NEW KNEBEL NOVEL REFLECTS ON CIA

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP88-01350R000200740019-3
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 16, 2016
• Document Release Date: September 20, 2004
• Sequence Number: 19
• Publication Date: January 6, 1968
• Content Type: NSPR

JAN 6 1968
L;--227,725
S-264,54 proved For Release 2005/08/22: CIA-RDP88-01350R000200740019-3
8 C T ilr Dallas nrtdltg rn Saturday; January 6, 1968 ****
'anished'
W-ri flects on
_n ell
New Kn'ebel Nove
By JEAN KELLY
Former newspaperman Fletch-
.:er Knebel sprinkles his novels
-with ch'a?acters Washington in-
siders like to get next to.
Some are top drawer
politicians. Others are colorful
.hangers-on, instrumental in shap-
ing everyday turns of national
events.
A "golden boy" from the Tru-
man administration who still is
predominant in Washington legal
circles makes the pages of Kne-
bel's latest novel, "Vanished."
In Dallas to autograph copies
of his latest work Friday the
,author said his central character
:1s patterned after ? "a good-look-
ing, successful lawyer."
The character is named Ste-
"phen'Greer. He disappears from
-the swank Burning Tree Club
"It's infiltrating labor, college
campuses; it tries to suppress,
books; it runs a minor army,
and even runs an airline in the
Congo."
An incident during the
Kennedy administration focused
Knebel's attention on the agen-
cy's supersecret reachings.
"It occurred at a party Presi-
dent Kennedy,was giving in his.
home. A man was standing
around, and Kennedy remarked
he didn't know him. He asked
around and someone remem-
bored hearing the man my he
worked for the State Depart.
ment.
"It turned out he was with the
CIA. The president didn't know,
him. And he showed up in' his
home! "
Knebel, the author of "Severn
Days in May," also is recognized
as a foe of the entrenched mili-.
tary establishment.
"I'm antianything that smacks
of military control," he said'
=just before a presidential elec-.:
-tion. Since he is a good friend
of the man running for presi-
dent, there is lots of speculation autographing books at Doubleday,
about the reasons for his leaving. Book Store. "The militarists are
A second plot and here the forcing us into a place we don't`,-
.-author admits his personal in-
serest shines through-involves
the Central Intelligence Agency.
The CIA keeps'secrets from the
president.
Knebel, who' was in Washing- . for reluctant politicians."
= ton 27 years as a newspaper cor- He left Washington in 1964 aft-
respondent, said his, work there er serving as a bureau man
Convinced him the CIA has too , with the Cleveland Plain Dealer
A resident of Princeton, N.J.,
Knebel said he turned to free-
lance writing and novels after
1 and writer for the Cowles pub
for a? reporter in "Vanished." (.
Knebel said so far he hasn't
Newspapering is still a 'favor- ,
ite subject, however, and two
newspapermen serve as models `.r
gotten into trouble patterning his
characters after real-life people..',
Running head-on into.the CIA.
ouwever,, ii eiy win prove more
tricky. The author only grinned
when asked if he will be as wel-
come in CIA offices as he was
Immune from CIA.
Approved For Release 2005/08/22: CIA-RDP88=0135QR0002O 7'AnQ1,94.
Fletcher Knebel ... Not even the president