REFORMING THE INTELLIGENCE AGENCIES

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP88-01314R000100530017-9
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 16, 2016
• Document Release Date: October 15, 2004
• Sequence Number: 17
• Publication Date: March 1, 1976
• Content Type: MISC

Approved For Release 2004/10/28: CIA-RDP,
First Principles
NATIONAL SECURITY AND CIVIL LIBERTIES
MARCH 1976 VOL. 1 NO. 7
Reforming the Intelligence Agencies:
Proposals of the ACLU, the Ford Administration,
and the Pike Committee
February 9, 1976 The Chesapeake
and Potomac Telephone Co., a
defendant in the national security
,wiretap lawsuit of journalist Tad
Szulc and his wife Marianne,
described its 36-year role in assisting
the FBI with national security
wiretaps as "purely technical" and
that it relied on the good faith of the
government as to legality.
(Washington Post, 2/10/76)
February 11, 1976 To avoid ap-
pearances of "improper use" by the
agency, DCI George Bush announced
that the CIA will terminate full or
part-time employment of reporters
with US news organizations. Bush
denied any secret CIA contracts with
American missionaries or clergy and
refused to make public the names of
journalists or clergy who had
cooperated with them in the past.
(Washington Post, 2/12/76, p. 1)
February 12, 1976 The CIA denied a
New York Times FOIA request for
names of American and foreign news
s organizations providing cover for
American intelligence-gathering
operations. The agency based its
refusal on the claim that such in-
formation would disclose identities of
sources and details of methods.
Director Bush assured the Times that
no full-time Times staffers were
currently being "used operationally"
by the CIA, but that it was not CIA
policy to comment on part-time
correspondents. (New York Times,
2/13/76)
February 12, 1976 A confidential
CIA memorandum revealed; that
Director of Central Intelligence
William Colby had approved a secret
study on the legal basis for foreign
and domestic activities of thl in-
telligence agencies. The study con-
cluded that, prior to the 1974 Foreign
Assistance Act, there existed no legal
or constitutional grounds for the
CIA's covert political or military
operations without advance
Congressional approval. This directly
contradicts the CIA's public position
that the President has constitutional
authority to conduct such
operations. (New York Times, John
M. Crewdson, 2/13/76)
February 15, 1976 In a CBS
television interview, CIA Director
George Bush, declined to report
whether CIA funds were being used
in Angola, and referred his
questioners to Congress for further
information, "which I hope they
wouldn't give." (New York Times,
2/16/76)
February 16, 1976 Completing a two-
year study inspired by Nixon ad-
ministration scandals, the ABA an-
nual meeting approved recom-
mendations to "depoliticize" federal
law enforcement: creating machinery
to establish a special prosecutor un-
der specified conditions; and
prohibiting the appointment of in-
dividuals who have played leading
roles in presidential campaigns to the
post of Attorney General.
(Washington Post, 2/17/76)
REFORMING THE
INTELLIGENCE AGENCIES
Coming April: ACLU Class Action Surveillance Suits
February 17, 1976 The Attorney
General issued temporary rules per-
mitting the FBI to investigate news
leaks of previously secret in-
formation when requested by the At-
torney General to do so. According
to a justice Department spokesper-
son, such approval will be given
only when there is probable cause to
believe that a federal law has been
violated. (Washington Post, 2/17176)
February 25, 1976 A Virginia
prosecutor asked the justice Dep-
partment for evidence in a 1971
break-in of a photographic studio,
ordered by then-Director Helms,
which was allegedly intended to
recover missing CIA documents. The
prosecutor is also considering asking
the department for its evidence in
CIA plots against the life of Fidel
Castro. (New York Times, 2/26/76)
February 24, 1976 President Ford in-
voked executive privilege in ordering
the FBI and NSA not to comply with
the request of a House subcommittee
for information about government
interception of telegraph and Telex
messages. The subcommittee voted
the following day to recommend
contempt citations against present
and former FBI and NSA employees.
Claiming that release of such records
would endanger national security,
Ford also instructed Western Union
not to produce documents; Chair-
person Bella Abzug suggested Ford
may be covering up an ongoing in-
terception program. The companies
later agreed to provide material.
(New York Times, 2/23 & 2/26/76)
It is at all times necessary, and more particularly so during the progress
of a revolution and until right ideas confirm themselves by habit, that
we frequently refresh our patriotism by reference to first principles.
THOMAS PAINE Approved For Release 2004/10/28 : CIA-RDP88-01314R000100530017-9
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