CIA SECRECY IS STEADY SOURCE OF CONTROVERSY

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP75-00149R000700120010-4
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 16, 2016
• Document Release Date: December 21, 2004
• Sequence Number: 10
• Publication Date: December 5, 1965
• Content Type: NSPR

25X1
Approved For Release 2005/01/05: CIA-RD
T t; r1
L?
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29,422
DEC 5 1965
Source of Controversy
The shadowy business of the
Central Intelligence Agency, by
its nature, demands secrecy.
But in a finger-pointing, probe-
conscious democracy there is
constant pressure to lift the lid
and have a look.
Scarcely a day - or a coup -
goes by that someone, some-
where does not accuse the CIA
of murder or kidnaping, or
bombing or blackmail or bri-
bery or masterminding this in
Tanzania or bungling that in
Singapore-all the while strew-
ing American dollars hither and
yon.
Since it is inherent in an intel-
ligence apparatus not to con-
firm or deny anything, the
claims, rumors and charges
leave the public confused as to
whether the agency is exceed-
ingly good - or bad.
The fact that it cannot answer
for itself makes the CIA fair'
game for the wildest of charges
and only occasionally does this
iceberg of espionage surface
such. as the U2 flights ovet'" t
Soviet Union and the Bay of
Pigs invasion.
What the CIA does concerns
not only the Kremlin. It also
concerns a number of critics in
the United States. To them the
CIA has gone too far into areas
cif foreign. policy, has gone too
Far into the woodwork to be
;,,,properly monitored by the gov-
hack
Alkey
M
ernment it serves, i 'wit low
blows to, our" we-fight fair-why-
don't-the-others image.
Has it?
The- CIA has* many spies, few
spokesmen. It doesn't talk. But
a typical sampling of allega-
tions which have been published
in books and newspapers and
which are part of the accepted
picture of the CIA in many
party of the world provilc such
as tilC follow ing:
A let ation 1: -Two Svrian.z testified. .an
American Embassy official of-
fered them $2 million if they,
could deliver a Soviet naval pat-
rol boat and its rockets to Cy-
prus. He was asked to leave the
country. They were hanged.
Allegation 2:
-The CIA has rigged elec-
tions in Laos. And an American
newsman said he saw Commu-
nist and CIA agents literally
bumping into each other while
visiting Congolese parliamen-
tarians to buy votes during a
crucial vote of confidence.
CIA agents adulterated a
shipment of sugar aboard a So-
viet freighter docked in Puerto
Rico. The aim was to sour the
Soviet sweet tooth on Cuban
sugar. President John F. Ken-
nedy became angered when he
learned of it, and the sugar
thereupon. was destroyed by a
mysterious fire.
in any postcard it might have
.of Pacific scenes to aid the war
against Japan.
Just how much the United'
States may be spending on Intel-
ligence a year is anybody's
guess. There are few estimates
that go below $2 billion.
Who needs it?
The Un? t States, says Secre-
tary at-state .can Rusk, who
adds that a "back-alley war" is
going on a ll q the world. To ;
spurn':fts sordid,,.ruthless stealth
runs the risk o .X.t> to
it, "We cannot'jafely limit our
response to the communist stra.
tegy of take-ovesolely to those
,are, invited in
cases where we
by a governr,ezit," wrote form-!,
er. CIA chief Allen Dulles. "We I
ourselves 'iiiitst determine
where and how to act."
The comet ~ of this line of
defense hidesd unmarked,
pastel-hued doors' in a woods-
encircled, king' size new build-
ing in Langley; Va., outside
Washington; It is anonymous:
save for the carved inscription
"Ye shall know. the truth. and
the truth shall make ye free
No signs lead to C1?A headgear-1
ters' although its embleth, an
eagle , surrounded .with, the
words "Central lrtitelltgence;
Agency," L massive v-inlaid on
the ti-ir4zo floor inside he frost
,The activities of the CIA, in
fact or myth, mark the great
distance U.S. intelligence has
from simpler pre-cold war
come
days.
as 1929 then Se -
As recently
of State Henry Stimson
retaiy
d the department's_
disbanded
"Black Chamber" code-break-
operations mg, ``Gentle-
ing
Bien do not rea each other's'
." Ions than two decades
mail
before the U2 And the S
satellites, tile" govern i
spy
was asking its citirenific 'send
Approved For Release 2005/01/05 : CIA-RDP75-00149R000700120010-4