TRUST US, CIA'S NO. 2 MAN TELLS HOMETOWN AUDIENCE

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP88-01315R000400260100-2
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 16, 2016
• Document Release Date: November 5, 2004
• Sequence Number: 100
• Publication Date: April 20, 1977
• Content Type: NSPR

Approved For Release 2005/01/12: CIA-RDP88-01315RQ004
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By WILLIAM H. WVYLM
Press Business Editor
Like the spy who came in from the cold, the CIA's
No. 2 man returned home to make a pitch for the
'intelligence a ;ency's credibility.
Knoche said there's a healthy side effect of the
hard knocks suffered by CIA in recent years. "No gov-
ernment agency should escape public scrutiny for 30
years as the CIA did," he declared.
"We were forced into self-analysis, to examine
The public has the wrong idea about the CIA,
Knoche said. Fiction, television and the movies play
yap sex and cloak=and-dagger activities, he continued.
"James Bond provides .n-more clandestine oppor-
tunities in one page than I've had in 24 years," he
quipped.
The bleak report on the world's energy outicok re-
vealed last week is typical of CIA work, he said. Al-
though the fact that the CIA made the study, which is
expected to influence President Carter's energy policy,
surprised a lot of people, Knoche said the agency has
handled this kind of assignment routinely for years.
In fact, the CIA has an Office of Economic Re-
search that will provide businessmen with information
upon request, he revealed.
Knoche said the CIA is willing to tell more about
itself than ever before, but there are some things that
cannot be told. Foremost is information about its
intelligence-gathering network. The agency is obligat-
ed by law to keep this secret, he said.
So-called covert activity in foreign lands has fall-
en into disfavor, Knoche observed. These are, attempts
"Bethany College. His family still resides in the Pitts- by the. CIA to give developments abroad a pro-U.S.
,.burgh area. twist, he explained.
Knoche conceded the CIA has been hurt by "During the worst part of the cold war, 50 per
.Watergate-inspired stories about abuses of authority. cent of our budget was spent on covert activity. Now
.And he admitted there were some shabby episodes.
it accounts for 2 per cent," he said.
But he left little doubt that the agency is out to One of the problems is that seven congressional
sell the public on the idea that intelligence is a re- committees must approve before any covert action
:spectable business, one the nation cannot afford to do can be initiated, Knoche said. "After seven congres-
'wtthout. sional committees have studied an activity, it's no
"A couple years ago I wouldn't have been here longer covert," he added.
-'talking to a meeting of business executives," he told a Despite new shackles imposed on the CIA, Knoche
newsman before the banquet. But times have changed said the agency is superior to Russian intelligence and
and the C'`IA is trying to repair a bruised image, he well equipped to alert the United States to foreign.
:told the Purchasing Manage-
ment Association of Pittsburgh
oast night.
It was a homecoming for
,Knoche, who was acting direc-
jor of the CIA between the
:resignation of George Bush
.and the appointment of Adm.
Stansfield Turner as head of
.the intelligence agency.
Knoche is a graduate of
,Mt. Lebanon High School and
Washington and Jefferson Col-
.,Knoche, deputy director of the
Central Intelligence Agency,
"As a result, we have new guidelines and among
them is a responsibility to meet the public and the
media," he said.
One of the issues raised by Watergate is how to
operate an intelligence agency without letting it get
out of control, Knoche said. Time will tell whether the
.new guidelines set by Congress are the solution, he
C(42_o r
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Approved For Release 2005/01/12 : CIA-RDP88-01315R000400260100-2