Spy Satellite Building

The current furor (Aug. 11) concerning a very expensive new headquarters for the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) calls to mind the wise counsel of C. Northcote Parkinson in “Parkinson’s Law.”

He notes that organizations flourish in shabby, far-flung, inefficient facilities when their function is important. By contrast, the creation of a single, perfectly planned, plush central facility is a certain signal that the organization is no longer needed, and at the point of collapse. His evidence is compelling; e.g., Great Britain ran its empire effectively for centuries out of back rooms and cubbyholes scattered all over London. All this changed when the magnificent Empire House was dedicated in 1947, the same year India was granted independence.

The NRO was a creation of the Cold War and its performance was critical to our intelligence effort to track and predict Soviet actions. Does this new $310-million marvel of efficient centralization foretell a somewhat less productive role for the NRO in tracking unrest in Haiti, massacres in Rwanda and oil worker strikes in Nigeria? The Cold War is over but it appears that fact has escaped the NRO.

Not only does Parkinson’s wisdom concerning the relationship between perfect structure and obsolete function apply, but his warning in the Law of Extravagance is equally relevant: “Expenditure rises to meet income--and tends to surpass it.” Alas, he is right again!

EUGENE J. CARROLL JR.

Rear Admiral, USN (Ret.)

Director, Center for Defense Information

Washington

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The CIA’s secret $310-million “secret” building, which no one noticed, is really not very surprising. With the bottomless checking account and not being accountable to anyone, the CIA could have built an exclusive whorehouse, and no one would have noticed it.

Who is responsible for the CIA’s total independence, not answerable to anyone? It’s time for the CIA to be accountable to the people who pay them!

With the country’s terrible financial condition, we must begin to research where funds are being misspent. Perhaps we can then find the needed funds to see that all Americans have health coverage . . . Perhaps we can even see to it that all libraries stay open.

JOAN SIEGEL

Los Angeles