C.I.A.'S WORK UNIMPEDED BY INQUIRIES AND REPORTS, OFFICIALS OF AGENCY ASSERT

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP77-00512R000100040169-8
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 3
• Document Creation Date: December 12, 2016
• Document Release Date: January 17, 2002
• Sequence Number: 169
• Publication Date: November 10, 1975
• Content Type: NSPR

THE Ned YOLK TIMES
Approvedirdr Release 29?24?I1,t: IAh P77-O 12R00
C.T A's Work Unimpeded
By Inquiries. and ' Reports,
Officials of Agency Assert
- Sp Ja to The N!w Yori Times
WASHINGTON, Nov. 9--Offi-aides took sharp exception to
cials of the Central Intelligence; these views. They said that
Agency, despite repeated publiclmuch of the= committee's most
avowals of diminished prestigeimportant work was' proceed-
and operational ability becauseiing. now. in executive hearings
,of the various inquiries into in-and would,.if consistent with
telligence operations, are con-
vinced that the agency will suf
ter no serious loss of authority
and no erosion of its' ability to
produce professional intelli-
Igence estimates and reports.
national security' requirements,
be- wade public after the i'nves
ligation ends. next: February
All the;;agency offidials in-
terviewed agreed";-that : the
public .` criticism and official
Key agency oficials do noti investigations following '- the!
,expect either the Senate oripublished reports last December
(House Select. Committee on In lof widespread domestic spying
on clandestine intelligenceactiv-!hamper seriously its main func-
lities. Instead, they believe: the tionr-the cglieetion of -worth=
committees will seek to impose while intelligence. . ---
more stringent controls on such = "At. one 'point' last -Febrl
operations, a compromise theyiWilliam.E. Cotly,_the,recently
agency, (telligence, testified that what
In. a series of recent inter-'hecalled "exag-era ted"-char-es
views, a number of. agency of-[of '' improper . conduct had
ficials also expressed 'surprise
at what they said was the in-
ability of the, Senate commit
tee, :headed by Senator Frank
in danger." .
"Vizebe. been looking for .ap-
!Church, Democrat of Idaho, tolinteli'igencec'official said last)
t f
it
gene ate Yumac suppor
o
s
!inquiry..
"Frank Church was the first
TV show to close this fall," one
senior agency aide said.
Mr . Church and his' senior
Approved
parent,' observable effects," one!
week. "There are none.",
Hey added,, however, thatt
agency officials were concerned!
about "the intangibles, that you
don't know what you're miss-
ing-the- defector who doesn't
defect, someone who doesn't
tell you a wonderful story."
t
U-
'Thin gs Are Toujher'
"Things are tougher, that's
true," one official said. "But I;
haven't seen any evidence that!
things are compromised in,
terms of being able to func-
tion,"
. One high-leel intelligence of-
ficial staid that the United
States. and. other intelligence
serices occasionally- held back
things from each other, but,
that that was was nothing new.i
One senior Ford Administra-
tion official, asked for his as-
sessment of potential damage
to intelligence operations, com-
plained' about the oontinued
disclosure to Congress of. in-
ternai documents relating to
agency plots to assassinate
foreign leaders- and ' ocher clan-
destine operations. The official
said he was concerned that fu-
ture Presidents and intelligence
chiefs might be restricted be-
cause of the fear that succes-
sors would make certain data
public.
Aside, from that,- however;.
the official said he knew of
no instance in which the agen-
cy's ability to produce intelli-
gence had been advers?ly af-
fected by, the Congressional
hearings.'
One high-level agency source
did say that one European
,politician had recently turned
down covert financing of a,
political campaign The official
refused to supply further in-+
formation, and it was impos-i
sible to gauge how widespread'
such refusals of secret aid were.'
A Frequent Question
One agency official conceded.;
-that a factor in the dispute over)
how much, if any, damage had.
been done to C.I.A. operations'
in the last 10 months was that;
Congress had repeatedly asked'
the same question in recent;
hearings. !
Last Wednesday, William!
Nelson, the C.I.A.'s director of!
operations, was asked for his!
views on the matter by Repre-
sentative David- C- Treen, Re-
1
publican of Louisiana, during.`;
House hearings. _ -- {
. Mr. Nelson said that some;
American citizens and agentsi
abroad had refused to cooperate:
for fear of being exposed. He,
said that "there has been a!
good deal of apprehension" inj
foreign intelligence servicesi
about continuing their relation
ships with the C,LA.
"I don't want to cnvetexag
gerate this, however," Mr Nei?.
son added. "The agency is still!
functioning abroad, and I thinla.
04~0fla9 8ng rather effectively.'']
"But it's hard to say that,
we've lost much because of
chat," the official said.
Sources cited the followingi
areas in which there has been!
some impairment of operations:
. gSome American' companies
that provided cover jobs for
agents in : the'..United , States
have, curtailed their. coopera-
tion . , i,
9A small number of the large
American z corporations' that
permitted the C.I.A. to use for-
eign offices" and branches for
cover jobs have become less
enthusiastic . about permitting
the, agency to have direct ac-
cess to employees overseas. The
companies have requested that
the-agency conduct all its busi-
ness. with employees through
a designated contact man.; ;;
9Some of the agency's per.
sonnel. still on ? clandestine as
signments. overseas "have suf.
feted from lowered morale and
a confusion about what is per-
missible. in the field. Everyone
now has to check back home
with his field officer, and this,
is taking away operational in-
itiative in spot developments,,
one source said. Some agency
officials said, however, that
they did not think it was a bad
idea to have men in the field
checking in with superiors in
such cases.
gThere has been some re-
luctance by various officials
and operatives- in foreign in-
telligence services to cooperate.
"Some of our old-line contacts
don't want to show up in our
hearings or in our press," one
source said. "But it just means
that it's a little bit more diffi-
cult to undertake an operation
with friendly. operatives." He.
added 'that such operations,
were still feasible.
9There have been scattered!
instances of less cooperation at'
high-level government-to-gov-
ernment interchanges of infor-
mation. One high-level Ford
Administration official said that
some British intelligence offi-
cials "no longer tell us where
they got information so' we can
evaluate the source, but only
pass on the information. The
Boston ? Globe . ;reported ' last
month that American officials
were treating top-secret British
information as being. "on loan"
to avoid the.posst.bility of its
being subpgenaedby Congress
of
or the courts.as "property"
the C-I A ;. i
But all 'the sources agree'..
that intelligences information;
m ludin d the most, sensitive
For Release 2002/02/11 flowing in ."
lro7ltinuQ
 Approved For Releases 002/02/11: CIA=RDP77-00512R000100040169-8
A number. of agencybffitials!
said chat a major concern-did
develop over the publication
.earher this.year'of "Inside they
Company," 'a. book by Philtpl
Agee, a . former agency opera-1
tive, describing clandestine]
agency activity in Latin. Amer-1
ica and naming C.I.A. covert;
agents and their undercover;
contacts.
- The book led to serious prob-i
lems for some operatives, Intel-}
'inence officials said. They.
added, however, that no similar
information had leaked from
the Congressional intelligence
committees
If a central complaint did
emerge during the interviews,
which were initiated before the
ouster of Mr. -Colby last week-
end it-was repeated concern
about a loss ofmoral within
the agency because of the
widesperad public criticism of
its domestic spying and some
of its clandestine overseas ac-
tiVity..
. Some officials, though, dis-
counted the- . significance of
morale inside any bureaucracy.
One high - level Administra-
tion official said. that morale
had been bad inside the State
Department for 25 years) "but
they still do their jab-"
Put those officials who were
ibothered. by a loss of morale
said that President Forts sum-
mary dismissal of Mr. Colby,
who had been Director of Cen-
tral Intelligence since 1973,
had created a uniting surge of
sympathy for Mr. Colby in the
agency.
One Colby associate said that
the director initially planned to
leave the post last 'Wednesday
he later agreed -to' stay
=through the end of the year -
after signing 70 supergrade pro-
motions that had been author-
officials gathered Wednesday
five minutes, with Colby trying
that Colby died for; our sins.','
Colby ;praised
Mr. Colby has been ".widely
praised for his consistent .?ef-
;forts to coorperate with the
various investigating commit-
tees that were set up this year,
although his approach is known
to have angered. many associ-
ates ad fiedsf
nrn o Richard
Helms, who was director of the
If- T A .. . L--
i
One mild demurral to-1-:the
general praise for Mr. Colby's
tive Otis G. Pike, Democrat
mittee Mr. Pike told Mr 'Colby:.
au-: - z_ -
tmy own experience' that sir you.
e-
ar
asked the right question;
you will give an honest answer;
You do not-make it easy for
us to ask the right question."
When - the House,,and .Senate
committees, began.:sumrronin=
making.ofa potentially, disas-
I the',, agencyw has finally. 'come
+doing must be turned over to
~praisec:.Mitchell Rogovin?>a
Nr Colby to., aid the- age c
ny
Sources said that Mr. Rogovin
urged Mr;, Colby.
and .others
,
to turn over voluntarily
evidence ol':ti wrongdoingas,
a
;
. means of keeping the Congres
sional investigations- on the de-
fensive.'
'.Part of the_problem !of being
in our culture," one middle-lev-
el agency official said in ex-
plaining why many in the agen-
cy were reluctant to make: any
information public, "is ':that
compartmentalization is one of
the fundamental. disciplines-
.the idea is to limit the damage
in case the. K.G.B. [the.S'oviet
secret . intelligence service], pe-
netrates the agency. This be-
comes part of the- ritual, and
some of the things we thought
would be abhorrent to the
American public" [upon disclo-
sure] .are things the people
have to put up with day after
(day"
Raw Files Provided
One official said in an inter-
view two weeks ago that Jus-
tice Department officials were
being provided with direct ac-
cess to the agency's raw files.
At least one Justice Depart-
ment inquiry, into allegations
that Mr. Helms commiettd per-
jury while testifying More
Congress, is,known to still be
under review. -
Other agency officials also
expressed the view that the
relatively few new issues raised
thus far by the . Congressional
committees were based entirely
on documents rand evidence
supplied by the agency.
Nothing has been unearthed!
by the committee that hasn't
been-discovered by the agency'
and stopped," one source said
-Senator Church. said today)
in a televised interview that
his committee's -report would
contain "some new inform
about. the agency's assassina-
tion plot.
The official" added that the
basic working document uti=j
lized by the blue-ribbon com-1
mission set up. by President
Ford and headed by Vice Pres-1
ident Rockefeller for its investi-
gation and report in June was
the internal C.I.A. dossier on
domestic abuses assembled in
May 1973 at the request of
James R. Schlesinger, then the
C.I.A. director, who was dis-
missed last week as Secretary
of Defense.
Some agency officials specu-
lated that the Schlesisger re-
port -did not include. all the
agency's domestic wrongdoing,
but they doubted that tje intel-
ligence committees would be
able to develop ..significant new,
material. Aw- Say ... x I
(tine operatives, the Schlesinger
,repor t-has been denounced as
the "vomit report," a reference
to the fact-that agency em-
ployees volunteered much of
the, information about the
doestic ',violations - to Mrr
:Sehlesinger's: office; There, are
still some men'in the agency;
a' highly -reliable source said
who,pride themselves on "hav}
ing stronger stomachs." . ==
,There is. no evidence that
Mr. Colby or any other official
has authorized further inquiries
into domestic wrongdoing, al-
though the existence of such
attitudes is reported to be wide
throughout the agency.!
Two middle-level C.I.A. offi-
cials who are now serving in
key managerial positions in the
agency expressed disappoint-
ment in the public' proceedings
of the Church committee.
Some Basic Questions.
"A lot of basic questionsI
about intelligence and its need
haven't been aired, and that's
too bad," one said. The other
complained that the Church'
committee had not begun tot
examine publicly the "fun
damental" issue of covert oper-
ations.
A more senior intelligence
official wondered whether what
he felt: was the failure of the
Congressional investigations to
deal ? with the more. substantial
issues; would not provoke' 'yet
another inquiry into intel-
ligence in some future Con-
gress. .
"The Senate had the staff,"
one- agency source said, "but
it , got too bogged down in
the assassinations."
He said that thus far, the.
Church---committee had yet 'to
fix: firmly a schedule for public,
hearings on the agency's covert
actiVities.in 'Chile, where at
least $8--million. was.spent'`to
prevent: the election-pt salva=
dor".f dleiide; .Gossens? in,;.'197O
and, failing that, 'to.-attempt, to make it more difficult for
Mr. Allende'sregime. to govern.
Mr.; Allende was overthrown
by a.military junta in ' Soptenn
!ber '1973 and was either' killed, ,
or committed suicide
A number :of ..agency, me'
believe that the House' intel-
ligence committee 'has publicly
examined more basic questions
dealing with the capability of
the C.I.A. to make accurate
intelligence assessments.:.
- One_~ former. agency official-
said, ."The-"House,: goes after-
the- arteries, while:--the Senate
goes after the capillaries.'.'
The Senate committee was
known to, be .engaged in an
intense dispute over Senator
Church's desire to -stage exten-
sI?ve public `hearings on the
C.I.A.'s role-in Chile..; ?' ., .
e0fTn"uecj
Approved For Release 2002/02/11 : CIA-RDP77-00512R000100040169-8
 Approved Ftx'Release 2002/02/11 : CIA-RDP77-00542ROO0100040169-8
Opposition on Panel
Sources close to the commit-
tee said that opposition from
Republicans and, some Demo-
crats on the nine-member panel
had prevented Mr. Church from
going forward this week with
full-scale public hearings. As
of last Friday, the sources said,
the Senators had -been unable
to agree how long the hearings,
if public, should last and which
witnesses should be summoned.
Defenders of the Senate cont.
mittee, including Mr. Church,
concede that the public hear-
ings have failed . to arouse
strong public interest, but they
insist that the committee
should not.be judged until it
completes its work
A number of sources said
that the assassination `report,
scheduled to be. released ' in
two weeks, reaches no-definite
conclusions about who author-
ized what in Cuba, Chile,.the
Congo and the Dominican Re-
public. The report, howaever
is said to contain the most
detailed information ever as=
sembled outside the C.LA: on
how covert operations are ini-
tiated and carried out:' - . >
Mr. Church is known to be
sensitive to the charges that
he sought to obtain -persona
publicity by publicly investigat-
ing such seemingly dramatic
but less significant issues as
the failure of some low-level; vi ties of its needed intelligence
agency official to destroy lethal I agencies.
toxin stocks after a direct Pres- '.`We'retrying to put intel-
1969.ia1 order to do so in late1ligence'within:the constitution-
I al framework," he said. "That's
The -Senator said in a recent.
telephone interview -? that such
accusations. were "groundless"
and added: "The assassination
matter would have been unpre-
cedented box office: It would
have been the most sensational
hearings held in this' century.
I was against bringing this out
because I thought it would have
caused damage" to the nation.
'Headline-Grabbing' Denied
"Its just unconscionable, to
(turn around and, say that the
committee is headline - grab-
bing," Mr..Church added.
Similarly, William G.. Miller,
staff _ director. of. the Church
committee inquiry, said in. a
telephone interview that 30 in-
vestigators : and attorneys had
been working since. early this
year on what he..said was one
of the central issues..;'In the
,investigation: Are you ' going
to have coyest operations and
under what conditions and
what controls?
Thus far, Mr.. Miller. said,
the staff dealing with that issue
has been meeting privately and
may -be forced Act conclude its
the major....work of the. commit-
tee, and it won't be seen until
February. -
Differing Views Voiced
Other Senate staffmen, in-
cluding some senior member
of Mr. Church's committee, ex.
rressed differing views.
"The committee has not been
willing to hang tough and fight
the :Administration" on. access
to documentation, one commit-
tee . said. . "It's frittered away
leverage "you-journalists gave!
them [early this year]-when'
everyone was afraid of a cover-'
Another committee source
complained that Senator
Church and Mr. Miller "have
the'notion that if you go quiet-
ly, in the end you'll come up
with some worthwhile reme-
dies" for the intelligence com-
munity. - '
"People will say you're ter-
ribly reasonable, but that's only
because you haven't found out
anything," the source said.;.
:,Whenever there was a?1 real
work with relatively 'little m_kcrunch?iii the area'of domestic'
formation made public t, ..abuses, the source said,: the
-cauuJ ; iii u:lbuu _UL SCGC(_y 'JUL eUL LLLS Uet.LeJ 011,, uec;ause
versus national; security' ,'. xevryotie- wily thin ings
-He descrtbed the' committee's have been, dug ip and tf}vesti-.
major goal as ensuring ` that