Post-Cold War World and CIA

Re “Spies Look for a Mission, Even an Impossible One,” by David Wise, Opinion, March 23:

At present, the threat of nuclear attack from Russia is not a strong possibility, but the threat of nuclear attack or terrorism from dissident countries such as North Korea and Libya are serious considerations for our intelligence community. The Central Intelligence Agency is a vital, necessary conduit of intelligence material.

In fact, the CIA is not, as Wise suggests, “a sinking ship,” and while it has faced many internal situations and problems recently, many Americans believe in the continuation of the agency. Unlike much of the federal bureaucracy, it is an agency that has attempted to clear its name and clear out its problems.

Wise is closer to realistic ideas when he advises us that the intelligence agencies of our government are splintered and need to be rejoined into one. However, I believe this could best be accomplished under the direction of the CIA. The CIA is well versed and can perform the necessary secretive extraction of information that is so important to our country’s safekeeping.

SPENCER T. EBERLE

Laguna Niguel

One of the remarks attributed to me in “CIA Officials Saw Lake as Providing a Sense of Stability” (March 19) seriously misrepresents my views. According to the story, I stated that “there had to be a major change in the intelligence community as a whole once the Cold War collapsed, and there hasn’t been as much as there might be.”

Since I told your reporter that the extent to which the intelligence community had changed to cope with the post-Cold War world had not been fully appreciated and that it was impossible from the outside to tell just how much more might need to be done, the above quotation gives a false impression as to my views.

JEFFREY T. RICHELSON

Alexandria, Va.