PLAYING POLITICS WITH FOREIGN INTELLIGENCE

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CIA-RDP88-01315R000300040007-1
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RIPPUB
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K
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1
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December 19, 2016
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7
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NEWSPAPER CLIPPING
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STAT Approved For Release 2006/06/02 : CIA-R DP88-01315R000300040007- RICHMOND TIMES-DISPATCH 17 August 1979 T\ E A _-S P' W -T JL a s) T I V By Col d Meyer WASHINGTO', - The Republican National ordina,ingi;:successortoapoli;icalappointea. C campaig? to m=,;e the Carter administration's handling o;' foreign intelligence a major issue in the election. but the scatter shot blast was wide of the mark. Lask week, GOP Chairman William Brock issued the report of h is subcommittee on in= teiligence. It called for a non-partisan approach and then lambasted the Democrats for causing all the ills that have befallen the intelligence community without mentioning Richard Nix- on's destructive role in trying to involve the CIA in Watergate. The Republican study, however, is essentially right on two gener al points- in a time of growing Soviet military strength, the united States is more dependent on accurate foreign in- telligence than ever 6--fore. In the face of this need, it is also true, as the report charges, that morale at the CIA is dangerously low. Just how low is revealed by the fact that senior CIA officials fearamassexodusofcompetentof- ficers at -ear's end w hen they become e'si ible forhigher retirement pay. About 2Xar e retiring this summer, and this loss of viral skills is ex- pected to become a flood. Resentment against CIA Director StansfieId Turner's style of management has reached the point where one senior officer has ref used to accept the agency's J igh st decoration from the admiral. Turner's deputy, Frank Carlucci, had to preside at the award ceremony. BUT WHEN IT DEALS with specific in- stitutional reforms, the GOP report goes off the track. Downgradin6a the role of she director of central i .tel':i ',.nee, it propc es the creation of a chief intell:fence adviser or, the White House staff. This czar would-defend the in- tell igence budget before Congress and act as the president's eyes and ears in controlling the in- telligence agencies. G Aide from the fact that the top White Fo,_,:-e has not been notable in'recenr years for its must inform eic'ht Ci "yews onaI committees apoliticalObcctivity.thereis the disad-vantage before it can provide discreet assistance to that such an intelligence czar would be cut off dem+ocraticmadera,estr~?inrytoresisttlieCuban from day-to--day cotact with the CIA'sar.alvsts offensive. When so many have to be informed and operators and would lose his grasp of essen- the danger of leaks is so great that Carter of - tialdetail. finials, withgoodreason,hesitatetotakeactior, cir al intelligence ad. iser fro:rr, his ccntr of of the beh nd its bade until cc,,-. ssio ;3i 0 , CIA is like removing the head from the body. A tim:te'd to the Ho se a id Se ate Irate i.,>re disembodied intelligence adviser cannot corn- Corr nitrees. But that legal change is now un- pete G,-::i i ? Otr,erC:ct.r'.'Sants for tl':?_ p-rci E:r 's lib-.el . in the brief time ..:c; re.ma.... to ru.tr. .he App rpV ~ti or_ 1e~s GD /( 1O2- C1 -RD 8 '1 ? R6 i(3 oc}04o4 }7-1 Onlrnittee has fired the opening gun in a Even less helpful is the republican proposal fordisr em5eningth:eCIAbyremovintheclan- destine service, the Operations Directorate, from theagencyand establishing it as a separate "Foreign Operations Service." The GOP study would solve the cover problem by requiring all government agencies to provide official cover overseas to the intelligence operators, but where would their Washington headquarters be located, if not within t,e CIA? In thewordsof one congressional staffer, "We would reallybedead in the water if we went down that road." THE EFFECT OF this partisan initiative is to reduce to the vanishing point any chance of adoption of a new legal charter for the CIA in this session of Congress. Contrary to the implication i? jr, the GOP report, long negotiation between the Carteradrninistration and both Republicansand Democrats on tie Senate Intelligence Commit- I tee has led to a much improved version of the ex- cessively r estrictive legislation introduced last year. This CIA charter will be introduced next month, and the intell genre agencies believe they can do their work effectively within new legal limits that protect the rights of private American citizens. By politicizing this issue, the Rep?Iiblican Ratio nalCornmitreel aspostponedieg lreform until after the election. There would benogreat damage done by this delay except for the fact that the world does not stop to wait for American elections. In Central America, time is running out. Even Latin leaders who supported the mor e mo derate wince of the Sand: nts:asn cw,TsaracovertCuban takeover of the Nicaraguan revolution and its spread to El Salvador. In a bitter, recent con- frontation, the left-leaning Panamanian Ieader, Omar Torrijos, accused Castro of infiltrating Under press-ntlaw, the Carter administration