REMARKS BY WILLIAM H. WEBSTER DIRECTOR OF CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE BEFORE THE STEERING COMMITTEE FOR THE INTELLIGENCE ASSESSMENT AND POLICY PROJECT WASHINGTON, D.C. APRIL 5, 1989

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP99-00777R000401120001-6
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 4
• Document Creation Date: December 27, 2016
• Document Release Date: May 2, 2014
• Sequence Number: 1
• Publication Date: April 5, 1989
• Content Type: REPORT

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REMARKS BY
BY
WILLIAM H. WEBSTER
DIRECTOR OF CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE
BEFORE THE
STEERING COMMITTEE FOR THE
INTELLIGENCE ASSESSMENT AND POLICY PROJECT
WASHINGTON, D.C.
APRIL 5, 1989
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I don't know about the rest of you, but this has been the nicest part of
my day.
I was taken by a remark that Dick Walters made when he said the American
people are ambivalent about intelligence.* When they feel threatened they
want a lot of it, and when they're not threatened, they think it's somehow
immoral. This is the atmosphere in which we live as intelligence collectors
and analysts providing information. I have been enormously enthusiastic about
the process by which Harvard University and the Kennedy School of Government
and the Central Intelligence Agency found their way together for this
project. I think it says something about how the American people feel about
intelligence these days, that a public announcement of this project met with
so little articulated opposition and, indeed, that some saw tremendous
opportunities for gain in what we were doing.
I was saying to Graham earlier that if the Intelligence Community wanted
to better understand the process by which their intelligence was translated
into policy, if we shouldn't go to Harvard, where else should we go?** It has
proven to be an eminently worthwhile undertaking for us, as I hope it has been
for those in the academic community who have participated with us.
*General Vernon Walters, former Deputy Director of Central Intelligence and
former Ambassador to the United Nations.
**Graham Allison, Dean of the John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard
University, and Cochairman of the Steering Committee for the Intelligence
Assessment and Policy Project.
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At this dinner in December of 1987, we agreed that we had to go back in
our discussions and find old cases. And I know that the process has included
the fall of the Shah, Marcos, and the INF Treaty and I have been thinking, "My
God, I was here for all of that!"
I've been watching this new Administration gear up to review national
security issues and to see whether the policies under which we have been
living -- some defined and some poorly defined -- are still viable in the
light of the information we're now getting.
It's been an interesting exercise, and I suspect that Bob Gates would have
been here tonight, but for the fact that they've been having these meetings on
a daily basis. Dick Kerr and I have been fortunate to split our time between
those meetings and something else important, such as our budget session this
afternoon.
One of the points that has become clear to me is this Administration's
intense interest in current intelligence. And that puts an extra burden on a
lot of our analysts who, for a variety of reasons, don't trust the first round
of developments and want to see and understand the significance of the
Intelligence that is coming in on a daily basis.
I think that while that is true, our President has had enough experience
in our community to understand the first round is not necessarily definitive
about what actually happened. And I think that his pride in the Intelligence
Community and his relationship to it has had a big impact on our ability to
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talk about intelligence, where it fits into the picture, and how it
contributes to effective policymaking.
I could talk on at length about some of the things that we do to
make sure that intelligence does not seem to be in pursuit of an objective of
our own but rather is timely, useful, and objective. But I won't do that
because I want to hear from Graham and Professor May. But I want to thank all
of you who have contributed so much to support this effort. I think that in
the future it will reap rich benefits for us. I know that Lenny Perroots,
Bill Odom, Dave Jones and many of the others who have stepped away from active
participation in this process have high hopes for it, as I do. Thank you.
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