CONGRESSIONAL RECORD

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP75-00149R000300150015-0
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 3
• Document Creation Date: November 11, 2016
• Document Release Date: October 26, 1998
• Sequence Number: 15
• Publication Date: March 26, 1964
• Content Type: OPEN

FOIAb3b
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United States
of America
Vol. 110
r
PROCEEDINGS AND DEBATES OF THE 08th CONGRESS, SECOND SESSION
WASHINGTON, THURSDAY, MARCH 26, 1964 No. 57
House Rep resent
CIA
The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr.
PRICE). Under previous order of the
House, the gentleman from Illinois [Mr.
ARENDS] is recognized for 20 minutes.
(Mr. ARENDS asked and was given
permission to revise and extend his re-
marks.)
Mr. ARENDS. Mr. Speaker, one of
the most important agencies of our Gov-
ernment, particularly during this period
of International, uncertainties and anx-
ieties, is our Central Intelligence Agency.
The time has long since arrived when
someone should take cognizance of the
baseless criticism that has been and con-
tinues to be heaped upon it. That is
my purpose here today, as a member of
the CIA Subcommittee of the Commit-
tee on Armed Services since its establish-
ment. I do not purport to speak as an
authority on all the functions and activi-
ties of the CIA. But I do presume to
speak with some factual knowledge about
the CIA as an. organization and how i
functions.
I do not mean to imply that the CIA
should be above criticism. No agency
of Government should be above criticism.
Constructive criticism makes for im-
improvement. statements purported to come from
But much of the criticism directed ; Michal Goleniewski are not correct.
It cann The. information as reported in the press
the CIA is not constructive
.
possible be, as it is not based on fac is not in agreement with the information,,-
untruths,vwith no foundation whateve~ Stories such as have been circulated
f
d
Let me present one illustration. I re-
fer to the much publicized, much dis-
responsible series of articles concerning
the CIA that has been recently pub-
lished in the New York Journal Amer-
ican.
Among these wild accusations is that
the CIA has attempted to prevent Michal
Goleniewski from appearing before the
Senate Internal Security Subcommittee.
They go so far as to charge that the
CIA has quashed subpenas. That sim-
is quite understandable that some
embers of Congress might feel we are
an only hope that the House has suffl-
ient confidence in our subcommittee, as
this man, the executive branch of the eeping a close eye and ear on CIA
Government bias been cooperative with perations.
the Senate subcommittee throughout. I was very much distressed to read an
Contrary to what has been reported article in Esquire magazine, written by
in the press, the postponements of a distinguished Member of Congress-
Michal Goleniewski's appearance before one of the best and one of my good
the Senate subcommittee were at the friends-in which he says:
request of the man himself. And the The members of four subcommittees them-
subcommittee agreed to his request. selves, by definition, have relatively low
I might add that the CIA subcom- status.
mittee; of which I am a member, went Not because I am a member of one of
into every aspect of this case. I am p +l,ncn enh, nmmittr+AC but for the other
mittee on CIA, I must take exception to
the implication of that statement as to
mittee, the gentleman from Georgia
o
on this case display a reckless regar
the truth. Tl~ey can be harmful, and [Mr. Vrxsox] ; the distinguished ranking
majority
those who circulate them do a great dis member, the gentleman from
South Carolina [Mr. RIVERS] ; and an-
service to maintaining public confidence : other distinguished ranking member, the
in the CIA. . ; apntlomnn from Louisiana [Mr. HEBERT].
are those who would, if they could, dis- commenting further with re- Serving with them are the other very
credit the CIA. Others of us, having no spect to the CIA and unfounded criti- distinguished members: The gentleman
such intention, unwittingly become their cisms of it, perhaps I should first take from Illinois [Mr. PRICE], the gentleman
victims. cognizance of the criticism of the CIA from Indiana [Mr. BRAY], the gentleman
I
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 from Per man oortilFbW1V1!Ai~s&o 7r, ~e ReJ ? b %9D r7 O n ititiriPlidfbt~,59 'oogdhtzation is
gentleman from Alabama [Mr. Hunn1, e ing the views and instructions of the not a decisionmaking body but one which
nfro gentleman. from New LE- President, Based on my knowledge, the carries out the instructions of others.
[Mr. OSMERS1. I, and the ge assertion and implications of the state- The magazine article I mentioned
sey
mint are false. speaks of the personnel in the Agency,
I am not at liberty to announce the The Esquire article indicates the au- and acknowledges that CIA officials are
members of the other subcommittees in thor's recognition that a high degree of among the most distinguished in the en-
the Congress dealing with CIA matters; secrecy is essential to the workings of tire Federal establishment. With this I e the bt dI eaniass ret relatively anot the intelligence community and with this would readily agree. But-the author of
S low status-" I agree. But the article continues by the Esquire article is in error when he
The article to which I refer goes on saying there are dangers if public con- says that CIA is "served by only one
to state: fidence in the intelligence establishment politically responsible officer." Both the
But even had those subcommittees both erodes. The article continues by stat- Director and Deputy Director of the
status and time, the difficulties involved in ing: Agency are appointed by the President
d
I ividing u ildi tionaa Bong the four would, [Such erosion] is less likely if a body of and confirmed by the Senate, and I would
the people's representatives properly consti- note that all other employees of the
This point deserves analysis. Since tuted and carefully chosen by the leader- Agency can be terminated by the Director
the proposed solution to the matter Since ship of the two Houses of Congress remains
t little the matter
be of continuously aware of the activities of the on his own authority. The implication
low prop
ow status Joint d Committee le time o would Intelligence community. that they are not responsible is beneath
establish a a
Information and Intelligence, several Based on my long-term membership on th.hf services of that retired CIA relies heavily
questions arise. of the CIA Subcommittee, I again can The facts do not military officers.
assure the House that the subcommittee are very few w retired military officers in
intelligence activities which are compo- has been continuously aware of agency the Agency. Of the top 46 executives
nent parts of the Department of De- activities. I must reemphasize that this in the Central Intelligence Agency, only
fense, the Department of State and the subcommittee in fact Is properly con- two are retired military officers, and the
Atomic Energy Commission. I do not stituted and carefully chosen by the dis- proportion of retired military officers to
believe that the House Foreign Affairs tinguished chairman of this committee. professionals throughout the Agency is
Committee, the Armed Services Commit- The statement has been made that even smaller. He says that the Agency
tee or the Joint Committee on Atomic CIA meddles in policy. This is an often relies heavily on services of political refu-
Energy would be likely to relinquish their heard allegation about the Agency, but gees. It is true that it does on occasion
responsibilities for legislative oversight the facts do not support it. CIA is an in- use political refugees, but a misimpres-
of the components of those departments direction from the policymakers. The sion is given here. These Individuals
which are presently under their jurisdic- late President Kennedy commented on are used when their expertise and area
tion. We would thus be establishing a this in October 1963 when irresponsible knowledge is required and the informa-
Joint Committee on Foreign Intelligence i sources were alleging that CIA was mak- tion they provide is extensively cross-
that would, in fact, be superimposed on ng policy in Vietnam. He said: checked against a great variety of other
the existing committees and subcommit- I must say I think the reports are wholly sources.
tees. This brief analysis does not begin untrue. The fact of the matter is that Mr.
to delve into the jurisdictional problems McCone sits in the National Security Coun- I would note also that my esteemed
that would thus be raised within the cif. I imagine I see him at least three or four colleague in one paragraph indicates that
congressional committee structure and times a week, ordinarily. We have worked the daily chore of coordinating and
the Congress itself. very closely together in the National secure- cross-checking intelligence data is the
In the same Esquire article it is as. to meet t the problems we ace in South attempting et- Agencyibi]AccccorOf the ding to Defense
the National eSe-
serted in connection with the Bay of nam. I can find nothing, and I have looked curity Act of 1947, the Central Intelli-
Pigs situation, and I now quote, "Not through the record very carefully over the gence Agency is actuall
only was CIA shaping policy-perhaps last 9 months, and I could go back further, y charged by ice.
to indicate that the CIA has done anything with the coordination of intelligence.
understandable because of the absence but support policy. It does not create The law reads:
of direction from policymaking organs policy; it attempts to execute it in those For the purpose of coordinating the intel-
of the Government-but that policy was areas where it has competence and, respon- ligence activities of the sereval Government
patently at odds with State Department elbility, departments and agencies in the interest of
thinking." The author of the article The President went ono say: national security, it shall be the duty of the
then adds that he does not wish to fully I can just assure, you flatly that the CIA Agency, under the direction of the National
rehearse the events which preceded the has not carried out independent activities the security National l Security make renommentheions
Bay of Pigs, nor do I. This accusation, but haw operated under close control of the eurlty CouCouncil for the co-
however, is not founded in fact but, on Director of Central Intelligence, operating ordination of such intelligence activities of
the contrary, is flatly inconsistent with with the cooperation of the National Security the departments and agencies of the Govern-
the truth. It will be recalled that the Council and under my instructions. so I meat as relate to the national security. made White House issued a statement on t
t akes, ash we the do, on different occas ons, on matter of actual practice
on o the tee
April 24, 1961, saying: and has had many successes which may go si bil for coordination over the
President Kennedy has stated from the unheralded, in my opinion In this case it is year Years has s been that of the Director of
beginning that as President he bears sole unfair to charge them as they have been Central Intelligence, who has been sup-
responsibility for the events of the past few charged. I. think they have done a good ported in this regard by the CIA.
days. He has stated it on all occasions and job. The magazine article also makes the
he restates it now so that it will be under- statement that CIA is both the chief fact
This was President gennedv's rtutP- ..
stood by all. The President is strongly
administration attempting to shift the re- It has been asserted that there are Orainatlon. As I have just mentioned,
sponsibilety. no effective checks on the Agency's active the Agency is charged by law with co-
To assume or assert that CIA shaped sties. The facts are that every activity ordination, and it is also charged, and I
the Agency engages In is approved policy and then executed it when that in To correlate and evaluate intelligence re-
policy was at odds with the official policy advance at the appropriate policy level. lating to the national security, and provide
of the Department of State not only It is also said that "Crucial decisions are for the appropriate dissemination of such
demonstrates a lack of knowledge of the made for us and in our name of which intelligence within the Government.
coordination and control procedures in we know nothing." This is not true.
the executive branch but further implies The subcommittee, of which I am a mem- In effect, what this means is that the
that the Director of Central Intelligence ber, is kept informed on a current basis CIA takes intelligence from all different
or other officials of the CIA are violating of the activities of the Agency and, as I sources, departments and agencies and
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produces the national Intelligence re-
quired by the policymakers.
During the years that I have served
on the CIA Subcommittee I have sat
many houm questioning the Director and
other Agency officials about their ac-
tivities and how they go about their work.
On many occasions this subcommittee
has quietly looked into some of the then
current accusations against CIA.
Let me assure you, Mr. Speaker, that
we have always received the Information
needed. Also, we have been privileged to
learn of many events in the secrecy of
our meetings before the events have hap-
pened.
The CIA officials who have been before
our committee have at all times been re-
sponsive and frank in their discussions
with us.
I do not believe that baseless charges
against the CIA are serving the national
interest. If there are those who have
information which they believe would be
of assistance to the CIA Subcommittee in
Its review of Agency activities let them
come forward-we would welcome such
Information. Let me make it clear,
however, that those who would expect
the subcommittee then to report on its
findings will be due for disappointment.
By the very nature of the Agency's mis-
sion, revelation of its activities will truly
destroy It.
It is my view that the establishment
of CIA in 1947 by the Congress was ex-
tremely wise and showed amazing fore-
sight into the problems that would face
this country in the years to follow. The
wisdom of the Congress in establishing
this Agency to provide the President with
the necessary information on which to
base our foreign policy has been borne
out by the performance of the Agency.
I do not claim that the Agency has been
100-percent correct. But I do believe it
has provided the President and our
policymakers with the tools that they
must have.
Certainly the Armed Services Commit-
tee and the Appropriations Committee of
both Houses have been enabled to Judge
more correctly our defense needs on the
basis of the Information CIA has been
able to provide. While the Agency is a
newcomer in the history of the Nation
and among Its foreign counterparts, I
wish to state now that it probably is the
finest intelligence agency In the world
today. I believe that the Congress and
the country should applaud the dedi-
cated and highly professional career offi-
cers of CIA for the magnificent job they
have performed over the years.
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