CIA'S HELMS KEEPS MUM AT HEARING

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP84-00161R000400210025-0
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 23, 2016
• Document Release Date: February 20, 2014
• Sequence Number: 25
• Publication Date: February 6, 1973
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Declassified and Approved For Release @50-Yr 2014/02/21 : CIA-RDP84-00161R000400210025-0
IAMI, FTA.
YI,ERALTacn
LJ 6 lara,
- 330,828
S - 479,025
r 3' JAMES MeCARTNEY
Herald Washin5lon Bureau
WASHINGTON ? After
26 years with the CIA, Rich-
ard Helms is the nation's
preeminent, m o S t experi-
enced spy.
And MondaY he lived by. ,
the code of the spy to the'
bitter end.
Eased out, without expla-
nation, after 61/2 years as
head of the CIA, Helms had
the first opportunity of his
career to tell all at a public
hearing. But in the grand tra-
dition of the CIA, he chose to
keep his mouth shut.
HELMS has been banished
by the Nixon Administration
to the U.S. ambassadorship
in Iran ? apparently to give
. the job to a Nixon loyalist'.
He told Sen. J. William
Fulbright (1).,Ark.), chairman
of the Foreign Relations
. Committee, that he didn't in-
tend to start talking now.
"I think if I should talk it
would be a bad example for
those still in the agency," he
said.
But he did go as far as to
say that none of his boys had
any 'part in the Watergate
affair ? that, he said, in-
.volved some ex-CIA agents,
with no remaining connec-
tions. ?
?"11 had no control over any-
one who left," he said.
? Two former CIA agents
participated in the celebrated
Watergate raid on Democrat-
ic National Committee head-
quarters in Washington, E.
I Toward Hunt Jr.. and James
McCord .11..
Helms also said that the
? CIA had not cooperated with
Internal ional Telephone and
Telegraph Corp. (ITT) for
"espionage purposes" in
Chile ? as suggested last
year by the so-called "Ander-
:5CP. papero."
:;:ACT, he said thr: CIA
lid the sane Iciarls of rein-
tions with inaoy covporations
overseas aa it had v th Err
,
-1711/d75-el 47.%
" ri `\
ij ickew
Richard Helms
... headed for Iran.
in Chile ? and he wouldn't
describe those relations as
"espionage."
Ile called them relation-
ships for "exchanging infor-
mation." -
The Anderson papers re
ported regular contacts be-
tween ITT and a CIA official
in Washington iiy an ap-
parent attempt to prevent a
communist government from.
taking over in Chile. ?
- But on the whole, Helms
had little to say about his.ac-
tivities at the CIA ---- and
' I
?iTiT
1 i
,2
6) ?
-07
Helms seemed. . amused.
"Mr. Chairman," he replied,
"you know as much about
Iran as I do."
Senators of both parties
praised Helms for doing an
"objective" job in preparing.
reports.
The unanswered. and
unasked, question at the
hearing was why, if Helms
had done so well, he had
been demoted. Some ad-
ministration officials, at
least, believe that the White
House has been unhappy
with Helms' independence at
thc.CIA.
?
SOME BELIEVE that the ?
administration would like re-
)orts more in keeping'--- or
sbppptive ? of its policies.
No senator asked Helms
about that, but reporters
cornered him in. a hallway
after the hearing and popped
the question.
nothing at all to say about
the reasons for his departure.
And the often-acerbic sen-
ators of. the Foreign Rela-
tions -committee, who have
often delighted in the past
needling the Nixon Adminis-
tration, treated Helms with
kid gloves.
HIS. APPOINTMENT to
the Iranian ambassadorship,
far from the seats of power
he has occupied for so long,
was greeted, by and large, as
though it were a promotion.
The session was, in fact, -
thc first time that Helms has
ever testified in public before
a congressional committee.
He has often briefed senators
behind closed doors.
1.."Mbliehi chided Helms a
liii about the Iranian appoint-
ment. line a feeling." lie
said, "you knov,, inm-e about
the CIA than Iran --- is that a
fair stalement?"
f71
"That," he said, - "is
cocktail party chatter. ?
"The CIA has established a.
tradition of fair and honest
reporting. And presidents
know that and all presidents
appreciate the need for that."
But is he concerned- that
the tradition might now be
imperiled?
"I don't know," he said.
-
"We'll have to wait and see."
Helms' successor at the
CIA, James Schlesinger, was
a budget expert at the White-
house before he was appoint-
ed head- of the Atomic
Energy Commission last
year.
He was schedided to testi-
fy at an open hearing of the
Senate Armed Services Com-
mittee two weeks ago Mit at
the last minute plans were
changed. The. open hearing
was canceled. Schlesingey
testified behind closed docip...
npdassified and Approved For Release @50-Yr 2014/02/21 : CIA-RDP84-00161R000400210025-0