POOR OLD CIA, EVERYBODY'S MILLSTONE, NOBODY'S PATSY

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP77-00432R000100340006-4
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 53
• Document Creation Date: December 9, 2016
• Document Release Date: June 7, 2001
• Sequence Number: 6
• Publication Date: September 19, 1974
• Content Type: NSPR

Approved For Release 2001/08/08 : CIA-RDP77-00432R000100340006-4
INTERNAL USE ONLY
This publication contains clippings from the
domestic and foreign press for YOUR
BACKGROUND INFORMATION. Further use
of selected items would rarely be advisable.
4 OCTOBER 1974
CHILE SPECIAL
Destroy after backgrounder
has served its purpose or
within 60 days.
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 'Approved For Release 2001/08/08 : CIA-RDP77-00432R000100340006-4
WASHINGTON STAR
19 Sept. 19141
r
By Tom Dowling
Star :Yews Staff Writer
Here in brief is the: meat of the CIA Chile
scenario: $11 million was shelled out to cor-
rupt the free Chilean electoral process in
order to guarantee the election of an incor-
ruptible, democratic government. Accord-
-in- to Gerry Ford, part of the money was
spent to insure the survival of a free press
and flourishing opposition parties so that
Allende could be overthrown and murdered
in order to install a regime that would shut
down the press and jail the dissenting oppo-
sition.
Well, that's inflation for you. Why, in the
old days we used to be able to destroya
Vietnamese village in order to save it for
the PX price of a Zippo,. a box of flints and
a can of lighter fluid. No, the dollar just
doesn't stretch that far any more, especial-
ly in Chile where a wheelbarrow of pesos
doesn't buy a good steak dinner, much less
a tidy, old-fashigned Yankee-sponsored
coup.
THE CHILEAN ESCAPADE has stirred l
up a considerable uproar; leaving some
commentators to suggest that the CIA be;
abolished, a Gordian knot proposal with
which I hasten to associate myself. All the
.
same, it is bootless to waste any breath;
chastising the CIA as the culprit of this
shameful affair. There is a rna;dm in the,
philosophy of logic known as Occam's razor
which states that it is vain to explain the
whole with more entities when fewer will
do just as well. It is therefore not the va-
garies of the CIA's operations which are at
issue, but those who are ultimately respon-
sible for supporting and activating the CIA.
After all, the CIA is merely a bureaucratic
instrument wielded by the President and
his mystical 40 Committee, and overseen by
Congressional committees.
The CIA Chilean conspiracy is scarcely a
flabbergasting departure from what passes
for normality in American post-war nation-
al. security doctrine: right wing coups in
Guatemala, Iran, Greece; U-2 flights; Bay
of Pigs invasions; secret wars in Laos;
Watergate complicity; the manipulation of
the National Student Association. These
schemes, whether they backfire or nor, are
fundamentally inimical to the idea of
human freedom, which makes the CIA an
institution repugnant to the democratic
spirit that presidents and congressmen
must necessarily support at least to get
reelected.
NOT SURPRISINGLY then, the only hon-
est statement to emerge from this whole
Chilean fiasco was made by director Wil-
liam Colby, who questioned the wisdpm of
his agency's informing Congress of its fu-
ture "dei:cate" activities since candor in
the Chilean fiiatter had revealed policies so
outrageous that Congress had no choice but
to expose them. In effect, Colby is saying
that to oifciently subvert other democra-
cies the president's 40 Committee members
must either lit! to the Congress, or. exact
promise that truthful
testimony in executive
session, however grisly'
its moral content may be,
For Re
will not be taken amiss byApproved
a few loud-mouthed con
gressional hot-heads., To
give Colby his due, he has
a neat and unarguable
point-as far as it goes.
The rub is that, on the
one hand, there are per-
jury laws covering con-
gressional testimony;
and, on the other, there
are increasingly fewer
congressmen whose de-
sire to hear the truth is
strong enough to merit
risking their political sur-
vival by an advance
pledge of blanket support
for the truth, however
repellent it may be.
AS A RESULT, you
have a CIA nominally
controlled by a president
and overseen by a con-
gress, all of whose self-in-
terest requires that they
remain as profoundly
ignorant of agency activi-
ty as possible. It's the
Watergate principle of
deniability all over again.
Of course, Chuck Col-
son doesn't want Howard
Hunt to tell him what hap-
pened inside the DNC
headquarters. Such infor-
mation only makes Colson
more liable to a perjury
count when he goes be-
fore the grand jury. Of
course, no president
wants to know exactly
what CIA projects his
predecessor allegedly set
in motion. If the scheme
goes well, he can't take
.any public credit for it
anyway; if, as seems
more likely, it backfires,
the blame can always be
subtly shifted to a prior
administration . as with
the Bay of Pigs.
Of course, Congress
doesn't want to hear how
the CIA actually plans to
spend its appropriations.
After all, no one. wants to
wake up one morning to
see Allende's corpse in
the newspaper and have
to say to himself: Oh,
yeah. I remember now.
That's what they :wanted
that SiI million bucks for.
AND SO THE CIA goes
its way, in an instrument
presidents and con-
gresses are pleased to
have at their disposal, as
long as the honor pre-
cludes any responsibility
for controlling it. Instead,
the Congress instituted a
gentlemen's agreement to
up to, then you fuzz it up
and lie a little bit and the-
re'll be no hard feelings.
4i-'hat the hell, what we
don't know can't hurt us.
By and large, it was a
.serviceable and safe com-
pact. But, in these par-
lous Watergate times, the
.good bureaucrat is well
advised to cover his
tracks with maximum
prudence. So when they
hauled old Colby up to the
House for closed CIA
hearings, he told the
truth, which is said to set
men free-from perjury
raps among other things.
And in telling the truth
the whole elaborate gen-
tlemen's agreement came
apart at the scams. Be-
cause, of course, Colby's
predecessors and associ-
ates had all been expect-
ed to lie. Some of them
did it with suppleness,
others with baldness, but
all of them with slavish
elan. Their president and
their congress thought
highly of them for it.
SO NOW THE suave
Richard Helms faces the
clink for lying so loyally.
Kissinger is once again
accused of deception. As-
sorted other State Depart-
ment and CIA minions
can look forward to the
ruination of their careers,
if not convictions for per-
jury. With a unanimous
tut-tut of horrified aston-
ishment the Senate For-
.nq
rat)
eign Relations-Committee
will conduct hearings on
the Chilean prevarica-
tions.
Even I am disinclined
to accept such an esti-
mate of congressional ob-
tuseness. The fact, obvi-
ous to anyone, is that
Kissinger's successful
foreign policy m-achina-
tions .to take merely the
best example-are based
on his immense gift as a
liar. The enormous appro-
bation he enjoys among
presidents and con-
gresses alike resides in
the facility. the sober
integrity, the self-effacing
wit with which he envel-
ops one whopper after
another. His success
abroad is predicated on
the fact that foreigners
believe him. Indeed. his
lies are so credible that,
even now that the rules of
congressional testimony
have been changed on
him in midstream,-the
Congress and the Presi-
dent can look us right in
.the eye without blinking
and say:
Gosh, he sounded so
convincing, I believed
him. It looks like Henry,
the $0 committee and the
CIA pulled the wool right
over our eyes.
And mugs that we are
we'll buy it, content once
more to let those with re-
sponsibility shift the
blame to others.
WASHINGTON POST
Olt October 197"
. Anti?CJ A Group
l,i_)DO\-.Former CIA,
agent Philip Agee an-
nounced that an interna-
tional committee would he
formed to campaign against
the intelligence '-wherever it operates'. 110
sa:d ih ` ._4 `un .taut, in-
clude former CIA agents.
At a news confercenlce
here, Agee also released a
list of tzeople he said were
CIA operatives in Mexico.
leatl, I% "~ P77-00432F~000100340006-4
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WASHINGTON STAN,
19 September 1974
'-W llfan F0' c llev
The word is out that Ambas-
sador Daniel Patrick Moynihan
has expressed in a secret cable
the dismay with which he
meets the news that the CIA'
attempted to "interfere" with
the election of Chilean Presi-
dent Salvador Allende. Moyni-
han is a man of great principle,
and he is especially embar-,
rassed because he personally
reassured Mrs. Gandhi that the
United States was not inter-
fering with Chilean politics.,
A State Department official,
while not conceding that we
have done anything improper
in Chile, acknowledged that
Moynihan was indignant, but
then remarked that "Pat is
always indignant." He has a lot
to be indignant about.
THE CIA-CHILE controversy'
is hugely subtle and interest-
ing. Last year Moynihan per-
suaded the United States to`
tear up several billion dollars
in notes owed by India to the
United States.
Now India is a terribly mis=
anaged country, and the pov-
rty there appalling.. There are
ndians (I know one, a very
rominent Indian) who believe
hat U.S. aid to the govern-
ents of India during the post-
war period was arrant interfer-
ence in Indian politics. We took
the position that we were mere-
ly performing humanitarian
deeds.
I do not doubt that was -our
motive. And I do not doubt that
was our motive in attempting
to help the resisters to Allende.
Moreover, if we had succeeded,
Chile would have been spared
the miserable; dirty, despotic
tribulations it is enduring at
this moment.
That doesn't, of course, dis-
pose of the point that State
Department officials apparent-
ly. misled., congressional com-
mittees. Put that aside, for the
moment, as a democratic
dilemma.
IT IS A PITY that critics of
CIA involvement in Chile do
not put the situation in context.
It is made to appear as though
we uniquely desired to fashion
the will of the Chilean people.
In the year before Allende
came to power:
1) Soviet and East European
films were shown regularly in
commercial theaters, univer-
sities, clubs, and on television
-paid for by the Soviets.
2) The Soviet Union pub-
lished a -picture magazine
edited for Chilean consump-
tion, with a circulation of. 10,=
000. (In U.S. terms, that would
be the equivalent of 200,000.)
3) The Communist party of
Chile, under Soviet domination,
produced a bimonthly theoret-
ical journal and a daily news-
paper.
4) The Soviet Union, Cuba,
Czechoslovakia and Poland
participated in trade fairs in-
cluding cultural and technical
exhibits, including one, exhibit
of over 500 Marxist books
contributed by the USSR. One
exhibit was devoted to "Yankee
aggression in Vietnam." ,
5) Communist news agencies
included China, Cuba, East
Germany, Tass, and Novosti.
6) The USSR broadcasts 73
hours per week in Latin Amer-
ica, East European countries
84 'hours, Communist China 28
hours. And Cuba 163 hours.
7) Soviet officials made
available program tapes to
provincial radio stations. One
station carried a weekly pro-
gram produced by Chilean stu-
dents at Lumumba University.
The Communist party conduc-
ted regular programs on a
Santiago station and on six
provincial stations.
WHAT SHOULD the United
States do, under such circum-
stances? In another connection,
INQUIR t
THE PHEADZURTA
2 SEP 1974
Should CIA. io public?
To judge from his comments to the after all, it does belp us get what we
want. That, we hope, is a minority view
cress this week about the Central Intel- right now. Beyond that, -Yr. Ford seems
ligence Agency, President Ford has de- convinced that the cold war is still on
tided on a new policy of candor and and still justifies any tactics we may
plain speaking. He frankly said the CIA care to use against governments we
will go right on being as deceptive and don't trust. Former President Nixon's
underhanded as ever. That's letting it, optimism. about an "era of cooperation
all gang out.,, instead. of confrontation" evidently left
Mr. Ford had to say something, of the scene with him.
course, and his choices were rather lim- Obviously this country must have an,
Ited. He couldn't very well denounce the efficient worldwide intelligence system.
CIA, particularly now- when congress- Pe Qb comes when. the system starts
men are queuing up on,.all :sides to in- making other governments' decisions for
vestigate its role in bringing down the them, and enforcing the decisions by
Allende government in. Chile. On the criminal means. Whatever this approach
other hand, he couldn't come out four- may` do for other countries [not much,
square for unlimited undercover med- we suspect], for us it succeeds mainly
dling by one nation in the internal poll- in setting off riots outside United States
tics of another. ... _ . embassies and discrediting American in-
So he took a middle course, explaining tentions and policies everywhere.
ThQ: time may have come to change
that everybody engages in this sort of
meddling and suggesting that it is very
bad except when we do it. The explana-
tion is not, let us say, perfect.
After seeing one President destroyed
by Watergate, it is not comforting to
hear from the new President that there's
something to be said for lawbreaking-
Ambassador Moynihan., in-
dignant over America's supine
presence in the United Nations,
cabled prescriptions not in-
applicable in attempting to
understand the Chilean situa-
tion. "There was a saying
around the Kennedy White
House: don't get mad, get even
. . . what has come over
us? Forget about a slander on
our honor? What have we
become? Any country that does
not support ds on a matter of
consequence not only damages
the United Nations, but must
quietly be brought to under-
stand it is damaging itself. I
looked down the list of those
who go along by abstaining. In
half of them the present
regimes would collapse without
American support or American
acquiescence. To hell with it.
"Something specifically bad
should happen to each one of
them, and when it has hap-
pened they should be told that
Americans take the honor of
their democracy most serious-
ly, and never issue warnings to
tl'-se who would besmirch that
honor. When that happens,
something extraordinarily dis-
agreeable happens next, and
the victim is left to figure it out
for himself."
But for that sort of thing,
don't bring in the CIA?
our .approach to the whole business. Tr e
.might, - for instance, deembhasize the
cloak-and-dagger scene-which is get .g
a bit'old-fashioned. and counterproductive
anyway-,-and try something really new:
A public-spirited CL4. A force of frank,
manly, plainspoken intelligence agents
may be just what the world is wait.-
for.
CL4 agents could be clearly identified
by lapel badges. These should carry the
agent's full name and say something
engaging, like "Hi, there!" Operatives
should be friendly but frank with the
people they're spying on; interviewees
should be asked to speak up and talk
directly into the agent's martini olive.
Any secret drawers around should be
plainly labeled "Secret Drawer."
It would -be a wholly new, tharoly
American approach to spying, and
it would completely paralyze enemy
agents. They'd spend all their time try-
ing to figure out what we were really
up to.
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LONDON TIMES
20 September 1974
Activities of tile
CIA. in Chile
From Mr Miles Copeland
Sir, In their present isolationist
mood, many Americans will be at
cross as you appear to be to learn
that, once again, their Government
has been meddling in the internal
affairs of a foreign country. On the
other hand, there is a growing
realization in the United States of
the extent to which we have allowed
ourselves to become dependent on
resources which must be imported
from abroad, and that in the inter-
ests of survival we have no choice
but to practice- a bit of imperialism
here and there.
For good or for bad, right or
wrong, the have committed our-
selves to a technologically based
economy which requires iinpot'ts
ranging from platinum from South
Africa to aluminum from Australia
and Guinea, as well as a number of
minerals, known facetiously. to bur
national strategists as " chronim-
iuni ", required to make steel resist.
ant to high temperatures, to tnanu'
facture high speed machinery, and
to maintain our electronic indus-
tries. Our Government no longer
publishes lists of "strategic " and
"critical " materials (there is no
reason we should advertise to our
suppliers the extent to which we
are at their mercy), but in the
course of some enquiries I recently
made on behalf of a client I was*
told that we are no more than " a
few months " ahead in our stockpil-
ing of some items on which our
industrial complex is "absolutely`
dependent.
We buy what we need at current
world market prices. If we see one
of our supplying countries about to
come under the domination of hos-
tile powers which might deny us
what we need for survival we expect.
our Government to do something
about it. Since gunboat diplomacy
and other "overt" means are um
workable these days, we must turn
to the covert means which are-or
should be-in the hands of the
agency which knows how to use
them discreetly and efficiently. If
helping independent electoral can-
didates to stand up to candidates.
supported by the Russians, the
Chinese or the Cubans is "imperial.
ism ", so be it.
The fault of the CIA in Chile was
that, being gunshy from the bad
press it had been getting in the
days of Vietnam, it came in with
too little too. late. Although intelli.
gence estimates clearly indicated
that something in the neighbour.
hood of $12,000,000 would be re-
quired to match aid which Allende
was getting from abroad, the CIA
put up something less ' than
55,000,000-11lost of which, Ameri-
can business concerns in Chile are
convinced, was never spent.
That e CIA late $3 000,000th to "destabilizes" Allen,
de's Government is nonsense Mr
WASHINGTON. STAR
20 September 1974
aSpBt l r 1 6 Milo 1o Y,ttrki4
When the White House press corps
challenged President Ford on U.S.
intervention in Chile, they squeezed him'
into a tight little crevice between the
morality anti practicality of foreign
policy,
That press conference produced the
rare spectacle of the President of the
United States admitting that we use our
wealth and our might to try to control
the destinies of other nations, partly be-
cause we assume our ideological foes
are doing the same.
As the only newsman around who has
been a member of the Forty Committee,
that small offshoot of the National Se
curity Council which approves and
oversees U.S. clandestine activities
abroad, it may help if I give you a re-
port on just what goes on -- and how the
issues of morality sometimes conflict,
THIS IS A RUTHLESS, dirty world
where, despite talk of detente, the ideo-
logical struggle never ends. So the
powerful meddle constaptly in the af-
fairs of the weak