CONGRESS IS ACCUSED OF LAXITY ON C.I.A.'S COVERT ACTIVITY

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP81M00980R000600080080-0
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 15, 2016
• Document Release Date: May 24, 2004
• Sequence Number: 80
• Publication Date: June 1, 1978
• Content Type: NSPR

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Congress Is Accused of Laxity on C.I A..
By SEYMOUR M.. HERSH
Some members of Congress and Wash-.
ington officials are openly expressing,
concern about what they. say are weak-
nesses in the Congressional control and
monitoring of the Central Intelligence
Agency's covert activities overseas.
They cite.as eyidence the willingness,
of the Senate and Houser intelligence com-
mittees to approve clandestine operations
in such sensitive regions as the Middle
East and Africa without serious question-.
m At least three such operations involving
the shipment .of communications equip-
ment to Egypt and the Sudan and an anti-
Cuban propaganda program in the Horn
of Africa, were approved by the commit=
tees last fall, according to well-placed
;sources:
I Some legislators were known to have
had subsequent misgivings about at least
one operation, but no objections were
voiced at the time, the same sources said.
There is no legislation barring the C.I.A.
from engaging in covert activities abroad,
but the. quick endorsement by the Senate
and House intelligence committees last
,year of the three covert operations dis-
concerted some members of Congress
who had already raised questions about
the various command-acrid-control mech-
anisms set up in the wake of the C.T.A.
domestic spying scandals, The Times's
sources said. .
The C.I.A.'s operations were approved,
as they must be before being submitted
to Congress, by President Carter and the
Special Coordinating Committee, his new
Cabinet-level group that reviews and as-
sesses all clandestine activity. The coor-
dinating committee is 'headed by Zbig-
niew Brzezinski, the. national security
adviser.
'To Cover the Waterfront'
Members of , they Senate Intelligence
Committee acknowledged in recent inter-
views that the process of gaining the
right to complete oversight over the
C.I.A.'s activities was a slow one and!
not yet been completed. But they insisted,
as one senior aide said, that "in every
area of intelligence activity, the commit-
tee will be able to cover the waterfront
from top to bottom." ... ' .
. The broad question of Congressional,
control over the C.I.A.'s covert activities
has been raised repeatedly since the spy-
ing scandal. One immediate solution was
to expand to eight the number of Con-
gressional committees entitled to briefings
on such activities. In practice, however,
an inquiry by The Times showed that
while the full membership.of the Senate
and House intelligence committees was
briefed,. only a few members of the other
six committees were informed of the
covert operations and usually after the
fact. - . . .. -
i Because of the past controversy over
the agency's involvement in Chile and
jelsewhere, some members of Congress
'and Administration fficials ar nown
to believe, the securi~Yr e@xt
is all the more fragile and, thus, the ac-
tivities riskier. " .
Covert Activity!,
For example, the-existence of the clan-
destine operations in the Middle East and
Africa was disclosed as President Carter
and key Administration aides are becom-
ing involved in an increasingly public
debate over Congressional restrictions
and prohibitions on foreign involvements.
As explained by Administration offici-
als, the equipment provided to Mr. Sadat
last year was part of a continuing C.I.A. i
project to supply him with a. personal,
communications system for safety.
The Administration officials said that;
Mr. Sadat had requested the equipment;
New U.S. Role In Angolan. War Seen . sold communicate with his per .I
Senator Dick Clark, Democrat of Iowa, I I sonal aides without others--presumably
told reporters last week that he believed) in the Egyptian militarybeing able. to
the Carter Administration was consider- eavesdrop. I .
ing a re-entryinto the Angolan civil war The equipment was said to have cost
.by clandestinely supplyIng arms, through less than $500,000 and perhaps as little
the French, to a pro-Western faction as $350,000. It was described as part of {
having made clear to some senators that
he would support a repeal of legislation
barring the.United States from aiding a
pro-Westernfaction in Angola.
The covert operations, all approved
t sometime last fall, included the delivery
a five-year or six-year multimillion-dollar
communications programnow in its final
stage.
Similar equipment was reportedly
provided earlier to leaders of the Israeli
Government. .
Administration officials explained that i
Mr. Sadat considered the C.I.A. equip-
I cations equipment to President Anwar el- 11 ment as "very personal" and it wa3 at .
I Sadat of Egypt and to President Gaafar f his direct request that it was provided
E al-Nimeiry of the Sudan. secretly.
i In addition the r T A : organized an
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