EX-CIA AGENT SPOTTED BY PELL

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80-01601R001400110001-7
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 6
• Document Creation Date: December 9, 2016
• Document Release Date: January 16, 2001
• Sequence Number: 1
• Publication Date: May 23, 1972
• Content Type: NSPR

Approved For Release 2001/03/04: CIA-RDP8O-01601 R
pROVILE`NCE, R.I.
BULLETIN
E - 149,463
MAY 2 3197'
~~A6 A-A
Journal-Bulletin Washington BurLitu
, Washington - The presence
of a former Central In-
telligence Agency operative
on the staff of Action, the fed-
eral agency that includes the
Peace Corps, was discovered
by Sen. Claiborne Pell, then
kept out of the public record
because it was a short-term
mistake.
In early April, Pell submit-
ted six written questions to
Action Director Joseph
Blatchford at a Senate lorcign
relations committee hearing
on the agency's authorization
for the coming fiscal year.
Two of. the questions involve
to a long-standing policy. Host
(countries could not be expect-
ed to welcome Peace Corps
volunteers if there was any
making position in the Peace
Corps.
The use of such agents in
the Peace Corps is contrary
had been used in a"' ffisC- sures public. Pell's staff re-
taint of intelligence gathering
operations about them.
A few weeks ago, Blatch-
ford replied to the Pell ques-
tion, saying that a former
agent had been briefly in-
volved in administrative af-
fairs of the Action agency
when it was formed through
the merger of the Peace
Corps and Vista (Volunteers
in Service to America), The
agent had originally worked
for Vista. He has since been
detailed to the Office of Eco-
nomic Opportunity.
The original Blatchford
reply carried a handwritten
,jetted the copy with the
handwritten notation and in-
sisted on a clean copy. A Pell
spokesman said the purpose
was to let Pell make the deci-
sion on disclosure himself.
Pell then decided that the
agent had been only mar-
Joseph Blafchford
ginally involved in the Peace
Corps, and then only for a few
weeks, For that reason, he
agreed to withhold the infor-
mation on the agent from the
record of the hearing.
According to Action, the
agent was Eric H. Biddle Jr.,
who served with the . CIA in
Europe and Washington dur-
ing the 1950s.
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 Approved For Release 200/01/4 1 ,4-RDP80-01601A T1i I10001-7
ExCA e it's St~~s
Acon ~s 0 llsse
earned today.
The former agent, Eric H.
Biddle Jr., since has been de-
tailed away from Action be-
cause such employment would
be. contrary to the agency's
stated policies.
Biddle,? who served with the
CIA in Greece, Germany, and
Washington during the 1950s,
currently works in the Office
UI Led Press International
The revelation that an ex-
CIA agent is on the payroll of
Action, the government agen-
cy which includes the Peace
Corps, was deleted from a
Senate Foreign R e I a t 1 o n s
Committee report after a per-
sonal plea by Action Director
Joseph H. Blatchford, it was
Peace Corps.
Written Answers
Pell, . though not present,
submitted six questions for
Blatchford to answer, Includ-
ed was the question: "Are
there any former employes of
the CIA or other intelligence
agencies now on the payroll of
Action, regardless of whether
they are now performing du-
ties for Action?"
A week later Blatchford sent
written answers to all six
questions to Pell, with a hand-
written postscript at the bot-
om of the cover letter.
"I have an understanding
with your staff that these
questions and answers are for
your personal use and will not
be put into the record. We ap-
preciate your sensitivity to
this issue."
Pell's staff, however, reject-
ed the postscript and demand-
of Economic Opportunity. He
continues to be paid through
Action.
Blatchford's sensitivity to
the CIA issue came to light
following questioning by Sen.
Claiborne Pell, D-R.I., during
an April 7 Foreign Relations
Committee hearing on fiscal
1973 authorizations for the
ed a new cover letter without
the agreement. This was done.
Nevertheless, w h e n Pell
turned over the questions and
answers to the committee for
publication in the report of the
hearing, the two questions in-
volving Biddle's employment
were deleted.
Questions Deleted
Thomas Hughes, Pell's press
secretary, said yesterday the
senator decided to eliminate
the material from the public
record because it "could very
well be very damaging and
embarrassing to the. Peace
Corps." .
Hughes and William Youngi
the senator's administrative
assistant, ' said Biddle had
some control over' Peace
Corps functions. during the
brief period he actually was
working in Action, but an Ac-
tion spokesman denied it.
'Paul Costello, an Action
press official, said Biddle was
detailed out of Action two
weeks after the merger of sev-
eral agencies in July.
Approved For Release 2001/03/04: CIA-RDP80-01601 R001400110001-7
 EAST BERLIN BERLINER ZEITUNG
Approved For Release 2001 /O3JO41'&YR)PBO-($I T l -1
M d/~V / L!(r~~ ~Y tyU g Y f~
WET enig Anki ncj
~, 11
J E N - 0 G`R/'4
Sic hotten keinen Computer notig,
um herauszufmden, dab man mit
zwdlf Jungern heutzutage keine Reli-
gion mehr verbreiten kann, weswegen
sic 30000 aufboten and im Jahre
1960 ihren Prdsidenten John F. Kennedy
zu ihnen sagen lief3en: ?Nun gehct bin
in alle Welt and lehret olle Volker, so
sic es sich gefa!len lassen, den Ame-
rican Way of Life!" Und or taufte die
30 000 auf den Namen ,Pecce Corps"
(?Friedcnskorps"), was nach omerika-
nischer Ansicht sowohl den Christen
wie den Heiden unverddchtig erschei-
nen mu6te, Lind entliel3 dos Friadcns-
heer in alle Windrichtungen, out daB
in den Hirnen der Unwissendcn eine
Starke Liebe zu Amerika and ein heft' -
ger Widerwille gegen amerikanische
Teufel erbluhe.
In den Peace-Corps-Ernpfongerldn-
dern erregten die Peace Corpcrale so-
gleich betrachtliches Aufsehen, weil
man dort nie zuvor Leute kcnnenae.
lern't hatte, die soviet reden konnten,
aline dabei don Wunsch nach irgend-
ciner nutzlichen Tdtigkeit erri