Secrets of the CIA

1 July 1971 "Carver noted that Secretary Laird had requested that our printing plant assist in reproducing the forty-seven-volume secret Pentagon study on Vietnam for distribution to the press and others this morning. This request was aborted by the President." (DDCI in the chair) 2 July 1971 "DD/S said that in the absence of [...] attended a meeting at the White House yesterday of the interagency group which is reviewing classification and declassification policy. The President spent an hour with the group and said that he wants: ... and (6) the revocation of all clearances and the return of all classified material held at Harvard, Brookings, Rand, and Cal Tech, as well as the withdrawal of Q clearances held by the Regents of the University of California. A brief discussion followed, and the Executive Director noted that DOD has asked us to provide information on all our contracts with Rand, as well as all clearances held by Rand personnel for our purposes. Acting Direc...

The Intelligence Reform Act provides that the DNI will assume responsibilities for managing the NIC. The DNI will be support by the NIC staff (probably numbering less than 100 positions). This gives the DNI the capability to oversee the preparation of NIEs and to ensure that the views of all agencies have been taken into consideration in interagency assessments. A major change will be the fact that the NIOs and their staff will work for one person (the DNI) while CIA analysts will report to a separate Director of the CIA. Congress may ultimately assess whether these changes, as they are implemented, have improved the efforts of the Intelligence Community and its analytical products. The future responsibility for the production and presentation of the PDB/SEIBs is uncertain. They are currently prepared by CIA’s Directorate of Intelligence, and that responsibility could be continued. On the other hand, if the DNI, rather than the CIA Director, is to conduct the daily briefing for the Pre...

Left uncertain are responsibilities for preparing the written brief on current intelligence that is prepared daily for the President and a very few other senior officials. The President’s Daily Brief (PDB), along with the Senior Executive Intelligence Brief (SEIB) that has a somewhat wider distribution, have been prepared by CIA’s Directorate of Intelligence (DI) and are considered that directorate’s “flagship products.” Nonetheless, should the DNI be responsible for daily substantive briefings at the White House rather than the CIA Director, it might be considered appropriate that the DNI staff draft the PDB and the SEIB, based on input from the CIA and other agencies. The number of analysts who actually prepare the PBD/SEIB is not large, but their work reflects ongoing analysis in the CIA and other parts of the Intelligence Community. Some might argue, moreover, that close and important links between CIA desk-level analysts and the PDB would be jeopardized should the briefs be prepar...

On many topics, there are inevitably different perspectives, and according to many observers, policymakers are best served by rigorous presentations of alternative positions.15 At the same time, however, some NIEs reflect an effort to craft language that all agencies can agree on and thus to avoid airing differences that might draw agencies into policy arguments between and among government departments. Agency managers understand that too close involvement in a policy argument by intelligence analysts can make their analyses unwelcome across the board. In addition, they well understand that analysis is an uncertain science and art and that even the best analysts can miss developments that loom large in retrospect and leave their agencies open to harsh criticism or retribution. Concern is often expressed about the extent to which intelligence products can become “politicized,” i.e., be drafted to support or undermine certain policy options. A charge of politicization is difficult to pro...

John R. Stockwell explains in the video clips that follow. Stockwell, a former CIA case officer, became a critic of United States government policies after serving in the Agency for thirteen years serving seven tours of duty. After managing U.S. involvement in the Angolan Civil War as Chief of the Angola Task Force during its 1975 covert operations, he resigned and wrote In Search of Enemies , a book which remains the only detailed, insider's account of a major CIA "covert action."

The most recent chairman of the NIC is Ambassador Robert L. Hutchings, who had previously served in the State Department and in academic institutions.12 In addition, there are senior analysts, known as National Intelligence Officers (NIOs), for Africa, East Asia, Economics and Global Issues, Europe, Intelligence Assurance, Latin America, Military Issues, Near East and South Asia, Russia and Eurasia, Transnational Threats, Warning, and Weapons of Mass Destruction and Proliferation. The NIOs, who do not receive Senate confirmation, come from a variety of government agencies, inside and outside the Intelligence Community, and from the private sector. National Intelligence Officers supervise the production of NIEs and other community-wide products. Typically, an analyst in one agency is designated by the relevant NIO to prepare a draft analytical product; the draft then is reviewed by relevant analysts throughout the Community. Subsequently, if approved by the leadership of the Intelligenc...

Under the new legislation, the Office of the DNI will include the National Intelligence Council (NIC), composed of senior analysts within the Intelligence Community and substantive experts from the public and private sector.8 The members of the NIC “shall constitute the senior intelligence advisers fo the Intelligence Community for purposes of representing the views of the [I]ntelligence [C]ommunity within the United States Government.” The members of the NIC are to be appointed by, report to, and serve at the pleasure of the DNI. The Intelligence Reform Act, provides that the DNI, when appointed, will be responsible for NIEs and other analytical products prepared under the auspices of the NIC. The three statutory responsibilities of the NIC have been to: - produce national intelligence estimates for the Government, included, whenever the Council considers appropriate, alternative views held by elements of the intelligence community; - evaluate community-wide collection and production ...