CAPITAL VIEWS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP75-00149R000200590025-2
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: November 16, 2016
• Document Release Date: March 1, 1999
• Sequence Number: 25
• Publication Date: September 16, 1967
• Content Type: NSPR

TRIBUNE
FOIAb3b
I&- 8Jt4rjed For Release 2000/05/05: CIA-RDP75=0014
a-1~158,97S
SEP 16 1967?
BY WILLARD EDWARDSV
(Chicago ,Tribune Press Service]
ASHINGTON, Sept. 15-The speech that was never de.
livered on the Senate floor this week, altho a number of
members had to fight back the impulse to speak, would
The bill under consideration, drafted by Sen. Sam. J. Ervin
.Jr. ED., N. C.] commanded almost unanimous approval
Zvt' e Dig 7
brotrt herim" in the government by prohibiting the use of lie de-
tectors, psychological tests, and probing of the religious beliefs
and sex, habits of 3'million federal employes. Two years of hear-
ings had revealed the existence of a burocratic army of snoop-
ers, intent upon .prying into the most intimate details of the
lives of any person, male or female, seeking a place on the gov-
ernment payroll' or already on It.
The measure granted a partial exemption to the CIA and the
national security agency, permitting them to use. psychological
and polygraph testing if they{ found it essential to national se-
curity.
Launches Lobbying campaign
T-s UT THE CIA WANTED a total exemption from any restric-,
tions on exploring the background of potential agents. It
showed its power two weeks ago by persuading Sen. Mike Mans-
field -[D., Mont.), the majority leader, to withdraw the bill from
consideration temporarily. Then it launched an intensive lobby-
ing campaign.
. The hidden reason for the agency's opposition finally be-
came clear. It wanted complete freedom with scientific testing I'
devices not only to "screen out" the morally undesirable but to
"screen in" a certain number for employment.'A secret agent's
efficiency was not necessarily hampered,, and might even, be
Augmented, if he was a depraved character devoid of'honor or
scruples. The homosexual, the 'drug addict, the thief could make
contacts In the vice circles of London or Paris or other world
capitals not open to normal men. Some would become `double
agents," working for both sides but presumably giving a higher
loyalty to the.United -States because Its pay scale for spies is
much higher.'
The CIA won its battle, securing virtual exemption from the
bill before it was passed. Some, senators mourned the passing of
an era when an American. secret agent would always be es-
teemed as a courageous patxtot, risking torture, imprisonment,
:and death'for, love of country. Now, in an evil. world, contending
,with evil, nation, must 'sometimes employ. evil men.
have gone something like this:
"Mr. President, let us have done with all. this secrecy and
double-talk! L
t u
b
i
i
t
th
e
s
r
ng
n
e open
o
what all of us know, or should know, but
are restricted fra pi saying publicly.
"We are talking here about the cen-
tral intelligence, agency which operates in
the dim underworld of international es-
pionage. Espionage is a dirty business. A
nation may not srvive in this' sordid
world without stnn ina to it but let us
2 not drop a glamorous cloak over its es-
on deception and fraud, on trickery, and
-false pretense. It is most successful when
it is most, treacherous.
"If the , * is to cope with the com-
munist enemy in the jungles of. foreign
cities, it must sometimes employ agents as morally corrupt, as
vicious and cruel, and perverse as their opponents. It may come
as a shock to the American taxpayer that his hard-earned dol-
lars go into the pockets of homosexuals, sex deviates, pimps, and
-Toperating as employes of the United States govern-
r t, why keep the ,knowledge from him? We all know it
and accept it as necessary. Why shouldn't he know?"
Stennis Pleads for Executive Session
HERE WERE MOMENTS during last Wednesday's debate
j when such words seemed about to be spoken. Sen. John
Stennis [D., Miss.] pleaded for an executive session ' at which,
with press and public barred and the doors locked, he could talk
freely. He contented himself with hinting that the CIA ? was
forced to employ for some missions "persons not of the very top
quality and not the very finest: characters."
Sen. Birch Bayh [D., Ind.] was similarly guarded..An Amer-
ican spy, he remarked, was not always "a college honor gradu-
ate,"' and there were occasions when' American 'Intelligence
agencies had no alternative but to use unscrupulous methods.
In general, however, a gentlemanly reticence about CIA prac-
tices. prevailed. __ .. h