THE GRAVE RISKS IN THE HELMS INVESTIGATION

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80M00165A000700140063-4
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 20, 2016
• Document Release Date: April 19, 2004
• Sequence Number: 63
• Publication Date: January 1, 1977
• Content Type: NSPR

Rrnra1R td R vans and Robert Nova
Approved-For Release ?20071.03109. CIA-RDP80M00165A000700140063-4
vi Helms Inve
Ri
k
s
la rN V r, eratl?ns and- Elizabeth
s
Westin
h
e
'The President could be taken Off t
Helms longt!me r?;lfidcr
,
dent Ford, for government operating
George
endoianY -Illr
Y
d in the l?O
ary
e
l
i
l
b
R
'
etar
e
d
an
genc
mi secr
l
are
as he dec
r tgepartmen~
cr
t
, t "in the open,
President Carter must decide soon U.S. inte
~ re orrios i09%
between permitting or ns crime 'inl ill nce cooperation with he presidential division ustice s They charge of the r r
s of evey t,s
blocki R
im!e
g choice t of L the nation ac- ddit are?centP re i first
That the g indicting Helms by no mean nal Heim investigation. in ch ease Simply able rs te!?ph? and e recur -de out of l H
nal ichaod Helms, aaoner u CIA
whethe Helms, an an bonizi posing
suggests . call
whether to fulf avel his campaign ch aign pledges dents to obloquy. In short, reach self-flagella-
thousands Of
"open" government interests. at the cost of lion of the nation would reach a mas? suggests guilt. In fact, experienced lava rule the grand jury had
yeas and, politicians here believe the lucky, well informedlsource~hato be so of f;ee ve told `recto du,,-1gt t'G seven
'
for peng ?cTotpc peak.
the nation's higher neerD p months rs hunting are under grand jury scrutiny"
+~ e grand ury, now well into its guilty of perjury is, in the words of one us. The youthful investigators who ' f ram CIAs .iin Amer ican Lei .
So danger?us to this ountry are the To ~rh tvent thfs, the President must chance of finding the former chief spy ha e spent so many ? ? ?n Accordir,g,y, pr?secutors Carver sand
s of the un unprece e d block llnd nd wogald n? morerutiny ai `
implications
grand jury nv ur th of litlms ers on second year probing the truth ?f wooed rt compelzero
of p erjurY that Carter has Helms's 1973 Se enate testimony on Yeil~~ Nevertheless, m his defense, Helms Helms do and our to ponfront has him l sub in Congress,
d t? reveal the most open court n want o confr - idAccor order arreng indictment sad
vis suspicion
been see ?
secretly warned by informal ad Carter almost certainly would have
y scrap of pap er'ir, the trial than would liberals vsetas he mgo to ust never let the case n- instruct Attorney
indictment and thereby pre-, rity Council deliberations. This unques? poenaed The eg ever
trial, d in eminent Democrat,, deeply ly fn to veto tionably would involve former Presi- Central Intelligence Agency bearing on the media and elsewhere who have ex-
Salvador late Al- e against pendtd tn~ so much super eou . energy e
many in high aseslaidpe maelyrshat vent trial. Mardetstinne oesoperaperatioons s Chile, against th nstst the
gy
Helen llelintelligence l he clandeex-
be eral Such a move community, would including infuriate large the li seg- UP-, dents in squalid ualid the side of CIA's r
many s indictment dihsaid and ia trial l "would that
that meets of Congress and the press. More' game. Helms would be relieved from lende. It has questioned for long hours at rio
the single most damaging thing nnerergy,
House
hy in the Ford froHous ven
deeisio s malllet ~ n rent rd Nduring hit e bad
scores tea's ca also trail was protecting sources and directions to offf ials., Itop CIA nccluded?arei homas{?Kara pd ca
cJustice o ouldd be done to this os couuntry. over, Car calculated to to him, even by a President, if force years ran clan- and p 'raters to
many
messine~, Who for
Nixon demand for purging f
with pied
trial
bli
I
c
These "damaging". consequences strewn i
f e wickedness. The grand jury probu~4f
would include further dot noration of. make him appear wickedness. from Press defend himself in a pu
. started by Ford's Att?rn
Helms was
General, Edward Levl, an action vlew'e1
__ _.....1 l
er }lore JJitl1 lil}
ow
Approved For Release 2007/03/09 : CIA-RDP80M00165A000700140063-4
With post-Watergate morality rein-
forced by Jimmy Carter's protmiis4
never to run other than an "open" go
ernment, a presidential decision'
block indictment of Helms would"~na'
be easy. But the alternative, exposit
the nation's intelligence system 4MM,
past occupants of the Oval Officg,;'
f thcr abuse rnight well be ponde~e
a
r
But Levf ha" plenty of company.
Helms, who gave 32 years of honor aTi4
service to his country, was summdhA
to the'White House from his post as atiw
bassador' to Iran in January 1975 to;b
warned by presidential counsel Philj#
.Buchen. Helms was informed that any
i ie
thing he told the President Went
by Buchen as ""the nation's chief`'ia
enforcement officer") could be iAed
against him In the investigation Iov!
was then contemplating, "~3f
? ,
U
carefully by the President.
~ Xiia2.I
?i9 7,F~etdEnt, Prlnea,.ns.