THE INTELLIGENCE COMMUNITY AGAINST TURNER

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP99-00498R000100170128-5
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 20, 2016
• Document Release Date: June 19, 2007
• Sequence Number: 128
• Publication Date: April 8, 1979
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Approved For Release 2007/06/19: CIA-RDP99-00498R000100170128-5
STAT
THE WASHINGTON PCB T
8 April 1979
By 3eiljUnuriF. Sch>'mmer .. y
HE AMERICAN intelligence community has been si fferingj
from a prolonged, critical illness. Now CIA Director Stansfiel
Article appeared
on page D-l, D-5
e.111
Tamer maybe administering the coup de grace.
Stanfield -Tamer. became director of central intelligence
his appointment, it generally was.thought that the reforms of
American intelligence begun : ender President Ford would receive. even
more impetus from President Carter. Carter's 1976 campaign themes of ex-
- cellence and reform, and his sensitivity to the.Thir dworld, aroused expecta-
tions of even greater progress. In only two years, Turner and the Carter administration, have dashed
those hopes. Tuner has emerged as concerned-maie4y with.advancing-his
own authority and acquinine.influe-Me with the presi + Nis preference
for technology. over p?. ople,_ his willing: ess to politi inteiliaence.an
single-minded focus on centralizing control of the intelligence budget and.
collection activities have destroyed morale?within.the CIA; led hundreds of
key CIA personnelto resign and prompted far more to:"retire in place."' ._?"
Turner has gravely damaged the quality of the intelligence community's
.product. Administration sources admit that more than 250 CIA professionals
put in their retirement or resignation papersin the first pay period of 1979.
The departures of concern now do not involve the "cold warriors," special or
"black" operations executives and counterintelligence officers affected: by
Turner's 19.7 Halloween purge of 820 surplus CIA personnel (a purge which
'illiam Colby had planned to be even more drastic.) The men who are leave
?ing now are career professionals --the intellectual cadre, the very brain. of
American intelligenc e.
Recent losses include such experts
as Sayre Stevens, deputy director of
the National Foreign Assessments Cen-
.Operations Center,,;Dick Christenson,.
chief of CIA's Office:of. Regional. and:
uty director.for. administration; Frei
Oney, the agency's chief Iranian, ana-
.eral'counsel Several? aatioiial'-iatelli=
Bence officei for key regions like the
Middle East ha- resigned or are now
seeking other jobsc
RetiremerAincentives and limita
tions on future-employability resulting
from the new' Ethics in Government
Act have: helped:.'stimulate resigna-
tions. But CIA's mass exodus refl
the despair of intelligence profession
ais that Turner-and the'Carter'admin..
Istration ever -will -provide effective..
leadership and ' reform. Several of the,
departing officials told- Turner i can-
ine 2wawwa, tu~gcaa auu aaaczwo-
Ids intellligence analysis tailored to
-their policies of the moment on Viet"
nam, SALT,'Angola and Iran. '' _ -' ?-''
CIA's professionals stuck it `out
through investigation after investiga?%
tion, and director after director who
twisted their reporting to produce "in-
telligence-to, please. They kept silent,
as, post-mortem - after : post-mortem
blamed "intelligence" ,for policytnakq
ers' unwillingness to hear the facts in.
crisis after crisis. By, guilt through' as-
sociation,.they. shared- the blame for-
the excesses of other CIA branches in
special operations, drug experimenta-
tion and U.S. "internal security.;" - - :"
,But Stansfield Turner's-mismanage
went of American intelligence has
proved more than they could take.
Lots of Data, Little Analysis
TURNER has Ignored analytic per+
sonnel needs to buy more techni-
cal collection .assets --in Spite of the
fact that the intelligence community"
has long lacked the analysts needed to'
process its existing "take."
He has systematically hamstr'ting or
Ignored human ' intelligence, . sources
and - resources..: Human intelligence
doesn't mean 4- adre of. clandestine
operators, "hit men" or"CIA burglars
simply put; it is intelligence produced
by people, not= machines." informs-
lion' based 'onpersonal :contacts and
observations, and even such mundane
but vital work as a careful reading of:
the local and regional press.-
We now have little real human Inte
ligence capability in Turkey, a country
that Is economically - and -politically
?fragile,...yet whoser-_Importance 'to
NATO and the" Mideast : is pivotal and
whose array of -US. technical 'collect
Lion systems will play a crucial role' In
verifying Russia's, compliance with* 3
new strategic- agas?.lbnitation=agree-
drily that theq Wert Approved For Release 2007/06/19: CIA-RDP99-00498R000100170128-5 exesources in