TEXT OF STATEMENT BY HELMS TO SENATORS ON C.I.A.

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CIA-RDP77-00432R000100350002-7
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June 8, 2001
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January 17, 1975
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~-- _ =- -Approved For Release 2001/08/08 :CIA-RDP77-004328000100350002-7 CONFIDENTIAL 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. GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS GENERAL WESTERN EUROPE EAST ASIA WESTERN HF.(`~IISPHERE CONFIDENTIAL Approved For Release 2001/08/08 :CIA-RDP77-004328000100350002-7 Approved For Release 2001/08/08 :CIA-RDP77-00432R000~100~50002 7 NEW YORK TIMES 17 January 1975 Text of ~ ~tatern~nt by_: He-lms~~'ta~-~_Senato~s on ~~.~.A.= Speolal~to Tl~e Tev~ York Times WASHINGTON, Jan. 1.6- Foiiowing is the text op a ?statement Loday by Richard Helms, former Director of Central Intelligence, before She Senate Armed Services Subeominittee on Central In- ' telligence: ? Mr. Chairman: ~ ~ We are here this morning for a straightforward .our- pose: To get at the facts , bearing on the conduct of the Central Intelligence Agency in situations that have lately come under at- tack in certain quarters of i the press and. from some members of Congress. i All the members of this committee have devoted anuch, if not all, of their pro= , fessional. lives to the public service. I :ask for the privi- Iege to speak to you across the familiar ground of a , shared experience. Before be- coming an Ambassador, I spent 30 ?years in the intelli- Bence service. For me and, I ' ' believe, for most of those, who served with me in the Central Intelligence Agency,' these were years of high meaning ?--serious work in the American interest. I was and remain >rn,irl ~f my? work there, culminating in my six and a half years as director. I believed in the im- portance to the nation of the. function that the agency served. I still do: without regrets, without qualms, without apology. ~ If then a feeling of pride should hereafter pervade what I have to say about my direc- tion of the agency and my exposition of !ts functions, I pray you will not interpret: my attitude as self-serving.. It !s .simply- the way I feel about what I came to look upon not merely as a job, but. rather as a calling-a profes- sion, regulated as all profes- . signs are, by' scruples, by honor, and by duty. In addi- tion, the needs of the Presi- dent were paramount, within the bounds of a statutory charter. And if I should yield to indignation in my comments on the public turmoil that now surrounds the agency; it will be because I am .indig- nant at -the irresponsible attacks made upon the true ends of the- intelligence func- tion-attacks which, if suf= feted to pass unchallenged, could seriously damage the - interests of the United States by impairing its ability to live safely in a world too much . of which remains locked off in closed, fortress-like states. The function-the work, that is-of the Central Intel- ligence Agency is well spelled out in the National Security Act of 1947, the same act that gave .rise to the nefense Department as we know it{ today. . That taw was passed otter much debate. It has endured the test of time and nearly -three decades of international turbulence.- Basically, the charge laid upon the agency-its con- trollingmission-is to. collect, synthesize and evaluate in- formation associated with foreign happenings that affect? the national security. The 'finished product is passed directly to the President and the relatively few members. of his staff who are reapon-' Bible for the conduct of our foreign policy and national defense. It so happens that the word "foreign" does not appear in the act. Yet there never has been any question about the intent of the ? Congress to confine- the agency's intelli- gence 'function to foreign matters. All the directors from the start-and Mr. Colby is the eighth in the succes~ Sion-have operated on the clear understanding that the agency's reason for being was to collect intelligence abroad. The boundary has always been plain to them arld to their staffs. Those of us who were in one or another oP the nation- al intelligence services during the second world war remem- ber well that when General. Donovan first put .forward the concept of a peacetime in- telligence service agency in 1944, the idea was attacked in the press as a device for fastening a Gestapo on the nation. It was precisely for 'the purpose of banishing such fears, however groundless, that the language of the founding act specifies that the Central Intelligence Agen- cy would have no police, law enforcement, or subpoena power, and no internal secu- rity function. ' To my certain knowledge, all the Directors of Central Intelligence in their turn ac-= cepted the division of the foreig nand domestic intelH- gence and security tasks as an absolute-a ? separation confirmed by the mandate of Congress. Our work lay in foreign fields. So that there may . be, no misunderstanding, we all know that just as photographic satellites are launched from American soil, a considerable portion of our effort is base din this coun- try. The agency is charged with collecting foreign intelli- gencedomestically fmm Unit- ed States citizens or residents .traveling abroad. Overseas activities may need a home base in this country and in any case are basically administered from headquarters in Virginia, where also are the bulk of our analytical and estimative personnel. As I wilt describe in a minute, the interface with? the Federal Bureau of 'In- vestigation is continuous and we have never in any way challenged their jurisdiction. And finally the Director of Central Intelligence has the statutory responsibility for the protection. of intelligence sources and methods from unauthorized disclosure. But in all this the targed re? mains abroad. How then dq_we account for the phenomenon that finds an agency.so chartered under adrum-fire of attack ?fo~ allegedly engaging in do- mestic espionage and other illegal actions, in defiance of its statutory constraints? There are, in my observa~ lion, two reasons for that. One is that the American people in general ? and the press as an institution have? traditionally been skeptical of any government operation. 'that is carried on in secrecy,' especially in peacetime. That distrust is a healthy one and the intelligence serv- ices should accept such skep- ticism as an inescapable qc- cupational hazard. They are themselves, after all, es- sentially reporting services.. whenever :they iaz1 to read the signs correctly, or when- ever they are guilty of some misfeasance in the conduct of their business; the press ? has a right, indeed a'duty, to rtake them to task. - Irresponsibility Alleged This brings 'me to the second reason, The current attack aimed at the agency was in my opinion irresponsi- ble. The principal allegations remain unsupported, and, to the contrary, have been un- dermined by contrary evi- dence identified by the press itself. Yet these allegations, picked up and carried to .the. four. corners of the earth, have brought undeserved em- barrassment and humiliation to the patriotic and dedicated men and women of the Cen- tral Intelligence Agency, And they seriously damage, at least temporarily; the func- tion the agency is. charged with performing in the na- tional interest. ' We in the intelligence com- munity and the press in its world are both in the busi- ness of reporting information in the public interest, I say in all seriousness that for some of the press to pound the' public with such a farrago bf charges can only result in scarring the reputation of an arm of the government without serving a useful purpose. _ I offer, iP I may, another observation. It is that quite apart from the question of the motives that may or may not have fostered the attack plainly lacked a firm under- standing of the practices and precepts of American inteli~i- Bence. I see now, in hindsight, a fairly. urgent need for educat- ing the press, and through the press the American peo- ple, in the not particularly arcane distinctions that exist in the intelligence commu- nity. If my estimate is correct, it~ -took the more responsible, elements of the ?press a full fortnight to grasp ? what has. actually gone on onside the different parts of that com- munity. If this distinguished panel should agree with me. that much of 1`uinous misun- derstandings of these .past weeks could have been avoided if only the intelli-~ Bence function had been more widely understood; then perhaps you will find a way to' make certain the con- fusion wi}1 not be repeated. _... _. Two Parts of Budget ...._..., To,begin with, there is the .matter of straightening out the public conception of the various bodies that make up the intelligence community, the boundaries that separate ?them and the common con- cerns they share. It is well known, io be sure, that our total Federal intelligence effort is both ex- tensive and expensive. Not so. well known is the fact that the Central Intelligence Agen- ey's fraction of the total ma-~ chinery, in terms of money, The bulk of its budget is spent on the collection. and assessment of information. In contrast, the counterintel- ligence side, the side that seems most to fascinate our critics, is small both in budg-. et and in people. It has the highly professional job of de- tecting and countering foreign efforts ~to penetrate and subvert our- institutions; and policies. _ ` In-this task the counterin- telligence branch must by lay and necessity work closely with the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The F.B.I. handles the counterintel- ligence function inside our shores. The C.I.A. does the job abroad. Manifestly, since agents come and go, there has to ~be a continuous in- terchange of information be- tween the two organizations, and an exchange of files as; well. Trust and confidence are the sovereign coinage in this work. One simply cannot pass such valuable people as identified foreign agents to and fro between ?tin~ f~:e'??~. and the home systems as the international and domestic ' air carriers do with their pas- sengers. Our sources of intel- ligence would not last long if we were that indifferent. An the agency, the press I have a last point to make. Ia noa~rlal ?times few Ame '- n Approved For Release 2001/08/08 : ~IA-RDP77-004328000100350002-7 Approved For Release 2001-/08/08: CIA-RDP77-004328000100350002=7 cans would ever come'wittiia the purview of our foreign in- teliigence operations. That happened - only when evidence appeared of their. iinvolvement with subversive elements abroad. Until the recent past, such iinvalvements were rare oc- currences. Then to the late I, The four senators evho voted against creating the commit-: tee yesterday were 1Villiam L. Scott (R-Va.),-Jesse Helms (R- N.C.), Herman Talmadge (D- Ga.) and Strom Thurmond (R- S.C.). I In the New Executive Office Building, meanwhile, the pres- idential commission investigat- ing the CIA held its third full day of closed hearings. One .witness was Richard Ober, a ;National Security. Council I Aide who formerly worked in the CIA counterintelligence division, which conducted some of the controversial do- mestic surveillance. Vice President Rockefeller,) chairman of the eight-member 'commission, declined to ?dis- ' close any of the substance of the testimony from Ober an_ d 'CIA Director t~'illiaen E. Colby, ~vho reappeared. before: the cofeunission yesterday: All but one commission member, former Gov.'Ronald Reagan,. of California, attended: It was ~,Reagan's second absence. . _ .~, WASHINGTON POST 20 January 1975 ~'IA Domestic Spies Spoof ed in Pratda 11'IOSCO~iT, Jan. 19 (UPI) - The Communist Party newspaper Pravda printed a cartoon today spoofing. the U.S. Central Intelli- Bence Agency. The cartoon showed black-coated agents. form- ing the Russian initials, for CIA, watching two men. The agents had a camera, earphones and a telescope. Two other men are in. the foreground with a newspaper reporting alle- gations of CIA domestic spying. One says to the other: "Ole, them-they are CIA agents spying nn members n[ the commission which is im~estigating CIA activi?, .ties." - .Approved Fot-.Release 2001/08/08 :CIA-RDP77-004328000100350002-7 plc to review its operations and to pro- vide a second line of defense against the temptation to use covert funds and people in ways :harmful to the long-run interests of the United States. ~-In light of the Watergatescandals, restoration of public confidence in the CIA is essential. Only a thoughtful, fulI'invpsfigation will accomplish this. But for the sake of the country's stabil- ity in this period of worldwide new-. ousness; let .us not.cut down the tree in order to.. prune out a few dead branches. z. ~~?obe: ' Roles "bugged" by government eavesdroppers. The composition of the com- mittee seems to assure that the investigation won't end; up a whitewash, as some had feared. Although Tower and Goldwater have always been considered close ?riends of the defense and national se- curity establishment, a ma- jority of the 11 members up the last surviving .Press-~ dent to determine if the Press- dent of the .United States knows what is going on," Baker said. On the other side of Capitol Hill, the House has been con- sidering creating a special m? select'committee of 'its own to undertake a similar investiga- tion, but hasn't yet taken ac- tion. Mansfield, before announc- ing the names of the six Dem- ~ ocratic members, told the Sen-' ate, "There can be no white- wash in this inquiry .nor is there room for a vendetta" against the CIA or FBC. He said he wants "no Roman cir? cus or television spectacular." As it became clear .on the 4 J ,Approved For Release 2001/08/08 :CIA-RDP77-004328000100350002-7 WASHINGTON STAR 22 January 1975 ~ C9~'s Case ~an anti-war congressman, or any not add np to "massive illegal dames- The director of the Central Intelli= tic intelligence operations" to us. It other con ressman for th t matt . g a er, Bence Agency, Vti'illiam E. Colby, has was placed under surveillance. As to. does appear that CIA was involved to made a persuasive rebuttal to charges "break-ins" in this country, Colby list- some extent in domestic intelligence that the agency engaged in "massive .ed three and said they involved prem-, gathering that should have been left to' illegal domestic intelligence opera- the FBI..It also is evident, as Colby tions." Unless Colby is hiding some- ises related to agency employes or for-' suggested, that the legislation estab- thing -- and there is no reason to be- mer employes whose activities fishing the CIA needs to be amended to lieve he is -the most the CIA can be ~ involved questions of national securi- make it more clear where foreign accused of is that it strayed somewhat ty. intelligence gathering ends and On wiretapping charges, the beyond the bounds of its charter. .. domestic intelligence begins. ...,_ _ _. ~ ., __ _,._ ~ __-___ _~ .dirertnr listed 2] tans between 1951 ., ..... .. "massive illegal" operations involves. ~allu iyuJ, /llvvlvlu~; iy asclla;y 6111- ~`eXpOSe" than has been detailed by- the compilation of files on 10,000- citi-~ Ployes or former employes and two , other citizens thought to be receiving Colby, it seems to us that the CIA has tens involved in or somehow connect- .sensitive intelligence information. One been dealt an unjust blow. Further ed with dissident activities and civil -.CIA employe was wiretapped after investigation by appropriate author- disorders that swept the country dur- 1965 and that was done with approval hies certainly is not out of order, but ing the years of protest against the the investigators ought to be careful war in Vietnam. Colby's explanation of the attorney general. that the CIA's abili to c as to how and why these files were Physical surveillance of citizens tY arry an its within the United States was rare, vital national security functions is not "kept is too detailed to set forth here,, Colby said, and was done only when further impaired. but .reasonable people reading his -There is nothing particularly wrong Thursday statement to .the' Senate there was reason to believe those being shadowed might be passing with the Senate's decision to appoint a Appropriations Committee could hard- information to hostile intelligence special committee to look into the CIA, Iy draw the conclusion that the CIA is services. Colby aclmowledged several, as well .as into the intelligence some kind of?an internal gestapo.instances when mail was inspected,- gathering operations of other -govern- It is evident that-the CIA activity in ment agencies. President Ford's regard to the dissidents was carried but said the primary purpose was to out with full knowled e, even at the identify persons in correspondence overloading of his "blue-ribbon" panel g with Communist- countries for pre ' with persons friendly to the CIA made instigation, of the White House and the ~ it inevitable that Congress would make Federal Bureau ~of Investi ation sumed counterintelligence purposes. g Aside from providing some equip- its awn probe: The House probably .which has responsibility for domestic; won t want to~be left out, so it is Iikel ,,:_____ ~_~__ ,_~:_ ~_ ment to one of the Watergate fiEUres Y ultclll~cll~.c Sati1G1111~,' iclaull~ to tll~ 'that another .investigation will be national security. The purpose, ac-~ -Howard Hunt -and preparing a cording to Colby, was to determine Psychological assessment on Daniel started on that side of Capitol HiII. The whether foreign stimulus or support Ellsberg, Colby denied any CIA in- danger is that the whole thing could turn into athree-ring circus more volvement in Watergate . was being provided to the dissident ac- tivity. ~ ~ ' ' ~- - ~ ~ ;;,,The activities outlined by Colbp.do damaging than enlightening. ` . ~ BY KENNETH REICH . ~ . Yirnes Political Wrater 5AZI DIEGO-A former Central Intelligence Agency employe who told 10 days ago of being aware of CIA mail surveillance of American citizens in 1958-59' is now charg- ing here that the commission President Ford appointed to Look into such allegations isn't really 5nterested in doing so. Dr. ~Iel Crain, a 53-year-old San-Diego State University political science professor, said in:an interview that since he detailed the alleged.illegal surveillance he has~heard from congressional investigators but not, from the staff.of the commission heade~t by Vice President Rockefeller. 'l+iy impression.~of this commission is that it's tryin; to. protect the- agency," Crain said. "That's essentially what they're up.ta I don`t think they.really want to delve." . In Washington; D.C, Friday, a commission spokesman replied. "Don't lean on us too hard.` He said the commis- sion staff is just getting organized and that it is the com- mission's intention "to at least contact everyone who can. contribute to the investigation." . Accounts of interviews with Crain have run in recent days at length in such prominent newspapers as fhe~hew York Times, aild partial confirmation of what he had to say has come from his immediate supervisor at the CIA in the late 1950s, Ri~~-E~~tl~br~~@I$~`~'~69~R3~085 CIA-RDP77-004328000100350002-7 - .Colby flatly denied the charge that LOS ANGELES TIMES 18 JAN 1975 the CIA's office of plans. E.~entially, what Crain has said is that he received a high security clearance in the fall of 19S8~that made him aware that the Post Office Department was co~~ertly assis- ting the CIA to intercept and copy letters American citi- zens u-ere sending to the Soviet Union. He reports that the briefing officer who gave him his initial information about the surveillance ~~aid right out, 'this is unconstitutional and illegal, but remember, we':e in Lhe Cold War and our mission demands it.` ? Crain said that his objections to the surveillance 'hastened? his departure from the CIA, via resignation, in June, 1919, after eight years with the agency. Although the professor said he has long routinely told his students that the CIA spied on American citizens, the fist time such reports sparked any interest came in the wars of recent published reports ,about alleged wide-rang- ing CIA domestic surveillance.;n violation of the agency charter. ~ ' 'Then, Crain was approached and granted an interview to a San Diego Union reporter. Crain acknowledged in a Thursday afternoon Times in- ter ~~iew that he is violating tivritten agreements he made Frith the CIA not. to reveal anything publicly about his u~or~ with the agency and he said he belie~-ed that techni- cal) ~ he is in violation of the law for doing so. )ut he said he believes a thorough airing of allegedly il- legal CIA activities is in order. - Crain Bald that even before the alleged mail surveillance alarn~~d him, he had become concerned at'the increasir.; conccne.ration inside the C[A on clandestine operations, some of which he described as'just crazy." . Approved. `For .Release 2001/08/08 :CIA-RDP77-004328000100350002-7 t~VASHI NGTON .STAR 29 January 1875 One of the wisest heads in the Senate rests upon the aging shoulders of John Stennis of Mississippi. Last week the rampaging Jacobins whacked it off: They shouted down his effort to direct a-re- spansible investigation of the Central Intelligence Agency. We are therefore likely to have an irresponsible investi- gation instead. On both sides of Capitol Hill the tumbrels are rolling. In the House it was Bastalle Day for the seniority system. We are in for a bloody time. Unless the revolutionary fervor can be calmed, the CIA .will hecome the first victim of the new inquisitors. The peril to the CIA is both real and immediate. The most liberal Democrats in the Sen- ate, known for their animosity to the agency, are shouting for a chance to sit on a select com- mittee of accusation. In post- ~Watergate Washington, where the guilt of public officials is simply assumed, the CIA finds itself convicted overnight of "massive illegalities." That was the charge brought by the ~4w ~.0.~. fir tfee C/A New York Times in an over- blown story on Dec. 22. CIA Director William E. Colby did his besf last week to wet down the flames. He deliv- ered along and remarkably candid statement to a Senate Appropriations subcommittee. He flatly denied the substance of the Times' allegations, but he acknowledged that a few errors of misjudgment and overzealousness had occurred. "Colby Admits CIA Spying in U.S.," read the banner head-. line in the Washington Post. The headline was recklessly misleading. -What -Colby "admitted" was. that, com- mencing in the summer of 1967, the CIA had established a unit "to look into the possibil- ity of foreign links to Ameri= can dissident elements." Such an investigation is plainly within the CIA's field of re- sponsibility. Before the inves- tigation was ended in 1973, Colby said, "files" had indeed been. created on about 10,000 citizens -but he patiently ex- plained that these were not files or dossiers as the terms generally are employed. One by one, Colby took up ' ~ . .. .:a Jita ~~1'!t'y~atA~~Offil~' most of the specific charges . brought by the Times = charges of breaking-in, wire- tapping, opening mail and physical surveillance -and reduced a mountain of innuen- do to a molehill of fact. With- out significant exception,. the incidents were wholly defens- ~ible in terms of .the CIA's obligations under the law. It is high time for senior members of Congress publicly to suggest that Colby's credibility- is at least as solid as the credibility of the New York Times: But the fever rages. Under a little-noticed amendment" to last year's Foreign Assistance.. Act, the CIA now is required to advise the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and the House Foreign Affairs Com- mittee of its covert operations .abroad. The requirement is pure mischief. These are cheesecloth committees; they are certain to leak. The CIA also will have to send its -top people to .testify before the various investigating bodies. Transcripts will be made of their testimony, and these transcripts will provide an . .; , THE WAS$1TTGTON g(?8T uir~.~'ocuses ~n ite ~dou~~T ~~r ~ac~'s ~rideraon ~d ,~ W~itteu fFhe preliminary, secret testis mony in the CIA investigation ~~as focused on the White House itself. Former CIA chief Richard Helms, according to sources close to the investigation, testi- fied behind closed doors that he had been pressured by both Presidents Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon to spy on Viet- namwar protesters. As far back as 1967, Helms al- leged, Johnson began badger- ing him to investigate any con- nection between the protest ,movement and foreign enemies. Both Johnson and Nixon sus- pected that the Communists viere pumping money into the antiwar movement. However, Helms reported chat the CIA found no significant foreign in-' ~fluence. Some radical groups, such as the Black Panthers and the 1Weathermen, had foreign con- tacls.But the student opposition Tito the war effort was largely an .American phenomenon, .said &ielms. His secret testimony was taken by the President's com- mrssion to investigate the Cen- and Rock Hudson; actor-prod- .views U.S. travelers wha miplk tral Intelligence Agency. Other ucer Carl Reiner; conservative pick u " witnesses' confirmed Ghat the news : c o m m e n t a t o r? Paul abroad. Gepliart didn't explain .CIA files on American citizens Harvey; and folk singer. Joan why Hunt would need a fancy largely grew out of the Johnson- Baez. "disguise if he were 4nerely con? Nixon concern over the antiwar. The CIA, of course, got caught ducting routine interviews. agitation. tin ;., t-,o -,.,~*e-:., '^~?--- ------ At first, the Secret Service be- times when the+CIAjjoverstep- gan irivestigating every group, ped its legal 1-imits -and con- nomatter how innocent; that ex- ducted domestic surveillance: It pressed the slightest criticism became increasingly difficult to of the President. The Nonviol-~ draw the line between legiti- ent Direct Ackion group. came. mate security and_pglitical se- undersurveillance as a t pical '???-~~? - , y example, because it "urged members to write Pres. and other govt. ? officials to protest war in Vietnam," according to confidential Secret service rec- ords. By late 1970, the Secret Serv- ice developed a computer net- work,which now contains more than 180,000 names of Ameri- cans. Other government agen- cies aIsobegan trading informa- tion. Files began to grow on tens of? thousands of citizens who, were guilty of nothing more se- rious than shooting off their mouths against the President's policies. Dozens of celebrities wound up in the files, including come- dians Dick? Gregory, Groucho 1lfarx and Tony Randall; actors Marlon Brando, Paul .Newman This is the branch that inter-~ irresistible temptation ~to. garrulous congressmen, un- scrupulous aides and rapa- cious reporters. In his statement, Colby said the agency has wprked out "cover" arrangements with various corporations "to pro- vide the ostensible source of income and rationale for a CIA officer to reside and work in a foreign country." What is Colby to say if one of his con- gressional tormentors de- mands to know more about .these corporations? He can only refuse to answer and risk .contempt. No intelligence agency can operate in the sunshine of total .disclosure; its sources will .evaporate; friendly govern? menu. will refuse their cooper- ation. Two farmer CIA agents already have done great harm by writing turncoat books. A hundred irresponsible con- gressmen could well complete the destructive work. It can't be permitted to .happen, but unless a few prudent men ride to the CIA's rescue, it will hap- pen' ... .. ~ _. . '~ Jae. ~d,14?3' It is also interesting that the ? CIA converted the Domestic Contact Service from a routino intelligence operation to a cIan- destineservice in 1973. This was done ostensibly for budgetary reasons. But once the unit be-, came a clandestine service; the CIA was no longer obligated try give Congress a detailed ac; In fairness, it should be add# tits pressure from the white Iio>~s to go beyond his legal authorily,? 6 ~~~i6~~?1=or Release 2001/08/08 :CIA-RDP77-004328000100.350002-7 This was the atmosphere in the backrooms of the CIA when the Watergate caper began. The CIA didn't balk, therefore, at furnishing E. Howard Hunt with a reddish wig, glasses, a speech alteration device, a set. of alias documents, a tape recorder con- cealed in a portable typewriter case, two microphones and a camera disguised in a tobacco'; pouch. .Hunt used this James Bond paraphernalia to carry out his Watergate assignments. They CIA has insisted in secret state-' menu that it had no knowledge ~ of Hunt's Watergate. role. The supply officer, Cleo Gephart,; has sworn that he thoug~-t Hunt' was a member o[ the CIA's Ijo-~ Approved For Release 2001/08/08 :CIA-RDP77-00.4328000100350002-7 WASFLLNGTON POST 29 January 1975, ~ ~I~2 .~e~~ ~ ~o~~v~ ~~id: ~. C~it~~?cTi By Spencer' Rich . ' Washtngfaq Posh Staff W,rt'er Sen. Frpnk Church (D-i Idaho), chitseli 'yesterday asi chairman of the' Senate Com? mittee to investiate alleged intelligence agency abuses,] said he had received a phone call-`from CIA Director t4-i1-; Liam Colby pledging coopera-', lion with the committee in? l quirt'. Church was elected unani?, mously by the committee's six Democrats at a closed argapi- zational meeting yest.erday.i The five Republican memhers are?expected to choose ,Iphn G. Tower of.Texas as commit- tee vice chairman,. Church said the Democratic members discussed immediate steps needed to obtain. a staff director and general counsel,' and agreed that strict secrecy must be maintained over na? tional security secrets. He dodged a question on' whether former. President Nixon would be called before the committee.-"It is much too.' early to tell which witnesses' will be called," he said. -He again 'pledged that "we NEW YORK TIME5 19 JANUARY 1975. ~4i11~111t~~e tilled `40' .; 'WASHINGTON-When it was disclosed last Sep= tember that. the Central Intelligence Agency had -spend $8-million to "destabilize" the Government of Chile under Salvador Allende, President Ford con- firmed at a press conference that the United States- . does take "certain actions in the intelligence field." . Mr. Ford added: "The 40 Committee . . .reviews ,.every covert operation undertaken.by our Govern- ment." It was an extraordinary public reference by a Chief Executive fo one of the least-known, most shadowy and potentially most powerful committees of the Government. At least in theory, the 40 Com- mittee?must approve an advance before the. C.LA. can invade Cuba, overthrew a governmerit in Guate- mala; or dispatch B-26 aircraft to bomb Indonesia.. But there has been no indication that the 40 Com-. .:mittee has the responsibility to review any domestic' convert operations by the C.I.A. itself, of the kind- snow ,bejng investigated-since the intelligence agen=- cy Chas claimed it does not engage in such activities at .home. For example; when Senator Symington= asked Mr. Colby in 1973 whether the 40 Committee- in any way dean wiih iclteiiigetice "iargeted at :u.S.% ,citizens" the C.I.A. director replied, "No, the function of the Agency is foreign intelligence: ' :.The operations of the 40 Committee are so secret that in.his Senate testimony in 1973; Mr: Colby was reluctant even to identify the chairman, who; as it. turned .out, was swell-known public figure: _ ? Senator Symington: "Very well. What is the name;. Hof the latest committee of this character?" ` Mr. Colby: "Forty Committee." ? ?$enator Symington: "Who is the. chairman?" Mr. Colby: "Well, again, I would prefer to go into executive session on the description of the Forty Committee, Nir. Chairman.': ~ . ' Senator Symington (incredulous): "As to .who is?. the .chairman, you would prefer an executive ses- sion?" ? Mr. Colby: "The_cha.irman, all right, Mr. Chairman, Dr. Kissinger is the chairman as tihe Assistant to they President for National Security Affairs." Defenders arid Critics ? The other members of the 40 Committee, in addi- tion to Henry Kissinger, are Air Force General George S, Brown, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; William P. Clements, Jr., the Deputy Secretary of Defense; Joseph J. Sisco, Under Secretary of State fdr Politica3 Affairs, ? and the Direcfoi' of `Central' Intelligence,-. Mr: Colby. Although,, the individuals Serving on the 40 Committee ?have..changed with administrations, the committee has usually consisted of the Government officials holding these five posi- tions. The committee has changed its, name several times. President Ford said the 40 Committee was established "in 1948"; as. far as is publicly known, however, no committee to monitor covert operations achieved formal status until the first Eisenhower Administration, when the Special Group was created for that purpose. The panel was also known as the _ 54/12 Group, after. the number of the National Se- curity Council directive establishing it. By the John-; son Administration the Special Group w$s known as the 303 Committee, and under Presidents Nixon and Ford as the 40 Committee. Apparently both of the latter designations. were also .taken .from the num- bers of classified directives. Defenders of the C.I.A, and of the necessity for "black," or covert, operations point to the 40 Com- mittee as a mechanism of tight control over such activities. Because ' of the panel's .existence, they maintain, -the C.I.A.. is restrained from undertaking any covert operations without the approval of high ,offieials'accountabie to the President.- But critics of file intelligence agency note that the director of C.I.A. is a member pf the committee; they cite the analogy of the fox watch4ng the chicken coop., Then, .too; till of the members are busy offi- cials with many other Government responsibilities; thus, as members of the 40 Committee; they must necessarily give less than full-time attention to the .risks or benefits of a particular operation. Insulating the President Senator William Proxmire, a critic of the C.I.A., has said: "I. is presumed but never stated that ynajor decisions of the 40 Committee are then checked with the. Presideni. the reason for the lack of subsianiia- tion of this latter point is clear. The President is insulated from any, direct association (with} such illegal activities so that in time of crisis,' such as a `blown'-exposed-mission, he can deny knowledge of the entire affair." Because the ~0 Committee operates iri great se- crecy, it is difficult to assess how well it performs its jab. Nor is it known, how large a covert operation must be presented to the 40 Committee for approval. For example, it has been reported that in 19~D the committee authorized, but perhaps later disapproved, the payment of $350,000 to members of the Chilean Congress, in an attempt to block thg election of President Allende. Whether the committee would be asked to approve the payment of, say, $500 to a political official in Kuwait is doubtful. ' During the Nixon Administration, Attorney Gen- ' eral John N. Mitchell sat as a member of the 40 Committee, although his successors have not. Earlie! this month, Ivir. Mitchell was convicted of conspiracy to cover up a domestic covert operation; the tvatsa- gate break-in, undertaken in part. by former C.I.!". agents. are not going to conduct a~~ vendetta" a~ainsti the CIA, .FBI or any of the other intelli-) Bence agencies whpse alleged. abuses of power anti illegal i spying nn civilians the new committee w i [ 1 investigate, "but neither will there he a i whitewash." ? Church said that on VIon? day, ,just after the Senate koted 82 to 4 to create the new C011tIt11ttE'f and Dlaiority T.eadet? l[ilce Mansfield (D- IAlnnt.l annnuured the names` "of the Denulct?alic ntemberr, he recei~?ecl 1 phone call from Colby prnmisi.ng to give 1'utl cooperation to the committee', in its inquiry into the C1:1. Such cooperation-as well as preservation of all docu? ntents relevant to the. inquiry -?~was formfilly requested of Colby, the .Iustice Depart, meat, the FBI, the Pentagon, the. Treasury and several other gnvet'nment agencies. in Totters sent out by Alansfield as majority teacl,?r. Thcy bade the as:encics to preserve all memos, records and other dnc- ~uments that mifiht he heeded. David Wise is the author of "The Politics of Lying: Government Deception, Secrecy and Power." < WASHINGTON POST 11JAN 1975 CI.~ Y'ie>.cs The Washin+;ton Post of Jan. 8 cent,,^,ins a +?ol::mn by 1'ad Szttlc aarib? olio; certaia views to the Central ln- ll~llircnrc :\neitcy. T!tc views ex? T~!'~ssed iu that artidc are not the views of the Central Intelligence Ar~nc3?. ~Y. L. Colby, iTi;crlnr C?nlral tnlrlll~mics Accnc>. ~~~:Itilllnjtlrll. Approved For Release 2001/08/08 : CIA-RDP77-004328000100350002-7 Approved For Release 2001/08/p8 :CIA-RDP77-004328000100350002-7 'Q'13~ ~C0130MIST'JANUARY il, 1913 ~ ~' " a whitewash- of the 'il'Ilere was a time, not: so long ago in .~'~merican. history, when the appoint- ap'te.?.fi1t vJ% ta`:+?. preside, t of a "uiuc-iivu^vn ?manission" ~to investigate and resolve a hatter of public controversy. was enoaagh to calm passions and inst~7 ~arrladence in the federal governments ae~?aFi~ . to solve basic national prob-. ems. The main criteria .seemed to be ?nly that the commission's members . must be eminent and respected in the appropriate circles, that they hold hear- _~gs at :which people could let. off steam ~~~- 8hag. their. report . be sufficiently ~,og~hy 'as to seem to cover all bases: The a~vlce was used, admittedly with varying. rs~grges 'of ? success, to study ~ unrest among university students, the crime wage, the use of marijuana and nar= c,~tfics and; most notably,: the assas- ~~aa7aoan of President John Kennedy. ,~veru when the commission reports did r~,~2 answer all of the bothersome c; some appainn-; gressmen to write into the National Security Council de- espi:anage, and paramilitary tftent. 4Ve would, dis?u~ the i Narional Security Act that the termines can be more efficiently operations. afifiairs ofi the day o'r the' craft I agency "shall have no police, accomplished centrally. These included the so-called of inte314.genc~e itr very' getr~raE subpoena, law-enforcement S < performs such other funs- destabil~iza?tion programme in tc"tt~s. i'I2 afterwards wro~ee a powers, or internal-security bons and duties related to Chile. It is also said to have book about it for th?e Erreyelo- functions" within the United intelligence affecting the been responsible for the sur- p~tectia Britartnica'. ;States. Yet the agency was in- national security as the National vei?1lance of 10,000 American FIe alw~y'g a5strrrte~i that P' volved ut Watergate; if only Security Council may from time ci.t~izens. The authority for these knew :what the. agency was a1T peripherally, and it has since to time direct" activities is provided by para- about and that its intentions been alleged that it kept 10,000 American officialese'is a good graph 5 above. were good. I suppose it was my Americans under surverilance. deal more opaque than the The Directorate of Intelli- Englishness. In spite afi Wild No wonder President Ford has :British variety, and the dis- ,gence assesses all information Bill D~novarf who? sca says dur- ing his. years there he even filed his tax return as a U.~; Army employe. ``It can be an almost womb-totomb existence," he said. Some guys meet their wives at the agency. The best man and the maid- of-honor are from the agen- cy. All they, guests at the. wedding are from the agen- ;You've got .to "practically. raise the .children your- :self," one wife observed.. "You just can't explain to -them what daddy is doing. They're kept in ignorance and they're .terribly inquisi- tive:" = "The children get some wild ideas. They think iYs all sort of Mato Hari stuff," .she says. "It's really a very -baring business. It's sur- prising what a humdrum monotonous life this can be for a woman of average in- come growing up with her family in the suburbs." MRS, Ci not her real ins-' tial - describes her friends, largely agency wives, as "not particularly glamorous, not rich, not. PhDs. They generally are rather plain, strong women, mighty strong women who do their damndest enter.- 2? January 1975 taming. They generally:. -speak another language and :. .they stay friends. They go .. about their duties, have their little teas ...and do damn well at it too. They are not boring." ? The security aspect of CIA, while in some cases npty much different from restric- tions borne by employes of other agencies such as the Atomic Energy Comrnissioa or the Defense Intelligence Agency, can be pervasive. One former secretary at CIA claims that one of her co-workers .who marred a foreigner lost her job after the bridegroom failed to pass a security test. The newly married secretary was "relocated" in a Tysons~ Corner industrial research firm that does -much contract work. for CIA.. .. ... ? cy. ' Rockefeller Panel and Its C.LA. Mission ay CLIFTON DANIEL rrom >:ne c:u,,,,,?~~cc ,...a.....Q.., .... ... ......__._, _ then Senator J. W. Fulbright, and many.of its activities must on Congress for any broader specie', to TAe New Yazk Times Democrat o1; Arkansas. necessarily be carried out in inquiry. One of the main ques- ??"WASHINGTON, Jan: 19- At? the .time, Mr. Colby was secrecy:' lions of the critics is whether What is the Rockefeller com-directing Operation Phoeix, a At a news conference last it is necessary or proper for a mission supposed to find autllll?oint Amertcan-South Viet- Se t. 16, soon after he became democracy to engage at all -in 1 P ,.,.,.,a.,.?.:,,.. about the Central Intelligence;namese effort to identify, fi^di?'?%Sidcnt, iVii. FvrCi Jutlght t0 "?"??;""""" "E"'"`ti"L; aKdinb foreign countries, their govern- Agency, and what is it not sup- and dispose of the leadership justify such activities. "Com- . ., ments and their citizens. posed to find out? `of the Vietcong rebellion. mumst nations,' he said, spend There seems to be no general According to itsl As early as 196$, when~~~astly much more money than demand, incidentally, for the charter from the~Operation Phoenix began, thecae do for the .same kind of News White House, the United States mission in Saigon f purposes." agency to abandon its primary j commission mustroutinely reported that killings ~e Rockefeller commission function -- collecting intelli- I{ Analysis 'confine its invests-'were involved in the Phoenix Bence. was manifestly not established How far the Rockefeller com- gation to "C.LA.~pacification program. to inquire into those affairs. It activities within the United In 1973, a House subcom- was created, as the President's mission will go in investigating States." Judging by its member-+mittee report .estimated: that order said, only "to insure even the domestic activities of ship, the commission would not~20,400 Vietcong .suspects had!scruputous compliance" . with the agency has been questioned. be disposed in any case to pryibeen killed, some of~them nits-Ithe statutory Limitations placed When Mr. Colby, the C:LA. di- I takenl because of fault Intel- ~ ~ rector, a eared last Monday into other activities, especially ? Y ' Y. on the C.I.A. s activities inside pp ro riations the. C.I.A: s clandestine opera- ltgence. the United States. before a Senate app p Lions abroad. The report was prepared by Those limitations do not al- subcommittee, he simply re- ? In the past, those operations the House Foreign Operations {low the agency any police sub- sponded in his opening state- and Government Information ~ oena, or law enforcement pow- ment to the allegations -pub- laave included overthrowing-Subcommittee, and was pub-lers or internal security func- lished by The New Xork Times. ~or helping to overthrow-gav- licized by United Press Interna-;Lions. It can be reliably stated, how- ernments in Guatemala and~tional, The re ort said that its' Iran, organizing an invasion of P Aside from the Presidents ever, that the Rockefeller com- Cuba, and subsidizing news- charges "should be either sub- admonition, the ? commission's mission is authorized to investi- stantiated or repudiateli after .members do not look like mav- ate an and all evidence of 'papers, magazines, political'; g Y an impartial and thorough in- Bricks, muckrakers or crusaders domestic spying by the C.1.A. ?. parties, trade unions and others vestigation.' a ainst the agency. The Executive order- estab- organizations in various coon- g No such investigation was Theee of the eight-=?-Vice Pres- lishin the commission did not ~~? made, however, and none is ident.Rockefeller, former Treas- say whether .its findings would The agency has even been contemplated in 'the mandate of u Secreta C. Douglas Dillon ~ suspected of assassinations. the commission headed by Viceand Gen. L an L. Lemnitzer, be published, but it seems to be Last night NBC television president Rockefeller. ~ taken for granted that some The commission was created retired-have had past associa- ublic accountin will be made. showed a 1973 fiction movie, P g ?'Scorpio;' in which six murders Jan. 4 to investigate aliega- Lions with the agency. There The commission was in-, are committed b C.I.A. a ents are no proclaimed C.I.A. critics Y g lions reported in The New Xork structed to find out ,whether among the eight. or hired gunmen. Times .that the C,I.A., in vio- ~ . the C.I.A, was complying with l Testifying before the Senate lotion of law, had spied on the Respect for Authority the legal restrictions on its do- ~Foreign Relations Committee on anti-war movement and "other All but ,two of the commis- mestic operations, determine ainst. d f h s ag eguar e sa iFeb? 17, 197Q, William E. Colby, dissidents inside the United!sion members, Edgar F. Shan- whether t {now the Director of Central In- States during the Johnson and'non Jr., former president of the violations were adequate, and telligence, rejected a suggestion Nixon Administrations. University of Virginia, and~to make recommendations to that operation Phoenix in Sou[h President Ford's order estab-{Lane Kirkland, secretary-treas-Ithe President and Director of F d i era- e Vietnam was ~ a ''program for lishing the Rockefeller commis- user of the American the assassination of political Sion satd that the C.LA. "ful- lion of Labor and Congress of leaders." The suggestion came fills intelligence :unctions vital{Industrial Organization, have been public officials. They can be presumed to have respect for established authority, na- tional security and secrecy in military and intelligence mat- ters. They were plainly picked .for discretion and reliability,. as `well as experience. ,? lfiemfore, critics of the C.LA. gence. ~ Central Intell In essence, the commissions was told to find out whether;. the C.I.A, was using secret po- lice methods a~~ainst American. citizens in their own country: It was' definitely not given a mandate to expose C.I.A. op- erations against foreigners, a 14 Approved For Release 2001/08/08 :.CIA-RDP77-004328000100350002-T 'Approved For Release 2001/08/08 :CIA-RDP77-004328000100350002-7 THE GUARDIAN MANCHESTER 11 January 1975 .Ja~iies Angletan, 'tlie Inari ~at the. ce>{~tre of the WHEN James R. Schlesinger, a tweed>>, pipe-smoking economist tuck :aver as Director of the Central Intelligence Agency in February 1973, Richard Helms, the retiring director, ; intro- duced to him a very thin, gaunt,. six-footer with very dark skin. "This," said Helms proudly, "is the CIA's only authentic genius." Schlesinger noted the man's name, James Angleton; and later added it to the list ,of 600 CIA employees she ordered fired from the agency.. Angleton, an intellectual .loner with a natural aptitude for illachiavellian intrigue,