MEMO RE: GORBACHEV SELECTION

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000100440047-5
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: December 28, 2011
• Sequence Number: 47
• Publication Date: March 25, 1985
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

STAT
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/12/28: CIA-RDP90-00965R000100440047-5
ARTY LF APPEARED
ON PA ~ `L 25 March 1985
ARNOLD BEICHMAN.
Memo
Re: Gorbachev
selection ~
3rd March 1985
Memo to: Politburo, Central Committee
From: KGB Directorate, Desinformatsiya
Re: Comrade Gorbachev selection as Party Secretary ..
1. Since it has been decided by Soviet Party law that Comrade Gorbachev
is to succeed Comrade Chernenko, we recommend the following approaches
to influence development of public opinion in the West, particplarly the
United States.*
2. The.most important first step is to announce Comrade Gorbachev's
selection as soon as possible - within hours after Comrade Chernenko
steps down. Such an announcement would affirm the unbreathable stabil- ?
ity of our Marxist-Leninist system and avoid needless speculation about
the succession among those inveterate Western idlers who call themselves.,
Sovietologists.
3. We must show that Comrade Gorbachev is a new broom, not only
young and vigorous but also one who brings a fresh breath of air to a world
stifled by imperialism and colonialism. He personifies the New Detente.
4. Comrade Joe Adamov is to arrange as a gesture of good will to the
American media a live satellite interview as soon as Tass announces Com-
rade Gorbachev's selection. In the likely event that President Reagan
declines to come to Moscow for the. obsequies for Comrade Chernenko, we
must emphasize to the Western media that Prime Minister Thatcher will
attend as head of state, thereby disparaging President Reagan. Of course
we know well that in Britain, the Queen is head of state while Thatcher is.
only head of government. In America, the president is both head of state
and head-of government. But the correspondent who will interview Com-
rade Adamov, one can be certain, is ignorant of these simple facts.** Thus
we can show, by invidious comparison of Reagan and Thatcher, Reagan's
heartlessness and his rabid anti-communism. ?
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Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/12/28: CIA-RDP90-00965R000100440047-5
 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/12/28: CIA-RDP90-00965R000100440047-5
S. We must press our basic propa
ganda theme among our agents of 11. We should carefully consider should be released, then it should proper
influence and useful idiots that Com- the immediate release of Sakharov done upon -making p
rade Gorbachev's youth means hope and the Jew Shcharansky. Again, no arrangements with the Rev. Jesse
and progress. True, Comrade Stalin formal announcement. If this pro-' Jackson. He should be invited to
I was 10 years younger when he posal is agreed to, we should con- meet Comrade Gorbachev with the
achieved power. However, that argu- sider even sending them abroad with same understanding that he had
ment should be countered with the appropriate warnings. with the comrades in Cuba and Syria
theme that Comrade Gorbachev's 12. As part of the New Detente, we that certain prisoners would be
accession means we have ve entered a suggest inviting return of those like released in his custody because of
new historical era, the era of the Solzhenitsyn and Alexander Zinovie our great respect for the black peo-
New Detente. (and others on our special list) to ple and his leadership. It might be
6. Emphasizing the "youth" theme visit their estranged motherland. useful to the Rev. Jesse Jackson if a
has another advantage, in that it will They are to be given full guarantees number of Jews are also included.
that if they do not wish to remain 16. We also suggest that Mrs. Mar-
cially in public aces se, espe they will be free to return to the tin Luther King be invited to dedi-
to the the United States, sensitive West. In the event of a summit con- cate in the Soviet Union, a university
to the fact that our Marxist-Leninist ference in America, Comrade Gor- or a forest or a hospital named after
leader is a young man compared to bachev should invite Solzhenitsyn to him.
his two aged adversaries, Reagan, a one-on-one meeting at a suitable We should initiate itiate discussions
leader' of world, imperalism, and', rendezvous in New England. 17
th Israel about i c o Deng Hsiao-Ping, leader of the coup-. 13. Photographs of Mrs. Gorba- w w ith For too long directorates
of
terrevol agery,force& - _.. ? _ chev should be distributed to West- have been denied placements directorates
__ 7. Our r agents in to press for must ern media through Victor. LOU. isagents in Israel. It has been quite
immediately
me ea etinng to press a First, we could thereby obtain valu-
sug without precondi- difficult to engage in a useful pro-
able hard currency from the sale of gram of "active measures" there
bons of any kind. In the event Rea-
such photographs., Second, such because of our lack of diplomatic
gan pre-empts that proposal with _
one of his own, our position should : media exposure would help us with relations. Objection by' our' Arab
be to keep the proposal under the women's movement, which still comrades to.renewal of such rela=
"urgent study" while leaking stories still eludes our controlling influence.-, tions could be countered with the
to Western media and especially to except for the women's peace mobi- powerful arguments that develop
friendly members of the House and lization organizations. We should meet of Soviet intelligence assets in
Senate Foreign Relations Commit- offer photos of Mrs. Gorbachev visit- Israel would be of inestimable value
tees that Reagan is making a summit ing children's hospitals, fashion to them.
shows, ballet and opera, even 18. This is the first of our charter
meeting difficult because Radio appearing on television with such
Free Europe!Radio Liberty, Voice of leading American female personal- of proposals. We should keep in mind
America propaganda is so insulting Shirley Maclaine, Jane our past successes, most recently,
to Comrade Gorbachev hies as Fonda, and Geraldine Ferraro. Mrs. the valuable "dry run" of the Com
8. We must not try again our Gorbachev should be highly visible rades Gorbachev when they visited
highly' successful ploy which at any summit meeting as personify- Britain last month and the excellent
transformed Comrade Andropov the New Soviet Woman of the meeting with Neil Kinnock, Labor
into what U.S. media personalities ing New Detente. Peace meetings for Party leader. Let us not forget the
called a "closet liberal" Tb have. women could be arranged. highly successful visit to the
removed the "stigma," by Western Americans like personality sto- U.S.S.R..by the child, Samantha
standards, of Comrade Andropov's ries about their elites and will enjoy, Smith. There must be more
past in our country which is so fear- to our benefit, reading positive sto- children-to-children cultural
ful of the FBI and CIA, was one of ries about our nomenklatura. Sto- exchanges.
our greatest coups. Although this ries in women's magazines about ' The Russian words used were
was not so great a coup as selling the Mrs. Gorbachev should be a priority. "giavini vrag;' which mean "main
enemy." This phrase is much used in
Stalin Constitution in the 1930s as 14. We must encourage Western
even more democratic
United States and media interviews with Comrade Official "the United Stsesndence
stitutions of
France.***,* Gorbachev, especially American
9. A new atmosphere must be cre- television programs like "Meet the And so it was that on the morn-
ated for Comrade Gorbachev with- Press," 'Face the Nation;' or "Sixty ing of 13 March, CBS carried a live
out in any way, however, affecting the Minutes" The bitter competition satellite interview in which the cor-
present positive correlation of among the major American net- respondent allowed Adamov to get
forces. Tb change that atmosphere, works and newspapers for "exclu- away with this statement.
we further recommend the follow- sive stories" or interviews makes the Yuri V. Andropov was the sin-,
media wide open for such interviews ister, all powerful head of the Soviet
mg' with Comrade Gorbachev. _ secret police for 15 years before win-
10. Without any formal 15. If it is agreed that some anti- ning the Communist Party sec-'
announcement, there is to be an Soviet elements like Shcharansky retaryship in 1982.
increase of Jewish emigration. The
emigrant Jews must be told that any Arnold Beichman is a visiting
gloating or propagandizing will only scholar and political scientist at the
make it difficult for other Jews to Hoover Institute.
emigrate. They. will be told to
emphasize that their emigration is
due to Comrade Gorbachev's New
Detente policies. The reports on this
policy should be leaked to friendly
journalists in the Western media.
Perhaps Comrades Victor Louis and
Georgi Arbatov, inter alia, could help
on this.
2 ,
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/12/28: CIA-RDP90-00965R000100440047-5