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• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000807500052-8
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 3
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: January 24, 2012
• Sequence Number: 52
• Publication Date: March 9, 1980
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

STAT
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/24: CIA-RDP90-00965R000807500052-8
9 March 1980
)-,toff a ove-.E
STAT
'?"~ Y''z,x :'BDAID?~VISE~
hesm' e on the face of Adm Stansf eld Turner told
,~.. , Yit,,a1L It was therefor 54 million .Americans to=see
,:during Presider Gaiter s'Jan.23. State:of`the Union
speecLThetelevision caineras.focused.on the;. CIA director
4jusZti as,Cirter:cameYta' the part.about- removing"unwar-
granted restraints'~;on- the'intelligenceage ncy ;
The admiral's smile lit up the sci-een.::There..as his old
lliiriapolis, classmate,, the President of'_the`United'States,
ii;eadyonce' again to unleash' the CIA; In,that brief'moment,
one?cotdd?easily visualize ,the agency rising from the ashes
of intelligence reform =
The CIA's timing is?flawless `In?`the present hawkish at-
mosphere in Washington, intelligence reform has become
'.almost'a-dirty word, an X-rated idea whosetime has come
,1-and-probably gone.,Thanks to,the Ayatollah Ruhollah
Khomeini, the Soviet takeover in Afghanistan and Carter's
;hard=line- foreign policy;; the- emphasis now is omstreng-
:thening the CIA's powers and punishing its critics with jail
-sentences and fines.
i All but forgotten are the abuses that were revealed by a
Senate investigation in a much different atmosphere five
:years:;ago, when a committee headed;..by:. -.Sen.:; Frank
,Church-.,(D-Ida.) disclosed how the-.CIA,hadtested:?.drugs
,orf..unsuspecting American citizens (one 'of'-,whom;: Dr.
;FranjcOlson, committed suicide);.how-it_openedfirst-class
:mail 'in:-violation of federal -law,spied on the anti-Vietnam
Wa movement in Operation CHAOS,.and hired- two Mafi-
osi~; Johnny Rosselli and Sam Giancana-both. of. whom
have since met-violent deaths=-to try-:to murder.,Fidel
,Castro. The list of CIA horrors was xnuch,Ionger, .of .course:
_3,9t:pionth, the. Senate. Select. Intelligence Committee,
v W he vu tually complete, .support-of. 'sident.Cartei;
oiroduced anintelhgence,'?`,charte~" that seemed~onlyre-
rnoteIy. related .to .the findings of ,the Church committee.
chile outlawing CIA assassinations, the bilr would loosen
eedures for covertloperations;:give the agency a free
all but exempt the Ct fr`om'complying with the Freedom.
Jlel"F J?_rJw' .:.: E a iS,~?} y>aee
c `
`-' For atime, in the wake of the Church committee inves-'
'e s' ago;"the Senate ;intelligence'committee,*-the"succes-
'sorto-the Church panel, hanunered'out its first-charter, at-
tempting to define:in-law-what the-agencies'could and
could-not do. The'bill;*S 2525, set off 'a great howl' among)
the?agencies and their 'conservativesupporters on Capitol
?I .Toorestrictive, they said.'
.lie staff of the Senate comrruttee diligently. went back
to'the drawing board: An endless series'of.meetings ensued'
betw'een' the' committee 'staff- 'and"representatives-of the'
National Security Council; the Justice Dep_artmentand'the'
intelligence agencies; Littleby littl.e,-the provisions of the'
ref6riii:bill were whittled away .'+ ~? ,,r,;Y`['ar; '
"Ifrtlie meantime;. e:ongii alrefotm measure died afthe,
end of11978. It, was-no0reintroduced last year-'The" new,!
jiilder'versiorr of the "charter that" made its appearance' on'
tFeb::8;*as supposed'to have been'unveiled by the=White!
H"ouse:'and'the Senate. committee=last fall But.a "series .of
fareigrr=policy cnses intervened-first the skirmishing.
aver