Kennedy School Sponsors National Security Program

Top-level national security policymakers will attend a two-week executive training program at the Kennedy School of Government this summer, Douglas M. Johnston, director of planning for the program, said Monday.

The group will include a three-star general with a high position in the Joint Chiefs of Staff, two-star admirals and generals, a chief of staff of one of the key Congressional committees concerned with defense policy, and representatives from the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), the National Security Council, and the Departments of State, Treasury, Defense, Commerce and Transportation, Johnston added.

Dale Peterson, a spokesman for the CIA, said yesterday the CIA has nominated two members with GS 18 rank--"about the highest rank there is below appointed ones" for participation in the program. He said the Kennedy School contacted the CIA late last year to ask them their views on the program, but he said the CIA had no part in running the program.

The program will only accept as participants those executives nominated by their organizations, who will pay the program fee the Kennedy School charges, Ernest R. May, professor of History and faculty chairman of the program, said yesterday.

The program will use the case method, studying examples like the Saturday Night Massacre, to promote discussion and analysis of the way different policymakers decide on national security issues, Johnston said.

May said he will lead discussion on the Eisenhower administration's decision not to intervene in French Indochina in 1954.

"What we're trying to do is to get these people to think about the perspectives of the other players in the process--to get the military to understand the constraints the civilian operates under and vice-versa," Johnston said.

The case studies will include ethical problems, Johnston said. One such case will examine the problems a reporter encounters when he comes across some important information that might compromise the identity of a CIA agent abroad. A law school professor, a journalist and a judge will moderate this discussion, he added.

"We think discussion will get hot and heavy," Johnston said.

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The Kennedy School offers the program because many top executives never update their training, or receive a narrow preparation that does not equip them with an understanding of the outlook of fellow policymakers, Johnston said.

Johnston said he hoped the program will directly affect national policy by expanding policymakers' horizons.

"Hopefully, the program will correct misunderstanding and encourage more effective action--we want to make a real contribution to the national security process," Johnston said.