LETTER TO THE EDITOR FROM JAMES W. MCCORD, JR. RE REFERENCE IS MADE TO YOUR EDITORIAL "CIA AND WATERGATE" OF JULY 5, 1974, PAGE A-8

• Document Type: FOIA
• Collection: FOIA Collection
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 01482011
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 28, 2022
• Document Release Date: August 7, 2017
• Case Number: F-2007-00094
• Publication Date: July 8, 1974

Approved for Release: 2017/01/18 C01482011
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� ;
7 Winder Court
Rockville, ;:d 20860
8 July 1374
Editor
Vlasninoton Star-News
Washington, D. C.
Dear Sir: .
1. Reference ,is made to your editorial " CIA and Watergate u of
July 5, 1974, page A-3, which states:
is
The (Baker) report also asserts that a CIA operative named
Pennington broke into. the .residence of 'ilatergate burglar
James W. cCord, Jr.., and destroyed documents that might
�show a link between hcCord and CIA.'
@The Baker report I have seen makes so such allegation�that
" Pennington broke into" ,IcCord's residence. . breaking and entering
is a state offense and inthis case could as tell have been a federal-
offense. The Baker report makes no such allegation, there is no testimony
of any such offense, and it is untrue. There was no breaking and entering,
no burglary,and no destruction of evidence. This 80-year old gentleman,
Lee Pennington was a personal friend; he came Over to bring food to my
family; they invited hit in; he destroyed no �evidence; and. in fact the
documents in question�the papers in my CIA retirement folder we still
there when I returned home three days later. �
2. By your quotation,you have comitted criminal libel. You added
two elements not present in the Baker report--breaking and entering and
destructiun of evidence.
3. On June 17, 1972, I recorded on the Netropolitan Police records
the fact of my CIA retirement�there was no effort made to hide that fact,
just the contrary I made it public,so the basic assertion made in your
editorial, of trying to hide a Tamer employment by CIA,is also false.
Baker's report is ajso false in,otner 'f f '
4. A copy of 6nis memorandum is 1),i6;ilt to Lee Pennington since .
he is planning legal action against your publication. I also am studying
the legal ramifications of your article regarding similar legal action.
f
cc -- Lee Pennington
Senator Sam J Ervin, Jr.
fl r
Very truly yours,
amesTaZit7-J7r.
Added distribution: Senator Stuart Symington
Representative Lucien N.
Nedzi
,..-Director _ CIA
Approved for Release: 2017/01/18 C01482011
CfJA ad Ihir gate oti-L2
43' 4^4-
'While the CIA-Watergate-Nixon
.story handed out the other day by for-
mer White House aide Charles Colson
is patently absurd in its larger dimen-
sions, a report released since then by
Senator Howard Baker of the Water-
gate Committee indicates there may �
beat least a few kernels of truth in it.
� The Baker report in no way substan-
tiates Colson's implication that the
Central Intelligence Agency was be-
nd Watergate and that President
cqxon was scared to death of the agen-
N
co. But it indicates that the CIA has
-4- �
t. told all it knows about Watergate
o the Ellsberg break-in. �
co The report establishes fairly conclu-
--vely that the Washington public rela-
c-R arts firm for which Watergate con-.
r--
nrator E. Howard Hunt worked be-
re he started burgling and bugging
r the White House and the Nixon re-
ection committee w
-The report also asaispsn a A o rntisnCgItthanftr front.
anCoIA -
cnerative named y ke
'61to the residence of Watergate bur-.
2
glar James McCord Jr. 'shortly after
the Watergate break-in muLd.estroyed
documents that might show a link be-
tvVali-KIC:Cord-and the CIA. And then
the'7. iiiiEirfiTeUTiriteTillie FBI off.
the scent by giving investigators infor-
mation about a different Pennington
who formerly worked for the CIA.
The report says the CIA destroyed
tape recordings. of:conversations of
top CIA officials with President Nixon
and high White House aides. And there.
was that silly red wig that the CIA fur- ,
nished Hunt, along with false identi-
fication papers, a voice changer, cam-
era and tape recorder.
The relationship of CIA to Water-
gate and the other covert operations
that haVe.come to light in the investi-
gations bears further scrutiny by
appropriate governmental authorities.
It is evident that CIA was messing
� around in domestic affairs, and wheth-
er the involvement was large or small,
domestic affairs are hone of the agen-
cy's business.
Bust for rrmito
It is unfortunate that Pakistani
Prime Minister Bhutto's much-herald-
e'1 "mission of reconciliation" to Ban-
, lesh (formerly East Pakistan)
� turned out to be something of a bust.
The prime minister was warmly
greeted on his arrival in Dacca on his
first visit since the Pakistan-India war
of 1971 which resulted in the independ-
ence of Bangladesh. His send-off at
the end of three days of talks was a
good deal less cordial. Despite all the
talk about letting bygones be bygones,
Bengali officials made no secret of
their djsappointment at the lack of any
real .progress on substantial issues.
According to the foreign minister, "we
frond a total lack of response to the
.amounted to nearly an equal amount,
part of which was owed by what was
then East Pakistan.
But apart from haggling over
money, the real failure of the confer-
ence in Dacca was a continuing flat
disagreement over the fate of some
400,000 non-Bengali Moslems, ,known
as Biharis, who were trapped in Ban-
gladesh by the war. Since they gener-
ally supported the Pakistani cause
they have been virtually outcast by
the Bengali state, living in desperate
conditions, wholly alienated from the
.
economic life of the country.
Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh
tehijibur Rahman wants these unfortu,.
nate and unwanted victims of the war
n rA tYper Pakistan_ from
din
112i
, aE.:
awarearvinualuakaymag km.. *mu..
A special Senate committee
known as the Select Commit-
tee on Nutrition and Human
. Needs recently wound up
���� thret days of hearings. To
quote from a news account,
� the hearings Concluded "with
a sweeping accusation of
Nixon administration indiffer
ence to a national nutrition
policy."
"Isn't there someone at the
White House or somewhere in
the federal government who
knows we face a serious nutri-
tion problem?" asked Sen.
George McGovern.
�- The senator's question was
� prompted by the report of an
advisory panel charging that
(1) nobody in the President's
� office is in charge of nutrition
policy, (2) no machinery
exists for nutrition planning or
program management, and (3)
. the executive senses no urgen-
cy to create such machinery.
,The panel called for formation
� of a high-level food and nutri-
tion board and an Office of
Nutrition to implement and
,. coordinate programs.
�
NOT LONG AGO I corn-.
mented upon the defeat of a
bill opposing federal subsidies'
and federal guidelines for the
development of state and local
policies on land use. The bill
struck me as an instructive
example of the fundamental
differences that divide liberals
and conservatives on the role
of government in the United
States. McGovern's proposed
Office of Nutrition offers
another .such example. It
sebms to me fundamentally
wrong.
I am bound to ask, in getup
me puzzlement, how ip�the
name of the founding fathers a
"national nutrition police got
�to be the business of thVeder-
al government? In my,own tro-
glodyte view, the notion)defies
CO mprehension.
Those of us on the conserv-
ative side have read the same
reports on hunger ittipt our
liberal friends have read.
There is little disagreement on
the dimensions antrThe seri-
ousness of the problem. Many
millions of Americans indeed
are lacking an adequate and
balanced diet, and as food
prices climb, their plight grows
worse. Liberals have no mo-
.noply on compassion. I would
hope the concern transcends
ideological lines.
BUT WHEN it conies to
formalizing policies and imple-
menting programs, our views
C. L. Sulzberger:
Should Vice President Ger;
aid Ford ever be propelled to
the, White House by fate, an
implacable Congress or the
blind Goddess of Justice, he
would continue *a apply U.S.
foreign policy along present
Lines and would do everything
In his power to retain Henry
Kissinger as secretary of
state.
The vice president is under-
standably reluctant to discuss
could ti
ly opr�
utak! I
sees th.1
meat tl
Nutriti
colum
ly rc�
senati,.;
the la;
other �
frettin
Nixon
regard
It is
the cor!
the im��1!-.
ern m ' �
��4Aot ru.
.4-ia fare" 6 t'�
grant
to the -
many
primal
the pi
only
respom.
local g�
In th.
bill, si�
tion c
federal
dealt
tion
conser
sourct'
under.
era Id For
- for some 15 years. Ile spoke to the oil; .
'seminars arranged by the lat-
ter at Harvard on three occa-
sions. "My association with
him," the vice president adds,
"is close and personal."
Therefore it has been partic-
ularly easy for him to receive
the briefings Kissinger regu-
larly gives him in Washington.
Ford stresses that Nixon per-
sonally arranged that he
should he narticularlv well in.
tary
a moat
phone
inba �
here
mugs '��� � ����
secre::
congl�
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Approved for Release: 2017/01/18 C01482011