meade, and
have not been communicated to the sponsor's senior management or to Congressional overseers. In three
interim technical reports and one final report each year, I have documented the specifics about training
routines, recruitment of new viewers, and analytical techniques that are critical for an appraisal of opera-
tional material. I am told that after the previous COTR retired, the Meade group found some of these re-
ports still unopened in their original FedEx packaging! Obviously, this greatly disturbs me.
We have been tasked by our contract to contribute in three areas: (1) research, (2) operational applications,
and (3) foreign assessment. With regard to the first area, we have significant technical oversight. Our Scien-
tific Oversight Committee and our Institutional Review Board (i.e., human-use committee) are staffed by
Nobel prize winners, university department heads, and others renowned in the physical, psychological, and
medical sciences. (Please see the attachments for their names.) These individuals are charged with the re-
sponsibility of making sure that our science is the best it can be, and they are extremely rigorous in their
evaluation. Since they are on record attesting that our approach meets every standard set by science for
high quality, there is no doubt that we conduct our research very well, and that it is productive.
Now, consider the second tasking. We are supposed to contribute to operational applications, but this task
has not been exercised by the sponsor! The reason we are tasked is that our people are the most experienced
and successful in the US for this kind of activity and have been so for over 20 years. It baffles me why this
capability has not been used. I am deeply troubled because I know how much we can contribute to the spon-
sor's operations.
With respect to our third tasking, foreign assessment, the situation is better. Feedback from the Meade
group suggests that over 95% of their foreign assessment output is directly attributable to our work.
In response to a query from Senator Cohen, I drafted a White Paper which summarizes our project. He told me
that this was exactly what he needed to support the continuation of the program. Jim Bodner, Don Mitchell, and
Jack Mansfield have also seen the paper. I am sending you a copy through proper channels.
I have received an indication from the Meade group of possible constraints on the overall effort. Since I
believe that your information about our project is, at best, incomplete, or at worst, wrong, I suggest we meet
as soon as possible to discuss the situation. Regardless of the final outcome, the decision-makers must have
the correct information at their disposal; let's begin that process.
I am flexible with my travel plans and can accommodate any date you would propose.
Best regards,
Edwin C. May, Ph.D.
Director, Cognitive Sciences Laboratory
330 Cowper Street, Suite 200, Palo Alto, California 94301 ? [phone] ? FAX: [phone]
Other SAIC Offices: Al Aw V ado EO6psr961&d= 96 Gyo r6j91o 9 V(!;f* " MR00b 13M"iego, Seattle, Tucson