PROBES 'DESTROYED MORALE' IN CIA, EX-OFFICIAL SAYS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP88-01315R000400170007-6
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 16, 2016
• Document Release Date: October 25, 2004
• Sequence Number: 7
• Publication Date: December 5, 1975
• Content Type: NSPR

Approved For Relea'@bi/1{CIA-RDP88-01315ROOQ4( ?007~6
5 DECI.OER 1975 r c L~~ i ,~ `5 ~Ja Pc ~~
aaes A ' ' y . m o aFe' in u l,. x.,,-o... .' .. .. .
Washing Wn Bureau of The Sun
Washington--A former offi-
cial of the Central Intelligence
Agency said yesterday recent
l investigations and disclosures
have "destroyed morale" in the
agency and "very nearly de-
stroyed" its effectiveness as an
intelligence-gathering system
abroad.
Ray S. Cline, former deputy
director of the agency, urged
Congress to assign a joint com-
mittee of both houses to exer-
eise "rational" control of the
agency. He said the agency had
made "very serious mistakes,"
but added they chiefly were
made in following "the orders
of the President of the United
States" regarding-domestic ac-
tivities prohibited by law. , ,.
Mr. Cline's defense of the
Central -Intelligence 'Agency
was even stronger than-that of
the outgoing director, William
E. Colby. They and a panel of
critics took part in the final day
of a privately sponsored convo-
cation on national security.
Mr. Coiby too conceded the
recently exposed mistakes of.
the agency, including abortive
assassination plots against
some foreign leaders. But repe-
tition could be avoided, he said,
through better guidelines, clos-
er supervision, and protection
of legitimate secrets.::..:'.
Much of the discussion cen-
tered on the relative.need for
so-called covert activities-se-
cret- U.S. ' involvement - in 'the
political affairs of other gov-
ernments. Even Senator Frank
Church- (D., Idaho); whose Sen-
ate committee investigated the
agency, conceded the need for
covert operations in what he
called "a dire emergency."
But, he said, the U.S. should
remain in a morally defensible
position. "If our hand were ex-
posed helping a foreign people
in their struggle to be free," he
said, "'we could scorn the cyni-
cal doctrine of plausible denial
and saytopenly, 'Yes, we were
tuere, and proud of it.'." -
In his sharp criticism of the
Central Intelligence Agency's
secret activity, Mr. Church con-
centrated on those that went
wrong. Mr. Cline emphasized
those that went right. The face
of Europe might be quite differ-
ent today, he said, if the agency
had not supported free govern-
ments in France, Italy and Ger-
many after World War H.
Morton H. Halperin,' former
defense- official and-- . former
aide to Henry A. Kissinger, the
Secretary of State, opposed any
covert operations. "There is no
tivity is -widelyacknowledged-'
to have created the climate for'
Mr.- Allende's overthrow.
"That there can be debate as
to the wisdom of any individual!
activity : of,. this -. nature,1._ is
agreed," M.Colby. said. "That
such a potential must be availa-
ble for use, in.. situations .truly
important. to; otir. country and
'the cause- of.-peace is equally
obvious." -
Onereason for abuses, he re=
marked, was the failure of Con-
gress to take., responsibility ..for
the necessary unpleasantries"
of intelligence;
Mr. Cline's. reasoning on that
score was more direct. The ac-
tivities against Allende, he'said,
were "laid: on.., by :,.(former
Presideritl Richard- Nixon- and
Dr.: Henry Kissinger- without
much `consultation- within -the
intelligence.community'"_
way to bring that process under
democratic control," he de-
clared. Even at a time of dis-
closure, he said, the U.S. is "in-
volved" in Portugal, Angola
and "probably the Azores."
Mr. Cline responded to criti-
cism of assassination plots
against Fidel Castro, the Cuban
premier, by saying Mr. Castro
"seems remarkabiy healthy to-
day." Indeed, he said, !Mr. Cas-
tro has sent Cuban troops, "sup-
ported and trained" by the
KGB, the Soviet ihtelligence-
C(')(0 el"N' S
service, to bring about a Com-
munist victory in Angola. -
As he has before, Mr. Colby
denied that the CIA was respon-
sible for the overthrow and as-
sassination of President Salva-
dor Allende in Chile. in 1973.
American activity there was in
support of "democratic forces,"
he asserted, although that ac-
Approved For Release 2005/01/12 : CIA-RDP88-01315R000400170007-6