WEBSTER SAYS HE'LL RETIRE AS DIRECTOR OF CIA

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP99-01448R000401660098-5
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: May 22, 2012
• Sequence Number: 98
• Publication Date: May 9, 1991
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

STAT
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/05/23: CIA-RDP99-01448R000401660098-5
Webster says
he'll retire as
director of CIA
By Lyle Denniston
and Mark Matthews
Washington Bureau of The Sun
WASHINGTON - Central Intelli-
gence Agency Director William 11.
Webster disclosed yesterday that he
will retire, giving President Bush a
chance to name someone of his own
choosing for one of the government's
most powerful but least visible jobs.
Mr. Webster, 67, the last major
holdover in government from the
Reagan administration, has been at
the center of recurring rumors for
months that he would depart after
nearly four years on the job as the
nation's top intelligence manager.
The president told reporters at
the White House that the CIA chiefs
retirement decision "was his choice."
The president said, "1 haven't
considered successors yet," but then
he did drop the name of "a worthy
man.- Robert M. Gates. 47, deputy to
the president's national security ad-
viser.
Mr. Gates is known here to be
actively interested in the CIA poet.
Since Mr. Bush himself was for-
merly CIA chief, he Is aware. person.
ally of what the job requires and is
likely to make the choice of a new
director himself, with little consulta-
tion with others, according to a
White House staff aide who asked
not to be identified.
Others. whose names began c ircu-
lating in speculation on Capitol 11111'
and elsewhere here were U.S. Am
bassador to China James K. Lllicy.
63, who at one time was believed to
be Mr. Bush's personal preference
for the CIA job, and former CIA depu-
ty chief Bobby Ray Inman, 60. who
is now a businessman and a univer-
sity teacher.
Mr. Inman souott ImmodialdLr to
take his name out of the running.
saying he would not become director
and commenting to a Sun reporter. "1
did my tour."
Mr. Lilley served at the CIA when
I 'resident Bush was the agency's di-
rector, from January 1976 to Janu-
ary 1977. Mr. Bush also went on to
become ambassador to China.
Mr. Gates, who had served as
deputy CIA director under the late
William J. Casey and under Mr.
Webster, was once nominated for
(he top job there by President Ronald
Reagan but had his name with-
drawn when he became embroiled In
the controversy over the Iran-contra
scandal.
One well-placed Washington
source, who insisted upon anonymi-
ty. said that as of two weeks ago, Mr.
Bush had only one name on his list
of potential CIA directors: Mr. Gates.
Although there have been recur-
ring reports here that White House
staff members and State Depart-
ment officials had been "sniping" at
Mr. Webster's leadership of the CIA.
and that Mr. Gates himself has been
understood to be a Webster critic,
the president appeared with Mr.
Webster In the White House briefing
room yesterday, and the two were
openly cordial and flattering to each
other.
"We're going to miss you. pal," the
president said warmly.
A White House official, who asked
not to be Identified, said of Mr. Web-
ster's planned departure: "I'm sure
he wasn't forced out. It was just time
for him to go. You've got to know
when to hold 'em, know when to fold
'em."
Mr. Webster himself told report-
ers that he had finished 20 years In
government service and added:
"Something tells you that it's a good
time to leave."
A source close to Mr. Webster,
speaking on condition of anonymity,
said Mr. Webster had offered to de-
part in October 1989 and might have
departed last fall, had not the Iraqi
invasion of Kuwait occurred.
A congressional source, also re-
fusing to be Identified publicly, said
there was some lingering doubt
about Mr. Gates In the Senate Select
Committee on Intelligence, but a
White House official, declining to be
identified, said that officials there
were confident that the Senate
would now approve Mr. Gates.
Mr. Webster, a'former federal ap-
peals court judge from Missouri who
is still known to his friends as "Judge
Webster," twlce,took major Washing-
ton positions to help restore the tar-
nished reputations of key agencies.
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The New York ' mes
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The Christian Sedans Monitor
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USA Today
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Date
In February 1978, he left the fed-
eral bench to become director of the
Federal Bureau of Investigation.
which had suffered a loss of prestige
during the Watergate scandal. Then,
four years ago this month, he moved
to the CIA to become its director after
that agency had been implicated in
the Iran-contra scandal.
Yesterday, President [lush
praised Mr. Webster pointedly for his
"integrity."
The president also lavished praise
on the CIA chief for holding that
agency to "the single mission of pro-
viding intelligence to the policy-mak-
ers" and "not trying to shape policy.-
Although there was some criti-
cism during the Persian Gulf war of
the quality of intelligence delivered to
U.S. forces about the Iraqi military.
several sources here yesterday said
that the criticism was not heavy
enough to have cost Mr. Webster his
job.
At one time before U.S. troops en
tend the war. Mr. Webster had
drawn some criticism within the
Bush administration for appearing to
publicly favor continued reliance
upon economic sanctions rather
than military force. He later
switched publicly.
Karen Hosler, Charles Corddry
and Richard H. P. Sia of The Sun's
Washiagtoo Bureau contributed to
this artlck.
CONTINUED
Page
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/05/23: CIA-RDP99-01448R000401660098-5
 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/05/23: CIA-RDP99-01448R000401660098-5
M7M
William H. Webster (left) and President Bush speak AM
s
.
peak to reporters.
as.
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/05/23: CIA-RDP99-01448R000401660098-5