Leader Personality Assessments in Support of Government Policytions; and a paper that discussed the implications for negotiations of
the contrasting intellectual styles of Begin and Sadat. The profiles
were based on the detailed psychological studies of the personality
and political behavior of Begin and Sadat prepared in 1977.
In the CAPPB there was often a request for "instant magic" when
a coup, assassination, or election upset brings to the fore a leader pre-
viously not well known to the foreign policy community, and an in-
depth personality assessment of the leader was requested immedi-
ately. In order to anticipate the needs of the community, the CAPPB
had regularly surveyed key intelligence consumers, including the
National Security Council, the secretary of state, and the secretary of
defense, to identify leaders of special interest. Usually this survey
would reveal considerable diversity. The survey completed in the
summer of 1976 revealed for the first time across-the-board highest
priority interest in one world leader, President Anwar Sadat of
Egypt.
In developing personality studies for various leaders, the CAPPB
would review a broad range of data. Official and unofficial biogra-
phies often provided key background materials and insights, as did
television, newspaper, and magazine profiles. While many would
discard the authorized biography as being exaggeratedly biased in a
positive direction, in fact the contrast between the authorized and
unauthorized biographies was found to be instructive: the contrast
between the idealized leader as he wished to be seen and the more
realistic flesh-and-blood leader, with all his warts, blemishes, and
psychological sensitivities. When there were significant holes in the
data or unresolvable conflicts, requirements would be sent to the
field. Often psychologically relevant material was readily available in
response to the questions sent to the field, questions that previously
had not been asked. Particularly rich information was derived by
debriefing senior officials who had had extended contact with the
leader in question. Ambassadors and others who had dealt with the
leader over time usually had regularly reported on substantive mat-
ters, such as economic plans or weapons procurement programs, but
rarely had reported on the personality, attitudes, and negotiating
style of the leader—knowledge that was subsequently often lost in
the transition between administrations.
By integrating interview impressions of officials who had dealt