ON THE NOSE

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP99-00418R000100050024-1
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: May 11, 2012
• Sequence Number: 24
• Publication Date: June 5, 1989
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Declassified in Part -Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/05/11 :CIA-RDP99-004188000100050024-1
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The late CIA Director William
Casey was praised for his judgment
as the Reagan administration's top
intelligence official at a recent
Heritage Foundation reception
marking the publication of a new
book of collected speeches,
"Scouting the Future:' Herbert L.
Meyer, a Casey aide who compiled
the book, revealed that the C1A
chief accurately predicted the
Kremlin leadership succession fol-
lowing the death of Soviet leader
Leonid Brezhnev Nov: 10. 19112.
That day, agency analysts pro-
duced several cubic feet of intelli-
gence reports on the leadership
succession that were digested by
Mr. Casey, known to be a voracious
reader, into a secret, two-page let-
ter to then-President Reagan. The
letter concluded with the remark.
"As for me. I pick Andropov on the
nose and Gorbachev across the
board:'
KGB Chief Yuri Andropov was
named Soviet leader two days later.
And following his death and that of
his successor, Constantin Cher-
nenko, Mikhail Gorbachev became
Soviet Party boss.
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Declassified in Part -Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/05/11 :CIA-RDP99-004188000100050024-1