78. Letter From Director of Central Intelligence Bush to President Ford1
I have been in my job as DCI exactly six months. Herewith a brief report on certain highlights, which is short enough to read but not long enough to be all inclusive.
A. Congressional Appearances
I have made 30 official appearances before Committees on the Hill. This does not include 33 other meetings with Members of Congress or Congressional Staff.
The appearances before Congressional Committees require a good deal of pre-briefing time. We are trying to cooperate fully with Congress but I now report to seven Congressional Committees. This is too [Page 263] much. I am pressing to implement your stated objective of more consolidated oversight, but neither House nor Senate is really striving to achieve this goal.
B. Implementation of Your Executive Order
We have implemented the Order.2 The Committee on Foreign Intelligence (CFI) has met 16 times. It is doing what you intended it do; namely, making budget decisions and setting priorities. For the first time the DCI has some machinery to enable him to exert real influence on the Intelligence Community budget. The system is working.
This fall the Intelligence Community Staff will move from CIA into a separate building [less than 1 line not declassified].
Our two Deputies are now in place. Hank Knoche was confirmed by the Senate and sworn in on July 7th. Admiral Dan Murphy now has the rank of 4 Star Admiral. Legislation making statutory the Deputy for the Intelligence Community is now pending in OMB.
The two Deputy system is working well.
Reports to the new Oversight Board from our General Counsel and Inspector General have gone in on time. That oversight mechanism is functioning.
C. Areas of Progress
1. I believe CIA’s relationship with the State Department is improving. At some echelons in State there is a lot of foot dragging, but thanks to great cooperation from Dr. Kissinger and Larry Eagleburger, we are getting better access to State cable traffic [2 lines not declassified]. I have had individual meetings with 36 U.S. Ambassadors.
2. Morale at CIA is improving. As the excesses of the past investigations fade, things on the morale front improve. Our recruitment is up. Our people are willing to serve abroad and take the risks involved. The CIA is a disciplined organization—trained to support the Director. During this 6 month period, I have made 12 changes in our top 16 slots at CIA. These personnel changes have helped revitalize our various Directorates. They have, I believe, been accomplished with a minimum of personal and institutional heartburn.
3. I feel I am getting first-class support at CIA and, for that matter, from the Intelligence Community.
4. We have an excellent relationship with the NSC staff. On the personnel side, I get total cooperation from Brent Scowcroft, for whom I have the highest personal regard.
5. To help morale as well as my own education, I try to meet with as many of our Station Chiefs as possible on an individual basis (33 [Page 264] such meetings to date); to appear before CIA groups at Langley (16 such meetings); and to visit Intelligence Community installations and contractor sites (21).
D. Areas of Major Concern
1. There is too much disclosure. We are continually pressed by Congress, by the courts, by the Freedom of Information Act, to give up sensitive material. We are trying to hold the line but there is a continuous erosion which gives away classified information at home and complicates our liaison relationships abroad. I am frustrated by our inability to deal with the leaking of classified information.
2. The press continues to berate us, though I sense a slight improvement. Scotty Reston, said, “George, your problem is that our profession thinks you are all lying bastards.” As long as this attitude prevails, there will be frivolous stories in print about CIA. I have made 21 public appearances but have turned down many more. I want to get the CIA off the front pages and at some point out of the papers altogether; thus, I have turned down many national media opportunities while accepting only a few. It is still almost impossible to have a speech containing positive things about CIA given prominent coverage.
3. The Congressional mood towards CIA is improving, but there is still a staff-driven desire to “expose” and to “micro-manage.” Staffers demand more and more. Our relationship with the new Senate Intelligence Committee is promising, though their many subcommittees give the appearance of many more investigations. The Staff of the House Appropriations Committee, on the other hand, gives appearances of wanting to run CIA.
E. Summary
Things are moving in the right direction. There are an infinite number of problems stemming, some from the excesses of the investigations and some from the abuses of the past—real and alleged. Somehow the problems, however, seem more manageable. Our organization is good, our product is sound though it can always be improved. Some of our assets have been diminished, but the CIA is intact, and functioning pretty darn well.
Respectfully,
- Source: Ford Library, President’s Handwriting File, Box 9, Subject File, Federal Government Organizations Subseries, Central Intelligence Agency. Confidential; [classification marking not declassified]. A handwritten notation reads: “Pres. has seen.”↩
- Document 70.↩