be identified and should be encouraged to seek other employment....I said we owed these
people a lot but not a lifetime job. He [Bush] put it in his pocket and said he would think
about it." [fn 61]
This new round of firings was relegated to Turner, who reportedly was told by Knoche on
arriving at the CIA that the agency was "top-heavy." There was the case of Cord Meyer,
Knoche said, who had too much rank for the work he was doing. As Turner later recalled,
"It was at this point that I learned about a study the espionage [operations] branch itself
had done on its personnel situation in mid 1976, while George Bush was DCI. It called
for a reduction in the size of the branch by 1350 positions over a five-year period. No
action had been taken. Bush had not rejected it, but neither had he faced up to it." [fn 62]
Turner then proceeded to abolish 820 jobs, which he claims was accomplished through
attrition. Other estimates of the Turner firings range between 820 and 2,800.
The plan Turner implemented was thus according to some the Nelson-Shackley-Bush
plan. Certain activities of the intelligence community were being privatized and farmed
out to such organisms as the National Endowment for Democracy and other such quasi-
autonomous non-governmental organizations of Project Democracy. Under Reagan, this
privatization of intelligence operations and their increasing assignment to non-
governmental organizations was made offocial through Executive Order 12333.
Otherwise, George Bush used his last days at the CIA for his lifelong passtime, servicing
his network. On December 16, he appeared at an awards ceremony in the Bubble at
Langley to present a medal to Juanita Moody of the National Security Agency Product
Organization staff. [fn 63]
During his year at Langley, Bush was especially forthcoming towards Wall Street, above
all towards the family firm. On at least one occasion, Bush gave an exclusive private
briefing, including forecasts on the future development of the world energy market, for
partners and executives of Brown Brothers, Harriman. Such an incident, it is superfluous
to point out, entails the gravest questions of conflict of interest. On another occasion,
Bush gave a similar briefing to the board of directors of the Chase Manhattan Bank. [fn
64]
As always, Bush had special attention for Leo Cherne, the source of so much of the
policy he implemented at the CIA. On November 8, Bush had called Cherne's attention to
a small item in US News and World Report which suggested that "US assessments have
so underrated Russia's strategic buildup that a top-secret study is under way to decide
whether to strip the CIA of responsibility for the estimates and give it to an independent
office answerable directly to the President." Another leak on Team B! Bush told Cherne
that "the attached is the kind of publicity that I am sure you would agree is very
damaging. I really don't think there is much we can do about it at this point, but I worry
about it."