Jun 2008
Georgetown University Honors Richard Helms
04 June 2008
By Dan Pinck
In a superbly-conceived program, titled A Life in Intelligence: A Symposium on Richard Helms, held on April 28, 2008 in Gaston Hall at Georgetown University, the intelligence and diplomatic career of Richard Helms was noted by nine noteworthy speakers. Each person highlighted some of his contributions to our nation. During his service as Director of Central Intelligence and Ambassador to Iran, Richard Helms played a central role in initiating and managing intelligence operations. He did this with flair, imagination and constancy of purpose. Beyond a doubt, in the academic setting of Georgetown, Mr. Helms deserved the generally solid A that each speaker awarded him.
The symposium, moderated by Burton Gerber, a CIA station chief at several hot spots during the Cold War who now teaches at Georgetown, was infused by history that modestly and excitingly melded facts with observations. Most of the speakers worked with Mr. Helms and they knew him and his wife, Cynthia, well. Listening to the speakers, one after another, you soon realized that you were listening to a biography, each person contributing a chapter. Their comments were totally devoid of corn meal mush. I doubt that Mr. Helms would have excised more than a few sentences from the five-hour, living biography. The memories and thoughts of all of the speakers were in imposing condition; and much of what they said was pointed and memorable. I felt as though the speakers were academic progeny of the eminent historian, Edward Hallett Carr. (If you care to pursue this connection, I suggest that you read his book, What Is History?, based on the George Macauley Trevelyan Lectures that he delivered at the University of Cambridge in the winter of 1961.)
You and I have attended many suffocating, cliche-ridden symposia that more often than not have reminded us of what we have forgotton over the years. We recall that little was said that would have ever caught the interest of Walter Mitty or anyone else who had the slightest experience in any branch of intelligence. From beginning to end, the symposium on Richard Helms captured the wide-awake attention of almost every participant, whose average age was far higher than average. In five hours, I noticed only one person who had nodded off. Six hundred and twenty-five guests were engrossed by the commentaries – minus one guest who slumped in dreamland. That’s remarkable; and no one left until the end of the symposium. Each speaker did his homework.
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In a superbly-conceived program, titled A Life in Intelligence: A Symposium on Richard Helms, held on April 28, 2008 in Gaston Hall at Georgetown University, the intelligence and diplomatic career of Richard Helms was noted by nine noteworthy speakers. Each person highlighted some of his contributions to our nation. During his service as Director of Central Intelligence and Ambassador to Iran, Richard Helms played a central role in initiating and managing intelligence operations. He did this with flair, imagination and constancy of purpose. Beyond a doubt, in the academic setting of Georgetown, Mr. Helms deserved the generally solid A that each speaker awarded him.
The symposium, moderated by Burton Gerber, a CIA station chief at several hot spots during the Cold War who now teaches at Georgetown, was infused by history that modestly and excitingly melded facts with observations. Most of the speakers worked with Mr. Helms and they knew him and his wife, Cynthia, well. Listening to the speakers, one after another, you soon realized that you were listening to a biography, each person contributing a chapter. Their comments were totally devoid of corn meal mush. I doubt that Mr. Helms would have excised more than a few sentences from the five-hour, living biography. The memories and thoughts of all of the speakers were in imposing condition; and much of what they said was pointed and memorable. I felt as though the speakers were academic progeny of the eminent historian, Edward Hallett Carr. (If you care to pursue this connection, I suggest that you read his book, What Is History?, based on the George Macauley Trevelyan Lectures that he delivered at the University of Cambridge in the winter of 1961.)
You and I have attended many suffocating, cliche-ridden symposia that more often than not have reminded us of what we have forgotton over the years. We recall that little was said that would have ever caught the interest of Walter Mitty or anyone else who had the slightest experience in any branch of intelligence. From beginning to end, the symposium on Richard Helms captured the wide-awake attention of almost every participant, whose average age was far higher than average. In five hours, I noticed only one person who had nodded off. Six hundred and twenty-five guests were engrossed by the commentaries – minus one guest who slumped in dreamland. That’s remarkable; and no one left until the end of the symposium. Each speaker did his homework.
Read More...