NOTE TO MR. LOCH JOHNSON (SANITIZED)

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP81M00980R002000010086-5
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 3
• Document Creation Date: December 19, 2016
• Sequence Number: 86
• Content Type: FORM

Approved For Release 2006/12/15: CIA-RED ' ,I1J 086-5
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
Office of Legisictive Counsel
Washington, C. C. 20505
Telephone: [phone] (Ccide 143-6121)
18 April 1978
TO:
Mr. Loch Johnson
Permanent Select Committee on
Intelligence ;
Dear Loch:
I am forwarding you a copy of the
13 April Washington Star article
entitled, 'Hea lines s ;ou1d be
borne out by facts" as well as the
26 February article (er..titled "CIA-
Linked Author To Lectuze on Hill")
to which it refers. I think that you
will find the 13 April article
enlightening.
Regards;
Assistant Legislat:Lve Counsel
FORM 1533 OBSOLETE
6-68 :J PREVIOUS
EO IT TONS
OLC #7?- 14113 [
Approved For Release 2006/12/15: CIA-R?P81 M00980R002000010086-5
 Z I A '0 0k vAM Se (011 1tE f IA-RDP81 M00980R002000010086-bate.
NEWS SERVICE
139 p
Item No. 1
DISTRIBUTION II
The letter below appeared in today's Washington Star.
`Headlines should be borne out by facts'
Walter Taylor's story, "CIA-
Linked Author to Lecture on Hill"
(The Star, Feb. 26), which appeared .
while I was on assignment in Cuba,
is inaccurate and misleading in a
number of important respects. It
claimed that House and Senate com-
mittees were looking into the possi-
bility that material concerning a
Greek lobbyist, Elias Demetraco-
poulos, which appeared in "The
Power Peddlers," written by Sarah
Hays Trott and myself, may-have
been "leaked" to us by the.CIA.
The book, published in February
1977, recounted an effort by the CIA
and the State Department to dis-
credit Demetracopoulos through a
memorandum sent to members of
Congress. However, as Taylor
would have learned had he read the
book about which he wrote, we also
recounted the withdrawal of the
memo, Assistant Secretary David.
Abshire's apology and, for good
measure, Demetracopoulos' own
denials of the memo's contents.
Taylor failed to mention any.of
these points in his piece, although
they plainly bear on the gratuitous
allegation that the book was "used"
by the CIA.
Similarly, if Taylor had checked
with Trott or myself, which he inex-
plicably failed to do, he would have
learned that the CIA-memo story
came to us from Demetracopoulos
himself, and that it was partly at his
urging that we tracked down a copy
of a CIA profile of him. He would
also have learned that we showed
our memo too-Demetracopoulos at
his request, and that he told us it
was similar in content to the one
sent to Congress. Injqther'words, it
was Demetracopoulos and not-the
CIA who generated this passage in
our book, as part of his (apparently
ongoing) feud with the agency. .
Taylor's story was also mislead-
ing in-his assertion that our book is
being investigated by House and
Senate committees. No member of
Congress or congressional aide-has
contacted either.Trott or me about
"The Power Peddlers" since it ap-
peared over a year ago. Sen.
McGovern did write a letter to Sen.
Inouye, chairman of the Select
Intelligence Committee, in which --
at Demetracopoulos' request - he
mentioned our book as a possible
example of CIA use of the press.
However, Taylor neglected to men-
tion that McGovern's letter was
written a year ago.
I have been informed by a com-
mittee spokesman that the Deme-
tracopoulos file was closed a few
days later and that there are no
present plans to reopen it. The
London Guardian reported at the
time (March If,, 1977) tnar ine
Inouye committee was probably not
going to investigate cases like that
of Demetracopoulos. Similarly, at
Demetracopoulos' request, Rep.
Edwards did write more recently to
Admiral Stansfield Turner; but, as
Taylor reports, Admiral Turner's
response confirms that we were not
briefed by the CIA.
There is, of course, no reason
why reporters should not use any.
sources, including the CIA; but
none of our information about
Deinetiacopoulos was "leaked" to
us by anyone. We had to go after it,
often in order to check out his own
loquacious recollections.
As Demetracopoulos explained to
us, and as we recounted in our book,
he often urges a member of Con-
gress to write a letter to a govern-
ment official, then announces to the
press that there is a "congressional
investigation" underway. Needless
to say, an exchange of letters doth
not an investigation make. Deme-
tracopoulos boasted, and we re-
ported, that he is usually able to get
his material into the Evans &
Novak column, the Jack Anderson
column, UPI and the Guardian.
Last year, he gave a virtually iden-
tical story to Taylor's to Evans and
Novak, but Bob Novak checked it
out and handled it more cautiously.
(He also tried three times to check
with me, but I was out of town.)
Finally, had Taylor read at least
the book's dust jacket, I would prob-
ably not have appeared in his story
as a "British journalist," and if he
had called me, he would have
learned that I was'going to Cuba
and therefore not going to "lecture
on the Hill" at all.
In short, nothing justified the
damaging, offensive and McCarthy-
like flavor of The Star's headline. i
The lessons are the old ones: re-
porters should check, editors should
check, and headlines should be borne
out by facts. Taylor's piece was
especially ironic, as I am just com-
pleting an article commissioned by
the media'magazine More on CIA
use of the press.
Russell Warren Howe
Washington, D.C.
Approved For Release 2006/12/15: CIA-RDP81 M00980R002000010086-5
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junta that controlled Greece at that time and also
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