Raborn, William Francis, Jr., VADM

Admiral and Mrs. Raborn, Members of the Cabinet, Members of the Congress, ladies and gentlemen: We have come here today to recognize the character and the accomplishments of a man who exemplifies the highest traditions of public service. Your career, Admiral Raborn, has been long and it has been outstanding. You have excelled as a Navy officer in combat. You have distinguished yourself in high command. You have inspired and directed the highest order of technical achievement culminating in the triumph of the Polaris submarine which, under your personal guidance, was built and put into operation well before most of the people thought it could be done. Then, when you had gone to a well-earned retirement--you had taken up another congenial occupation--I called you back to Washington, once again asking you to undertake for your country what may have been the most formidable task of your career. You had no particular occasion to become intimately familiar with the work of the Central Intelligence Agency, but you were willing to serve your country again. And you asked only that you might leave when a permanent director had been selected. In carrying out this assignment, Admiral Raborn, you gave to the Agency the benefit of those qualities and skills in which you are preeminent. Above all, you brought your truly extraordinary capacity for management, for looking to the future, for planning the further creative development of an intricate organization. And I know that you leave with your associates the impression of a warm and a sympathetic human personality. They came to hold you in high regard and in esteem. Your countrymen know of your role in the development of the Polaris, but they cannot know of your accomplishments in the equally crucial business of the Central Intelligence Agency. For it is the lot of those in our intelligence agencies that they should work in silence--sometimes fail in silence, but more often succeed in silence. Unhappily, also, it is sometimes their lot that they must suffer in silence. For, like all in high public position, they are occasionally subject to criticism which they must not answer. Secrecy in this work is essential. Achievements and triumphs can seldom be advertised. Shortcomings and failures often are advertised. The rewards can never come in public acclaim, only in the quiet satisfaction of getting on with the job and trying to do well the work that needs to be done in the interests of your Nation. The best intelligence is essential to the best policy. So I am delighted that you have undertaken, as far as security permits, to tell the public that it is well served by the Central Intelligence Agency. I am glad that there are occasions from time to time when I, like my predecessors in this office, can also express my deep confidence in the expert and the dedicated service of the .personnel of the Central Intelligence Agency. Admiral Raborn, for your contribution this Agency, for your entire career of patriotic duty and high achievement, I give now the National Security Council and its citation. And I shall read it: "Summoned back to the councils of Government after his retirement from a brilliant career in the naval service, Admiral William F. Raborn was named Director of Central Intelligence in 1965. With great ability and with wisdom gained from past accomplishments, Admiral Raborn developed within the Central Intelligence Agency an imaginative and systematic management program resulting in incisive planning of long-range intelligence needs and objectives. Ever conscious of opportunities to improve the timeliness and usefulness of the intelligence furnished to the leaders of our Government, Admiral Raborn directed the establishment of new and improved methods for continuous and timely monitoring of international developments and for supplying United States Government leaders with rapid assessments of those developments. As Director of Central Intelligence, Admiral Raborn once again demonstrated his ability to inspire subordinates to achieve high levels of accomplishment. His distinguished achievements reflect the highest credit on him and enhance the finest traditions of patriotic service to our Nation."Thank you very much.