HISTORIAN OF 'FIRST CIA' DEFENDS PRESENT ONE

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80-01601R000300350024-8
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 9, 2016
• Document Release Date: November 13, 2000
• Sequence Number: 24
• Publication Date: August 27, 1972
• Content Type: NSPR

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A lvst.orian. whosechronicle of A;meii'~~~*~~:~(irst intelligence
~: rn'ganization has just eaten published thinks the Vietnam con
fiict: etas distorted the role of inte]igence in the rear and cast
.the,. General Intelligence Aneticy in a false role.
'i']re historian, li. II~u?ris Smith, is an the faculty at UC:
33erkeley. and he rr~orked for a lime in the CI:1 d~ueing the John-
. son adtuinistration. leis boob, "OSS: 'f9tie ?Sccrct llistot?y of
A~tnerica's h'irst Cet~tz'al Intelligence. Agcnc}=," has just bee-n re-
leased.
In~,m intervicrv, Smith. 'said flit CIA has borne the brunt of
il~te ltlamc for?t:hc agmty of American inr,-o1~==oment in Jnci:~~~hina
attd has been cast as the bo?;ey;i7an in 1-he ViehtatitesE+ intrih~uc.
"I thirilt there aro surely things raronr; reith fire CI!1, but.
artost of the blame far rshat's gone rr~?ong in Vietnam falls to .
the li'hite house," saki Strtiih. `Phe author also said that tl~e
CIA.. t?ounsele~ against the Cambodian invasion ordered lay
President 1\'izon trvu years af;o, ante warned rcpcatedly chat
bontbing 1v'a~~th. Vieinan~ mould be largely ineffective.
`llae intellii;eoce agency, said Smith, even informed the
lYhit.e house t.hat no American prisoners avert present in t=nc
camp at Son'1'ay, ri'orih Vietnam, bc~forc an abortive American
-raid on the cati~p resu]icd iti the embarrassment of failing to
free 'any U.S, captives despite serious risk to the raining
forces. ,
"I think ?that for i.he last three years we've seen ~a eat of
C)A intelligence t-hat has beeai disregarded by the l~~lule
house," Smi1.h charhecl, The 23-year-old author 1M[. the CL1 "as'
? did many people.like me," because of disaffection with the ear-
]y phases, of the massive Johnson escalation of the Vietnam
war.
"Seeing your adr=ice disregarded is just one of the frttstra-
Lions of intelli-genre rr~ork," Smith said.
In researching his tale of the orranixation of the Offi~~c of
Strategic Services (OSS) during ~l'orld R'ar lI, Smith said he
u,i~covered documents in the Stanford Utlivcrsity library' n?hich
st911 bore the "top secret" stamp. I~'or that reason, the author I
said; his reservations ahottt the federal government's classifi- ~
cation systorn have been inteusifiecl.
"147y fec?littg is that I era?ote a book based on still-classified
documents, even if they were 30 years old," Srnit~h said. "1`~he
toed. is ghat we have too much cl~ssitication."
Smith said he lias offered to testify for flit defense ,in the
~spi~miage trial of Daniel I:IIsherg, mho supplied. copies of t.he~
"I'eu~tagon I'a-pens" to the New York 'l'imes.
"I ~hnerv people at the CIA wl~,o thought he ~(I_~~lisberg) was
a great defense .analyst," said Smith.
"Leaking information is such a conimen practice," flit au-
tihor rveut: on, "If you're high erio~ugh, you ca;t do it. with itn- .
ptmity. If you're lore= enough-like hllsbar~-yott had better
' look out.
"'i'here are things that should be l:el,t S0e1'et. l~llt frolll
STATINTL
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Approved For Release 2001/03/04 :CIA-RDP80-01601
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what I've seirn of the 1'entagan papers, there's nothing in them
to vrorrY ahout."'
Smith's book, rr~ltich ~r~as turned damn by four 1_}ublishcrs
before beit~g~ accept-ed by ihc. University of Califo>>7ia Press,
cells the stor;,= of the SalI1L't111C:i serious buC af.ten co?nic~l of
foils of Cron. l;'illiam "11'ild Lill" I)unovan to organ,}~t the 04S,
One anecdote in the wort, details the rt~aste r1'hich occut7?od
early in the OSS progra-tn because the agency ryas t;ot req+,ir2d
to account. for much of GIs budget: of several hundred million
dollars. , ~ , .
.One sneer incident, the ],ooh recalls, involved i)onovan's cf-
forts to place ~an agent on ali is'oiatcd island. to which iher~~ ryas
no steamship or airplane service. In the end, a frei~ Ater v:a.s
bout ht for "severa.l million dollars," but 1?o;:ova.n's operatives
subsequet~itly rca]iud that sending a r~~hole ship to ]anti one
agent v;onld scene, to ;ay the ]cast, cmtspicucus. The 151an r,~as
scrapped, but il~e OSS lost track of the ship and no use ryas
ever made of i.t_
Approved For Release 2001/03/04 :CIA-RDP80-016018000300350024-8