KEEP THE CLOAK:

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80-01601R001200780001-6
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 9, 2016
• Document Release Date: November 8, 2000
• Sequence Number: 1
• Publication Date: April 17, 1971
• Content Type: NSPR

-3
J
Approved For Release 2001/03/04: CIA-RDP
RICHMOND, VA.
NEWS LEADER
E - 119,238
Keep fh y Cloak:
Those who make their living beard-
ing the governmcnl, tied that one of
their greatest advantages is the un-
ending list 'of- targets available to
them. And because they never, regard
any response to their accusations as
satisfactory, the bureaucracy-baiters
revel in a self-perpetuating business.
President Nixon surely knows this
fact of political life, but occasionally
he makes one doubt.
The other day Mr. Nixon allowed
Richard Helms, the director of the
Central Intelligence Agency, to speak
before the American Society of News-
paper Editors. Given that Helms never
has made a similar address in his
five years as director of the CIA, it
was apparent that ltl~' t7;:T,ttter
than Helms, wanted to bring a few
this out from the shadows as a
counter to ever-mounting criticism.
So Helms dutifully told the editors
-and by extension, the American
people-that the CIA really isn't fil-
led with bogeymen, but rather with
honorable men seeking to aid the na-
tion's defense. Helms explained that
the CIA has neither the power nor
the. inclination to use police-state tac-
tics, and that the Agency is closely
monitored by high-ranking govern-
ment officials who insure that it can't
get out of hand.
Such was the tenor of Helms'
speech, and a reasonable man would
be hard-pressed to argue with it. Un-
fortunately, that is the point: Reason- -
STATINTL
able men realize that the CIA is not7
about to turn into Nixon's Gestapo;
unreasonable men believe the CIA is
incapable of becoming anything else.
Helms therefore made a speech that
probably changed no minds, but in-'
stead brought the CIA what it needs
least-attention.
Mr. Nixon thus handed the anti-
CIA (and anti-Administration) forces
more fodder for their verbal cannon.
New attacks on the CIA were inevit-
able, of course. But there is no reason
why Mr. Nixon should have encourag-
ed them. It would have been far bet-
ter to let Helms keep wearing the
same cloak of near-anonymity he don-
ned five years ago.
J
Approved For Release 2001/03/04: CIA-RDP80-01601 R001200780001-6