EXIT RICHARD HELMS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP74B00415R000100010004-2
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 12, 2016
• Document Release Date: January 7, 2002
• Sequence Number: 4
• Publication Date: December 6, 1972
• Content Type: NSPR

Approved For Release 2002/01/23 : CIA-RDP74B00415R000100010004-2
As director, Helms brought a coolness :: ,- never been able to conceal the fact that
of judgment and great administrative', he is one of the most trusted and most
talent to one of tie most sensitive and'.:;.,; able and most dedicated professional ca-
difficult jobs in the federal government, i,,eer men in this Capital " As director of
under, General Walter Bedell Smith and:',.., has spent more than, 20 years in public'':
John A:? McCone,' previous CIA heads, attempting to avoid publicity, he has
~?' he served as deputy director for plans .:. ` swearing-in ceremony: "Although he
Strategic Services in World War II. After that Helms has been able to provide. As
transferring to the newly-formed CIA,-' President Johnson remarked at his
with a four-year stint with the Office of requires the kind of public confidence
be sorely missed in the one which he is sessment of the world situation - and
leaving. ?particularly'in Indochina, where the CIA
Of the men who. have headed the CIA has borne heavy responsibilities - has
since its inception in 1947, Helms stands been remarkably accurate,
out as the one truly professional intelli- The highly essential business of in-
gence expert. His career in the spy busi- telligence-gathering, being necessarily
ness covers a span of 29 years, beginning secret and to some minds distasteful ? i
to take on a new and important assign gence community regarding the deploy-
ment in` the Nixon administration, ment of- Russian nuclear missiles. Yet
"Central Intelligence Agency, presumably part from a dispute within the intelli-
Diehard M. Helms will soon be?stepping effective. It is sue'zested that hie riei .:
1011 U V111G1dl ye4, uuL. our usuaiiy nas peen highly discreet and, to the ex-
impeccable official sources tell us that tent that such things can be jud ed
'Under-his leadership; the performance the CIA, Richard Helms has fully justi-
ApprovedFFor R,eleasd ;2002/01/23: CIA-I DP74g00415R00010A01:QQ04-2