JACK VALENTI: CRIPPLING THE CIA AND FBI

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP81M00980R002000090170-3
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 16, 2016
• Document Release Date: October 4, 2004
• Sequence Number: 170
• Publication Date: January 20, 1978
• Content Type: NSPR

ARfiCL?it`P.'.-. BD
ONP;G-E ~~ THE WASiiINGTON STAR (Green Line)
pproved For Releagg 24@h'1219A-RDP81M00980R00
2000090170-3
JACK VALENTI:
CHpplina the CIA .and FBI
This is not going to be ap-
plauded in the dining salons
of my East Side Manhattan
liberal friends,.but some-
how I cannot shake the
queasy notion that'-we - as
a nation, goadeo;:by well-
intentioned people- are
systemically destroying the
ability of the CIA and the
FBI to function effectively
in the long-range'best inter.
ests of this country;, .
It is, politically.-.given that
denouncing "dirty tricks in
Chile" and the alleged blun-
ders-and felonies that are
ascribed to. every action,
real or imagined, of the CIA
are guaranties:pol'.maximum
publicity.
Moreover, oAe' need say
only Edges".,and the
senses are stunned by an
,emotional' avalanche of
black-bag treachery and
stealthy 'bureaucratic
`
Mach iavellianism. Mr.
Hoover's critics -are, of a
piece with Anglican clergy.
,man Hurrell Froude' who
when speaking about a
sullied archbishop who met
his end by being fried to a
crisp at the -stake, - said:
"The only good thing I
know of. Craniner is that
he burnt well."
There is little doubt that
Hoover not-only "burnt
;well'.' .,but, even worse, he
stayed too longWith his,
apotheosis, ?he: became
crotchety and 'overbearing
(when =mortals assume di-
vinity' there is a noticeable
' loss, of. humility). But one
. need not embrace Hoover
lovingly to point out that the
FBI over a, long stretch of
time has been and remains
the most professional and
highly: motivated police
force in the world.
During my three years as
:.a White House assistant
under President Johnson, I,
discovered- thework of the
;FBI and the. CIA was: in-;
]Point of View '
variably superior. Both
made errors but their excel-
lence more than out-
weighed 'their laxities. To
find this quality confounds
the rhetoric of so many who
distrust and disprize both
organizations.
During the great intra-
government debates of 1965
when the decisions to in-
trude more troops into Viet-
nam were taken, it was the
CIA's estimates which time
has shown to be most nearly
.correct. If the agency's
dour . assessments were
overlooked or over-ridden
the CIA cannot be faulted.
It did its job.
If the CIA was deployed
into areas and into events
that later lacerated their
reputation one must under-
stand that Higher Author-
ities instructed the CIA and,
once again, it,did its job as
ordered.
To rawhide the FBI for
the latter-day imperfections
of an old man, implacable,
grown to legend, is to mis-
place the location of what
Lytton Strachey in another
context referred to as the
"seats and nurseries of
4ice."
The fact, as any sober
intelligence will perceive, is
that the FBI is still the best
police force in being; with a
spirit-shrunken, unevenly
motivated FBI, we would be
less than slightly under
guarded in a more than sub-
stantially unsafe society.
And while it is not inap-
propriate for the CIA to
place faith. in the abstruse
technology of satellites and
:laser beams and whatever
else is now possible, most
experienced -observers
agree that an alert and
effective intelligence gath-
ering- organization isi
needed more than ever. Is it
Jeally ;'&. confirmation of
idealism to be. blind and,
mute in a world-seething
Yet the 'virulent -shred-,
ding of the FBI and the CIA
Approved For Release 4P04gkO61-2i; t 4MMUV1
From my intimate gov-
ernment experience I count
the steady, exhausting
blows on the FBI and CIA to
be the first assaults on the .
way to an irretrievable na-
tional blunder: The. world.
and this nation are some-
times a collection of not
very nice neighborhoods.
Moreover, in our free and
liberty-loving land it. is not
possible ' (nor - would , we
choose it to be possible), to
deal sternly, summarily and.
finally with either criminals
or spies as is done with such
dispatch in totalitarian
countries.
Therefore, if we strip the
CIA.and FBI raw,. if we so
foul their environment that
no professional would want
to-risk his life and his fami-
ly's for a flimsy gratitude
or a shaky cause, if no per-
son would be willing (for
whatever reason) to tell ei-
ther group something that
he or she knew that might
be of value in appraising an
enemy or identifying a
:criminal since no file is safe .
from intrusive eyes, .then
we will be, by intent and
conditioned judgment, col-
lapsing our once-profes-:
.sional intelligence gather-
Wing and our once proud and.,-
incorruptible investigatory
police force. How sure then-
would we be that justice,:
however slow; would be
readily available -until it
is all too late to. measure?
It is wrong. to blind they
CIA and to stunt the FBI. It
is wrong because the alter-
,.natives are so meager:->a`
? Mr. Valenti is the presi-
.dent of the Motion Picture
Association of America,
0280R002000090170-3