AJR  Drop Cap
From AJR,   January/February 1994

Inside Job   

Letter From the CIA

By John Hollister Hedley
John Hollister Hedley, a 28-year CIA veteran, chaired the task force on communications and helped launch What's News.      


A fresh breeze of communication – in the form of an employee newsletter – is blowing inside the Central Intelligence Agency. And it's not the mouthpiece one might expect.

Since its inception a year ago, What's News at CIA has not shrunk from reporting less-than-positive stories about the agency. Besides the usual tidbits about blood drives and holiday programs, it has detailed the trial of former CIA official Clair George¿for his role in the Iran-contra affair, the arrest of a manager on charges he defrauded the agency of $1.2 million, and an inspector general's report critical of the CIA's grievance system.

What makes the newsletter extraordinary is that it is distributed at one of the world's most secretive organizations. During the decades of the Cold War, the CIA developed into separate cultures not unlike fiefdoms. Armed guards kept employees separated according to security clearances, and communication across the agency was not only rare, it was frowned upon.

In 1991, newly appointed CIA chief Robert Gates formed a task force to examine ways to improve communications. After talking with employees, its first recommendation was a newsletter. Most CIA staffers are news junkies, and many were irritated when they learned about CIA affairs from the press rather than the agency.

Recognizing that most officers are short on time, What's News articles are short and brisk. It also appears only when there's enough material.

Not everyone, however, was glad to see What's News. One senior officer scoffed loudly about such a thing existing in an intelligence organization. Others were ruffled by the newsletter's Clair George coverage.

Yet its importance was demonstrated after the tragic shootings in January 1993 near the agency's entrance. A special edition hit the "streets" within hours, with two updates later that day. Battling wild rumors and conflicting press reports, five issues of What's News appeared that week.

From an insider's perspective, the CIA's culture has never been so open, candid and corporate, and the newsletter is a factor. Letters and cables from employees suggest a climate is developing in which CIA officers as never before consider themselves part of a single agency.

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