Deadly Deceits Read Online Free Page B

a person learns by rote because he does not insist upon perspective. He is psychologically insulated and his awareness is restricted, making him self-centered and insensitive to others. In the social mode the Agency wants the adaptive rather than the uniform individual. He is magnetic, charming, captivating, a person who moves easily in a variety of situations. He has an awareness of and the ability to express conventional or proper feelings, whether they happen to be his true feelings or not. He is chameleon-like, for he tends to be all things to all people and has the ability to spot weaknesses in others and use these to his advantage.
    According to this personality portrait, the CIA wantsactive, charming, obedient people who can get things done in the social world but have limited perspective and understanding, who see things in black and white and don’t like to think too much. The personnel selection process the CIA has set up has its advantages, of course, but it also has disadvantages. It tends to reject those who have perspective, those who can see subtleties, those who think before they act, those who remain true to themselves no matter what the outside social pressures. If we reflect on some of the ways the CIA has done itself in, it is clear that with more people who possess the qualities it has sought to weed out, it might have done better.
    I don’t believe that my profile was the type the Agency was looking for. I scored 143 on the IQ test, which was fine, but my personality test left much to be desired. It turned out I was far too flexible. This probably would have been enough to end my chances, but the hiring crush for the Korean War, my high school and collegiate academic and football credentials, plus a strong boost from Mr. Munson got me through. A few days after finishing the tests, I was told to report for the orientation course.
    More than 100 of us young men and women who had completed all the processing attended the month-long orientation course designed to acquaint us with the structure of our employer, its role in the government, and its attitude toward communism. The course was held in a building not far from the Lincoln Memorial. We were tightly packed into a small auditorium, sitting four persons to a table in two long rows.
    After greetings and opening remarks by a dignified older man who was the head of the training office, a man in his early thirties mounted the stage. With a flourish he lifted a cloth covering a large organizational chart. He proudly announced that we would be working for the CIA. Most of us by this time had figured that out, but few knew just where we would be placed organizationally, or just what we would be doing. The instructor explained that the Agency consisted of three directorates. One of these, the Directorate for Plans (DDP), he said, “is that element that gathers intelligence and also performs such other functions as required by the President andthe National Security Council. You here in the auditorium will be working in the DDP.”
    An audible sigh of relief and a happy buzz of conversation greeted this announcement. We were to be directing spies around the globe. The news was great. We were to be in the forefront of America’s battle against the scourge of the international communist conspiracy. After the group stopped congratulating one another and quieted down, the instructor continued: “Another directorate is the Directorate for Intelligence (DDI). It collates and analyzes intelligence and is responsible for coordinating the dissemination of all finished intelligence. The third directorate is the Directorate for Administration (DDA). This directorate consolidates the management functions of the two other directorates.” He then proceeded to explain the organizational breakdown of the three new directorates, but who could pay attention to all the meaningless initials? Time and experience would teach us what we had to know.
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