DIRECTOR URGES CITIZENS TO TAKE CIA 'ON FAITH'

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80-01601R001200420001-5
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 9, 2016
• Document Release Date: January 2, 2001
• Sequence Number: 1
• Publication Date: April 20, 1971
• Content Type: NSPR

Approved For Release-2001/03/04: CIA-RDP
HUNIINGTON, W.VA.-,
HERALUA ,SP26CIi9I1
Ii - 52,741
EDITORIALS
ALONG WITH other members of
the American Society of Newspaper
Editors, we listened raptly last week
to the assurances of Richard Helms,
director of the Central Intelligence
Agency (CIA) that the job his organi-
zation is engaged in doing is essen-
tial and is being done "better than it
has ever been before."
Contrary to the notion t'at some
Americans may have of the man who
operates this cloak-and-dagger out-
fit, Mr. Helms exhibited no outward
signs that his unusual calling had
twisted his nature or his objectivity..
While conceding that citizens
have to take the CIA more or Less
on faith," he insisted that it does
,not "target on American citizens"
,,and that by far the greater part of its
work lies in coordinating informa-
;tion gathered by other agencies and
departments of government.
"WE UNDERSTAND as well as
anyone the difficulties and the con
tradictions of conducting foreign in-
telligence operations on behalf of a
free society," he admitted. But he
asked that the nation believe, "We,
too, are honorable men devoted to
her (the nation's) service."
A dark and rather handsome
man, Mr. Helms recognizes the am-
biguous position which his agency
occupies-since it is a secret organi-
zation whose personnel, activites,
budget and objectives cannot be
examined in public. '
STATINTL
UNDOUBTEDLY, Director
Helms was as candid with his audi-
ence (this was one of his very rare
public appearances) as he could af-
ford to be. In-a world which at times
seems to be . preoccupied with
various methods of eavesdropping,
and which has made privacy almost
incompatible with prominence, it
would be childish to expect the CIA
to see anything wrong with any act it
found necessary to carry out a high
policy decision.
to collect information, but not to cv-
aluate it. "We must be strictly objec-
tive," he insisted. "Vie must never
take sides."
SOME'i'I:'.IES THE facts point to
dangerous situations or real. threats
to the nation's safety, but perhaps as
often the knowledge contained in CIA
files dispel certain possible dangers.
An cxan?Ic, occurred during the
I L Lae. :i,;siia crisis, the direc-
?er Ia:, matien reached
I :..._ _..:eunedy that th^ I:ussians
re. e f::"2ag certain types of weap-
ons -s in Cuba so that they
ceuhi not be spotted by aerial recon-
naissance planes. The CIA was able
to deny the stories because it had
precise irJormation on the size of the
caves in question and knew that it
would be impossible for them to ac-
comme-late the weapons.
Concerning certain high crimes
in which the CIA has sometimes
been accused of implication, M{{
Helms was silent. But he empha'
sized what any thoughtful citizen
knows quite well: That the United
States is a world power and hence
that it may be involved without
warning in situations that endanger
That the act is necessary-even
if it triggers such things as political
assassinations in other lands-we
will, presumably, have to accept on
blind faith. We suppose there is no
alternative to this kind of trust. On
the assumption that everybody else
is doing it, we hope Mr. Helms' or-
ganization is as efficient as he says it
.its security. Therefore, it is abso-
lutely essential that every shred of
information bearing on the situation
be obtained beforehand-even, as
Mr. Helms explained, if it is such a
The prime objective, if what Mr.. relatively insignificant fact as "the
Helms said isAih *&R61 e.*16W(9 /C i'1V4a:t PAAa 1D80-01601 R001200420001-5