WEBSTER LEAVING AS C.I.A. DIRECTOR; EX-DEPUTY IN LINE

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP99-01448R000401660109-2
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 3
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: May 22, 2012
• Sequence Number: 109
• Publication Date: May 9, 1991
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

STAT
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/05/23: CIA-RDP99-01448R000401660109-2
WEBSTER LEAVING
AS C.I.A. DIRECTOR;
EXwDEPUTY IN LINE
NO SUCCESSOR YET
Question Is Raised Over
Whether White House
Nudged Him Out
By ANDREW ROSENTHAL
special to TM New York Tine
WASHINGTON, May 8 - President
Bush today announced the retirement
of William H. Webster, the Director of
Central Intelligence, who polished the
image of the espionage community in
William H. Webster after an- tion's national security operation:
nouncement of his retirement. Mr' had not chosen a
wcc sor Se Me Ay-year-old Mr. Web-
ster, who said he wanted to return to
practicing law. Some officials skid Mr.
Webster had been gently encouraged to
retire.
Administration officials said the
leading candidate to replace Mr. Web.
ster was Robert M. Gates, the deputy
national security adviser and former
deputy director of Central Intelligence.
Mr. Gates was nominated for the job
before, in 1987, but withdrew his name
in the face of strong opposition in the
Senate. His confirmation hearing be-
came embroiled in controversy over
the intelligence agency's role in the
Iran-contra scandal and Mr. Gates's
own own actions in that period.
Bush Keeps Choices Open
Other possible contenders to succeed
Mr. Webster are James Lilley, the Am-
bassador to China and a close friend of
Mr. Bush and Bobby Ray Inman. the
deputy director of the Central Intelle-
gence in the first years of the Reagan
Administration and former head of the
National Security Agency. Another
person mentioned today was Senator
Warren B. Rudman; the New Hamp.
shire Republican who is a friend and
political ally of Mr. Bush.
CONTINUED
The Washington Post
The New York Times
The Washington Times
The Wall Street Journal
The Christian Science Monitor
New York Dally News
USA Today
The Chicago Tribune
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I haven't considered successors
yet, but a worthy man, Gates," Mr.
Bush said when asked at a news confer.
ence about.che possibility that Mr.
Gates would take over the intelligence
post. "We all have great respect for
him." IExcerpts, page B14.j
Choice of Inside or Outside
Friends of Mr. Gates said that they
thought his selection was certain and
that they were surprised when Mr.
Bush did not announce a choice today.
Mr. Gates has gained visibility and
stature while serving as deputy na-
tional security adviser, especially for
i his role in helping to coordinate policy
during the Persian Gulf war. But ques.
tions linger in the Senate about his role
during the Iran-contra affair, when he
was deputy intelligence director.
The list of candidates' names .that
were mentioned today reflected the
choice facing Mr. Bush, himself a for-
mer intelligence director who has al-
ways taken a strong interest in the es-
pionage and intelligence-gathering
t Id.
Some Presidents have preferred to
give the post to intelligence profession.
als like Richard M. Helms, who was ap-
'pointed in 1966 as the first career offi-
cer to head the intelligence communi-,
ty, or non-political figures from outside
the field, like Mr. Webster and Adm.
Stansfield Turner, who served under
President Jimmy Carter.
Other Presidents have named politi-
cal figures, like Mr. Bush, who was ap.
pointed by Gerald Ford, and William J.
Casey, who moved in 1981 from being
Ronald Reagan's campaign manager
to director of Central Intelligence.
For Mr. Bush, who says he is com-
mitted to keeping politics and policy
considerations out of intelligence
analysis, the departure of Mr. Webster
provides an opportunity to reinforce
the concept of nonpolitical leadership
of the intelligence community that was
more common in the early years of the
Intelligence agency,
Praise for Webster
Mr. Webster was the first. intelli-
ttiioe se sichie nce to Wlliam E. who
served under Presidents Nixon and
Ford. The last director to serve under
different parties was Mr. Helms, who
was appointed by President Johnson
and retained by President Nixon. Mr.
Bush has said he favors making the job
apolitical so directors can serve under
different presidents and parties.
The director of central intelligence is
best known as the head of the intelli-
gence agency, but also coordinates
spending and operations for all Amer-
ican espionage units, including the Na.
tional Security Agency, which conducts
electronic eavesdroping; the National
Reconnaissance Office, which launches
and operates satellites, and the De-
fense Intelligence Agency, which pri-
marily analyzes military intelligence.
At the news conference in the White
House, Mr. Bush praised what he called
the "superb job" done by Mr. Webster,
a onetime Federal judge with a reputa-
tion for integrity who was nominated
for the job by President Ronald Rea.
gan in March 1987 after serving as Di-
rector of the Federal Bureau of Investi-
gation.
But officials said there had been a
growing sentiment in the Administra-
tion for some time that Mr. Webster
should make way for a more engaged
intelligence chief. Rumors about Mr.
Webster's departure have circulated
ew a regular basis in the White House
:%& other other parts of the Government for
months.
Not Part of Inner Circle
Bush's own comments today un-
d i-scored how.Mr. Webster's attitude
t wiird the post of intelligence chief
and his management style had made
'him a figure remotett6m the inner
councils of the White House. During the
ifsian Gulf war, for example, Mr.
Wrsbster was not a member of the "Big
Eight," the name given to the Presi-
dent and his inner circle of military,
diplomatic and national security advis-
ers.
The President said, "A strong nation
requires a strong intelligence organiza.
tion and Bill Webster has directed our
efforts according to the guidelines that
I set down at the beginning of this Ad-
ministration, that the C.I.A. would have
the single mission of providing intelli-
gence to the policymakers of this Gov-
ernment. And he's performed admira-
bly. And that is a very important point:
Intelligence, not trying to shape poli-
cy ,'
Mr. Webster and the intelligence
agencies he supervises came under
some criticism last year after the Iraqi
invasion of Kuwait caught the United
States by surprise. But Mr. Bush
brushed off that criticism today, say-
ing, "We all came under criticism
early on and all I say is, 'Look at the re-
sults.' "
CONTINUED
ca.
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President Bush announcing retirement of William H. Webster as head of the Central Intelligence Agency.
Moving Between Offices
Mr. Gates has an unusual record of
moving between the White House and
the Central Intelligence Agency, and
between Republican and Democratic
Administrations. A Soviet specialist by'
training, he started at the intelligence
agency in 1969 and moved to the Na-
tional Security Council under Presi-
dent Nixon. He served President Ford,
returned briefly to the agency, and
then was retained by President Clrter.
Mr. Gates returned to the intelli-
bgchiet again intelligence where he
became
analy-
sis division, and then deputy director.
Brent Scowcroft, the national security
adviser, brought him back to the White
House in 1989 to serve as his deputy.
Mr. Gates, who has advocated a cau-
tious approach to the Soviet Union and
Mikhail S. Gorbachev, clashed with
Secretary of State James A. Baker 1d
early in the Bush Administration over
a pessimistic speech that Mr. Gates
wanted to deliver about the prospects
for change under the Soviet leader. Mr.
Baker killed the speech.
Mr. Gates is ing promoted for the
intelligence position by Mr. Scowcroft,
officials said.
Somewhat Distant Relationship
But Mr. Gates's relationship with;
Mr. Bush is somewhat distant and for-
mal and lacking in the kind of easy,
jocularity that the President values so
highly.
Mr. Gates also has a potential politi-I
cal liability in the way his 1987 confir-i
mation hearings were dominated by,
the arms-for-hostages deal with Iran.
Mr. Gates was considered by many
lawmakers to have been in a position to
raise alarms about the way Mr. Casey
and Lieut. Col. Oliver North, a member
of the National Security Council staff,
funneled profits from arms sales in
Iran to the Nicaraguan rebels. Mr.
Gates came under criticism for not
doing so.
Some Senators also criticized him for
preparing testimony by William Casey,
then director of Central Intelligence,
that many lawmakers later said was
false. Mr. Gates said the testimotq was
"a fair statement of what we knew at
the time."
3.
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/05/23: CIA-RDP99-01448R000401660109-2