Foreign Relations of the United States, 1964–1968, Volume XIV, Soviet Union

Washington, December 8, 1967.

1.: The Embassy’s reporting is entirely satisfactory in quantity, quality and timeliness. We rarely differ with the Embassy in the interpretation of either internal or external developments. The Embassy’s Soviet contacts—naturally, always small in number and a dubious lot on political questions—have, over the years, been a valuable source of information on the cultural and intellectual milieu. The Embassy is also well tied into the Moscow diplomatic and foreign correspondent informational network.
2.: It is disappointing, but not at all surprising given the state of US-Soviet relations, that Ambassador Thompson has been unable to reestablish the direct, personal links with the Soviet hierarchy he had in his previous tour in Khrushchev’s hey-day. He is, of course, an old Soviet hand and has few peers in his experience of Soviet diplomacy. He has always been, however, more the practical diplomat than the thoughtful student of Soviet affairs. His personal communications to Washington are often cryptic and prosaic. In addition, he has a reputation for being circumspect and unusually close-mouthed in matters he considers diplomatically sensitive and it is thought in the State Department that in such instances he often resorts to private, exclusive communications.

Source: Central Intelligence Agency, DDO/IMS Files: Job 78–06423A, Box 3, Folder 6, US Govt-State Dept. Confidential. Attached to a routing slip that indicates it was seen by Helms and Deputy Director for Plans Thomas H. Karamessines. A note on the slip states: “The content of the attached was read by Amb. Goldberg this morning (14 Dec.). He handed back the copy without comment.”↩