CIA Reading Room cia rdp83 00764r000300120055 7 pdf

CIA Reading Room cia rdp83 00764r000300120055 7

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Approved For Releas9m2001/03/06 : CIA-RDP83-00764R1Q00300120055-7 F T is, F. C [I El T August 1970 MEMORANDUM FOR: Deputy Director for Plans SUBJECT : Management of the CIA Historical Program and Its Impact on the DDP Historical Effort REFERENCE : Memorandum from Executive Secretary, CSHB, to DDP dated 8 June 1970, subject as above 1, The CS Historical Board has reviewed the 17 July 1970 comments by the Executive Director-Comptroller relating to the reference. 2. We find much in Colonel Whitets memorandum which is encouraging and with which we cannot take issue. On the other hand, we have some doubts as to whether our original points have been interpreted with quite the emphasis which we intended. We consider that most of the CS histories have a positive application to our present and future activities which transcends the passive application implied by Colonel Whitets reference to their value as “background reading and orientation,” 3.

We believe that, within reason, all of our papers up to this point go quite a distance toward meeting the other two tests suggested on page one of Colonel Whitets memorandum. We do not believe that our historical officers and writers – -T Approved For Release 2001/03/06 : IAA PF83-00764R000300120055 Approved For Rele 2001/03/06 : CIA-RDP83-0076000300120055-7 SECRET are totally lacking in an understanding of what is needed to produce good history in its academic sense, and we believe that they are probably better equipped than most of the Historical Staff to select those details and identify those trends which can be translated into guidelines for action by new Station chiefs and operational officers. 4. We take considerable pride in the format and substance of most of the historical papers which the Clandestine Service program has produced to date. We believe that in most instances where the niceties of professional historiography may have been lightly applied, the net worth of the product has been increased, certainly in terms of its applicability to day–to-day operations, and most probably in its phasing into the overall Agency history.

5. We certainly do not intend to do otherwise than work as closely as possible with the Historical Staff, but we cannot rationalize the tremendous expenditure of expert manpower if the desire to produce operational tools is to be subordinated to the desire for theoretical academic perfection. Chairman Clandestine Service Historical Board Approved For Release 2001/03/06 : CIA-RDP83-00764R000300120055-7 OFFICER’S INITIALS V.03106- SECRET SECRET 0 AND RECORD SHEET USE PREVIOUS EDITIONS SECRET F1 CONFIDENTIAL DIE-5;x’9 UNCLASSIFIED

• Creator/s: CIA Reading Room
• Date: 8/1/1970
• Book Topics/Themes: CIA Reading Room

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