'We Have to Be More Intelligent'

Even when he is in mufti, his erect military bearing is obvious. And as Admiral Stansfield Turner passes military men in the CIA's spacious corridors, they often salute automatically. When he descends from his seventh-floor office in a private, key-operated elevator and steps into his sedan, the chauffeur calls him "Admiral" rather than "Director." Turner likes it that way. After 34 years in the Navy, he is all salt.

The admiral and his wife Patricia are living in an officer's house at the Washington Navy Yard. He plays tennis at 6:45 a.m. twice a week on Navy courts with a neighbor, Vice Admiral Robert Monroe. He jogs in the evening with his golden retriever Hornblower, occasionally plays squash at the Pentagon.

Some veteran CIA hands complain that the naval invasion of CIA has gone too far. Turner's executive assistant, two special assistants, his speechwriter and his staff schedulemakers are all on active Navy duty. His public affairs chief is a retired Navy captain. In what even an aide says was a mistake, Turner brought in his son Geoffrey, 29, a Navy lieutenant, to work temporarily at the CIA until he enters the Naval Defense Intelligence School in Monterey, Calif., this fall. Turner points out that Geoffrey is not replacing anyone at the CIA and gets only his regular Navy pay. The admiral sees the assignment as a chance "to have a little fun, with a father and son having something in common to talk about and share."

While much attention has centered on Turner's Annapolis ties with President Carter, the two were not friends there and met only once between their graduation in 1946 and his selection by Carter as CIA director. Turner is, however, working to develop a closer relationship. Although CIA directors have always carried the extra title of director of Central Intelligence, Turner is the first to use an office away from Langley for his broader D.C.I, duties. This second rack for his second hat is a suite of five rooms in the Old Executive Office Building next to the White House. He spends at least a fourth of his working hours there and sees Carter alone for a half-hour every Tuesday and Friday. He also sits in on Monday Cabinet meetings.

Turner bristles at the suggestion that he should have resigned from the Navy in taking the CIA post. To have done so, he says, "would have been a charade," since an officer can return to active duty later. Apparently in line to become the intelligence czar, he scoffs at the notion that he is merely waiting for the job of Chief of Naval Operations or Chairman of the Joint Chiefs to open up. "Ridiculous!" he says. "I can do as much here for the good of the country as I can in any military assignment." And why? Says he: "Thirty years ago, we were hands-down the predominant military power. We were a totally independent economic power. We were the dominant power in the political sphere. Today we aren't predominant to that degree or anything like it. That isn't necessarily bad, but it means we have to be more intelligent."

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