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I I 1 Interview with Richard II. Helms by Robert M. Hathaway 30 May 1984 TAPE I - SIDE I1 Helms: It wasn't until the technical collection devices--overhead photography, ELIPJT, and various other of these technical means--permitted us to develop a vast body of information about the Soviet military buildup and the Soviet military machine. S o we regarded defectors in those days of the late '40s, ' 5 0 s and early '60s as being a very important element in informing us about the Soviet military, Soviet politics, Soviet economics, Soviet life. I think on occasion perhaps the testimony of some of these defectors was not as accurate as it might be. In some cases they may have tried to gull us. We may have gone too strong on some of the leads that they came up with. Maybe in some cases the establishment of bona fides was not as carefully done as it might have been. I don't have examples to go with each of those items; it's just my general impression that this could readily have happened during those years. But certainly we learned a lot from defectors. Difficult as they were to handle, and particularly difficult to resettle, because Soviet citizens simply do not resettle well in the United States . . . suddenly being put down in a free society where they can move any place they like and their life is not patterned 27