CARTER PICKS NAVAL ACADEMY CLASSMATE, TURNER, AS CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE DIRECTOR

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP99-00498R000100060078-3
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 20, 2016
• Document Release Date: June 14, 2007
• Sequence Number: 78
• Publication Date: February 8, 1977
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Approved For Release 2007/06/14: CIA-RDP99-00498R000100060078-3 STAT
.1GH
BALTIMORE SUif
8 FEBRUARY 1977
em-, classma'. e
r .urner , as -central. into .I "ence : irecto
.} asnmgtonaureauo inezun confirmed by the Senate, he will be head
and
Agency
_.
day chose Adm: Stansfield Turner, a Na-, so overseer of other foreign intelligence-
val Academy classmate with a-reputation - gathering operations of the United States.
in the military. for independent,. progres- The law allows either the director or the
sive stands, .to be the ;director of central -deputy director of CIA. but not both. to be
intelligence.: drawn from the military.
'While Admiral Turngr;has been a, fast-~;z Jody Powell, the presidential press sec-
rising, controver?sialnaval -officer, there'?.,'retary, said Mr. Carter's main reason for
was- no immediate sign that controversy''selecting Admiral Turner was the Presi-
would follow him- to Capitol Hill and split 'dent's "feeling this is a person who has his -
senatorial ranks as happened with the ear- : complete trust." .He said the ?.two .barely,-
aier nomination of Theodore C. Sorensen.:" knew one. another. at the Naval Academy.
.. -Mr.' Carter's choice bf?Mr.-Sorensen to whereahe admiral graduated 25th. in his
be intelligence director was called back in 'classandMr.Cartes-59th. .s-
th
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Pp The:President: wasquoteci byanother
Admiral Turner,-53; currently is corgi=x' White House spokesman, Rex Granum, as
mander'of North : Atlantic- Treaty Organ' telling his Cabinet that Admiral Turner
,zation forces.ow Europe's southern flank; as so far ahead of us (at Annapolis; that
'
with: headquarters.-at-Naples; Italy: His ==we?never.considered him competition 'or-;
.career since graduation from Annapolis m sf even a peet.'andl'rri'not exaggerating: ` `
-1946 has - mixed' scholarship-(he was -a' -:I-have never known a better military per-
Rhodes'scholar); sea "command and high= .son.
level headquarters operations The
two_ became better acquainted
.. ...:,.r .- . ::,Li,...-.r.. ,.~.La ?'b ~~ . ~F ~:ti. ..5.... 11 .~- !._ _ - _
wheni..si arcer wasgovernoror Georgia. ADM.STANSFIELD TURNER-, ---
'"-:ti
Admiral Turner, a native of Chicago, -- - = -''' ? `
described as-i'excited". over his new pros- one of his most controversial. It was cited
peels, has not had direct experience as an at the White House as one of the innova
intelligence officer: ? :e= ::. ;.:.. -. tive periods in his career that most recom
mended him for the intelligence post..
He' was,: however, "director of systems He shook up the curriculum and; with
analysis and long-range objectives for the it, many a Navy traditionalist. His basic
Navy here in 1971-1972, which meant that argument was that midcareer officer-stu-
he wasTin.charge of evaluating naval cap= dents could be changed from ?instinctive
abilities and of -raising awkward questions- conformists to independent thinkers in the
'for proponents. of various means of. meet" `.complex national defense business.=He
ing?the Soviet sea-power threat._.,: said the bureaucracy welcomed his re=
off Narragansett Bay. -~ 'the ;, the, ,admiral,Warns .. He wanted to send back to the Navy
power