CAN CONGRESS KEEP A SECRET

Document Type: 
Collection: 
Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 
CIA-RDP86B00338R000400560002-7
Release Decision: 
RIFPUB
Original Classification: 
K
Document Page Count: 
3
Document Creation Date: 
December 21, 2016
Document Release Date: 
September 15, 2008
Sequence Number: 
2
Case Number: 
Publication Date: 
August 24, 1984
Content Type: 
OPEN SOURCE
File: 
AttachmentSize
PDF icon CIA-RDP86B00338R000400560002-7.pdf371.92 KB
Body: 
- -~~ Approved For Release 2008/09/15: CIA-RDP86B00338R000400560002-7 Approved For Release 2008/09/15: CIA-RDP86B00338R000400560002-7 a 4P INTELLIGENCE PROBLEMS / HENRY J. HYDE CAN CONGRESS KEEP A SECRET? THE FUROR IN Congress over the mining of Nicaraguan harbors high- lights a question of overwhelming importance: Is Congress capable of practicing responsible oversight of in- telligence activities, once those activi- ties are viewed as an integral part of a foreign policy that has become the subject of partisan political debate? The current situation derives, ulti- mately, from the aftermath of Vietnam and Watergate. Panels headed by then- Congressman Otis Pike and the late Senator Frank Church carried out ex- tensive investigations of U.S. intelli- gence activities in the mid-Seventies; in the wake of these investigations, both Houses of Congress decided to establish select committees on intelli- gence. For a while, both of these committees appeared to conduct their business in an amicable and bipartisan manner with little evidence of politici- zation. Unfortunately, that state of af- fairs was too good to last, and for the past two years or so, the House Permanent Select Committee on In- telligence, in particular, has become radically politicized. So much so, in fact, that one of the intelligence com- munity's most illustrious and respected alumni, retired Admiral Bobby Inman, resigned in 1982 as a consultant to the committee because he felt it had becoihe politically partisan. Inman, a former director of the National Se- curity Agency and deputy director of Central Intelligence, explained that the oversight committees must be nonpolit- ical to earn public credibility. "If the country doesn't establish a bipartisan approach to intelligence, we are not going to face the problems of the next fifty years," he added. The calculated, politically motivated leaking of highly sensitive information has become a Washington art form. Mr. Hyde, Republican representative from Illinois, is a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. This art was practiced to great effect during Congress's consideration of the mining of Nicaraguan harbors. A num- ber of senators who knew about the mining when they voted additional as- sistance for the Contras turned around after the leaks and voted for a resolu- tion prohibiting the mining. This flip- flop called into question the integ- rity of the whole oversight process, and jeopardized the President's Central American aid program. Senator Patrick Leahy and I have strong differences of opinion regarding the United States' involvement in Nicaragua, but the sen- ator was right on the mark when he said, "There were senators who voted one way the week before and a differ- ent way the following week who knew about the mining in both instances and I think were influenced by pub- lic opinion, and I think that's wrong and that is a lousy job of legislative action." As the publicity spread, the integrity of the oversight process deteriorated yet further. A cardinal rule in intelli- gence is not to comment on news ac- "Frankly I'll be glad when that one's extinct. " counts regarding sensitive operations. Yet, we saw Representative Edward P. Boland (D., Mass.), chairman of the House Permanent Select Intelligence Committee, do just that before the House Rules Committee, and subse- quently on the House floor. Ironically, according to one press account, Bo- land's disclosures were partly motivated by a desire to counter charges that the CIA had not fully briefed the commit- tee on mining activities. That's a com- mendable reason, but at what cost to our intelligence capabilities? Then, in a move that must have left foreign intelligence services gaping, the CIA issued a press release acknowledg- ing its involvement in the mining by citing 11 occasions when it briefed congressional intelligence committees on the matter. What an unseemly spectacle then unfolded! Senator Goldwater, the chair- man of the Senate Intelligence Com- mittee, excoriated the CIA for not being forthcoming. Shortly thereafter, Senator Moynihan, the committee vice chairman, announced his resignation from the committee, claiming that he had not been properly briefed on the mining matter either. That charge was particularly perplexing inasmuch as Senator Moynihan had reportedly re- qupted a legal opinion from the State Department on the mining question a week before the Senate vote on as- sistance to the Nicaraguan resistance forces. Nevertheless, CIA Director Wil- liam Casey (in a triumph of discretion over valor) apologized to the Senate Intelligence Committee for his per- ceived sins, and Senator Moynihan de- cided to remain on the committee. The upshot of this bizarre scenario has been a serious deterioration in relations be- tween the CIA and Congress. All of this, of course, makes a mockery of the oversight system and of what must be the most overt covert program in intelligence annals. If what (Continues on page 61) Approved For Release 2008/09/15: CIA-RDP86B00338R000400560002-7 Approved For Release 2008/09/15: CIA-RDP86B00338R000400560002-7 up. But this could change literally o~ HYDE night. Therefore, common sense would suggest that, given the uncertainty of supply and their common aims, the U.S. a d Japan should cooperate more closely. But Vernon thinks not. He sees the ultural patterns of the two as "extraordi arily disparate to the point of incompa 'bility." On the other hand, he doesn't oresee estrangement and hostility ultim tely leading to divorce. In Vernon's vi , the U.S. and Japan are "the odd c ple, sharing little in habits, values, an aspirations, yet un- able to make any ther choice but to accommodate one an ther's existence." For a tight study of i rnational rela- tions and commodity rkets, as well as some sharp sociologica 'nights, Two Hungry Giants is well wo reading. JACK D. KIRWAN The New Grove Mozart, by Stanley Sadie (No n. 247 pp., $16.50,? $7.95 paper) HE 980 EDITION of Grove's Diction- T ary Music and Musicians, known as The ew Grove, has been widely acclaime as the single most compre- hensive E glish-language musical refer- ence wor ever published. It is also horrendous expensive. For the benefit of your ave' ge indigent musician who would like t have easier access to so marvelous a esearch tool, Norton is bringing out a series of single-volume composer biogr hies drawn from The New Grove. Eac volume contains the full text of the riginal article com- plete with bibliog phy and work-list, the whole correcte and updated in the light of recent musicological re- search. Of the first fi e volumes in the series, Stanley Sadie's The New Grove Mozart wins the honors by a nose: It's the best short study of Mozart's life and work ever to see print, and it clearly deserved publican It as a sep- arate volume. (Stanley Sadie, inciden- tally, edited the complete New Grove.) This is not to say that the other vol- umes are less than excellent; Nicho- las Temperley's ten-page discussion of the Bach "revival" in The Ne Grove Bach Family, for example, i exem- plary in its compression and clarity. Christoph Wolff is the principal uthor of The New Grove Bach Family; oth- er volumes in this initial release., in- clude Winton Dean on Handel, Jens Peter Larsen on Haydn, and Maurice J. E. Brown on Schubert. TERRY TEACHOUT is at stake here were not so important, we could pause and have a good laugh at ourselves. But, unfortunately, our intelligence contacts around the world have taken note of this sorry performance, as have thousands of Mis- kito Indians and other Nicaraguans de- pendent on us for continued support. What they have observed cannot be reassuring. It appears the only way to mount a successful covert operation these days is for such an activity to have the unanimous support of both intelligence committees and the involved agencies of the intelligence community. Any- thing short of that is doomed to fail- ure. With politics intruding so heavily in the process, more debacles are a distinct possibility. Major surgery is in order. It is time to give serious thought to merging the existing intelligence com- mittees into a joint committee com- posed equally of Republicans and Dem- ocrats who, in addition to the requisite trustworthiness, competence, and re- Wnsibility, can be depended upon to subordinate political considerations to the national interest. Such a committee should be backed by a small cadre of apolitical professionals with the same exemplary personal qualities as the committee members. Creating a new joint oversight panel along these lines would significantly reduce the number of individuals having access to sensi- tive information, thus minimizing the risk of unauthorized leaks. It would also address some practi- cal problems. As we have learned in the Nicaraguan affair, there is little in- teraction or coordination between the two intelligence oversight committees. Moreover, the committees frequently re- flect differing perspectives. For exam- ple, it was recently leaked that the House committee felt the CIA might have overspent its budget in its covert operations in Nicaragua. This view was not shared by the Senate Intelligence Committee. The result was confusion. A joint oversight committee would eliminate these problems, encourage bi- partisan cooperation, and ensure a more effective congressional oversight arrangement. p THE LEIGH BUREAU (W. Colston Leigh, Inc.) is the exclusive representative of William A. Rusher in the matter of speaking engagements. Mr. Rusher, whom President Reagan described as "this ener- getic and articulate spokesman for the principles that we be- lieve in so deeply," has spoken professionally in all fifty states during the past twenty years. He is in particular demand just now on such topics as the 1984 campaign, "The Second Reagan Administration," and "Do Businessmen Really Want Free Enterprise?" THE LEIGH BUREAU Engagements are currently being accepted for the 1984-85 season- 1801 Avenue of the Stars, #619 ? Los Angeles, California 90067 (213) 277-5999 77 West Washington Street ? Chicago, Illinois 60602 (312) 236.3541 AUGUST 24, 1984 / NATIONAL REVIEW 61 Approved For Release 2008/09/15: CIA-RDP86B00338R000400560002-7