Smith, Russell Jack. The Unknown CIA: My Three Decades with the Agency.
Foreword by Richard Helms. New York: Berkley Books, 1992. 259 pages.
Russell Jack Smith took a Ph.D. from Cornell, and joined the OSS and
then the CIA when it began in 1947. He was a member of the board of national
estimates (1957-62), director of current intelligence (1962-66), and deputy
director for intelligence (1966-71). From 1954-56 he was loaned to the State
Department for a tour of duty in Singapore, and from 1971-74 he was a special
assistant to the ambassador in New Delhi. Since Smith was with the analytical
side of the agency, his two foreign postings apparently had little to do with
agency operations; they may have been more like a working vacation from the
bureaucratic routine at CIA headquarters.
Smith is proud of his service with the CIA, and believes that covert
action has its place if it is a) unanimously approved within government and
supported by a majority of the people, b) it is subordinate to diplomatic
and overt military action, and c) the covert action must be small and
feasibly deniable because otherwise it inflicts damage on the CIA and
becomes self-defeating. Congressional oversight is part of the problem
because it removes deniability and promotes "irresponsible public debate."
In the end, Smith embraces the same amazing elitism that lurks behind all
intelligence professionals, which might be paraphrased as "trust us --
we're honorable, we're better informed, and we know what's best for you."
ISBN 0-425-13136-X
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