IN MY 30 YEARS IN THE CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP99-00498R000100140039-7
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 20, 2016
• Document Release Date: June 20, 2007
• Sequence Number: 39
• Content Type: REPORT

Approved For Release 2007/06/20: CIA-RDP99-00498R000100140039-7
In my 30 years in the Central Intelligence Agency
serving under ten directors, I have collected the following
quotes from six that bear on the same subject -- often
expressed in the one word "objectivity." I have them over
my desk as a reminder and hope that the readers of Studies,
particularly those new to the game, will find them
useful reminders as well.
If any of you oldtimers know of comparable quotations
from the other four directors -- Admiral Hillenkoetter,
General Smith, John McCone, or Admiral Raborn -- I would
appreciate your sending them, with a notation of their
source, to me at CIA Headquarters, OSI/STIC, Room 6F24,
Box 1925, Washington D.C. 20013.
STAT
We've got to keep our absolute integrity.
Keep out of politics. Be absolutely fearless.
Report the facts as we see them regardless of
whether they're palatable or unpalatable to the
policymakers. If we ever lose that objectivity,
then we are finished.
-- Allen Dulles
N.Y. Times Magazine
16 March 1958
There must never be any grounds for suspicion
that intelligence is bending its conclusions to
suit some policy preference. If we ever lose
our reputation for honesty in this matter, we
lose all our usefulness along with it.
-- Richard Helms
National War College address
13 October 1971
Intelligence must be first class. The story
must be told exactly as you see it.. . . . There must
be no muffling or waffling of the message.
Differences can be clearly stated.
-- James R. Schlesinger
Farewell Memorandum
2 July 1973
Approved For Release 2007/06/20: CIA-RDP99-00498R000100140039-7
 Approved For Release 2007/06/20: CIA-RDP99-00498R000100140039-7
The CIA's rote is to try to call 'what is
happening abroad very accurately and precisely,
and incidentally, to show two or three different.
interpretations if they legitimately exist.
The Intelligence Community should not get into
recommending what should be done.
-- William E. Colby
Confirmation Hearings
July 1973
Total objectivity is the hallmark of all
intelligence reports and estimates.
-- George Bush
DCI Report on the IC
January 1977
Approved For Release 2007/06/20: CIA-RDP99-00498R000100140039-7