SENATE SYMPATHY FOR COLBY OVER LEAKING OF SECRETS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP91-00561R000100090056-1
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: February 24, 2012
• Sequence Number: 56
• Publication Date: January 24, 1976
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sl Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/02/24 CIA-RDP91 ,00561 R000100090056-1
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By Norman Kempster
Washington Star Staff Wtitcr
Members of the Senate
Government Operations
Committee nodded approv-
al yesterday as CIA .Direc-
tor William E. Colby com-
plained that present laws
require intelligence agen-
cies to share secrets with
too many congressmen.
Sen. Charles Percy, R-
Ill., hailed Colby as "a
great American a
great human being." Sen.
Bill Brock, R-Tenn., said he
was "disgusted" that the
House Intelligence Com-
mittee has revealed activi-
ties the CIA wanted to keep
secret.
Other committee mem-
bers, of both parties,
quickly said they shared
Percy's admiration for the
CIA director whom Presi-
dent Ford hopes to replace
soon with former Republi-
can National Chairman
George Bush.
THE COMMITTEE re-
sponse to Colby's testimony
may indicate that the pane,
shares the administration
view that too much has
been revealed about intelli-
gence activities.
Ford has not sent his
recommendations to Con-
gress, but Colby said his
view was "parallel" to the
thinking at the White
House.
Although the Senate as-
signed the chore of investi-
gating the CIA to a special
committee headed by Sen.
Frank Church, D-Idaho, it
is up to the Government
Operations panel, headed
by Sen. Abraham Ribicoff,
D-Corn., to develop reform
legislation on intelligence.
The Church committee
yesterday formally ap-
proved a bill to create a
permanent Senate Commit-
tee with jurisdiction over
the entire intelligence com-
munity CIA, FBI, Na-
tional Security. Agency and
military intelligence orga-
nizations.
Church said after the
closed meeting the vote was
7-0. Sen. John Tower, R-
Tex., who earlier this week
opposed any new commit-
tee, was not present.
THE BILL, to be intro-
duced next week, will be
sent to the Government
Operations Committee for
consideration. Creation of a
Senate committee probably
would invite creation of a
parallel House committee.
Colby said a year-old law
requiring the CIA to inform
eight committees of the
Senate and House of secret
attempts to manipulate
events abroad "won't
work."
"Every one of the new
projects that were subject-
ed to this process has leak-
ed into the public domain,"
Colby said.
McGeorge Bundy, the
national security adviser to
former Presidents Kennedy
and Johnson, said the CIA
is pursuing an impossible
objective in attempting to
keep e-scale projects
secret because there is no
way to cover up "large
mihtar and paramilitary
operation like the one re-
cently undertaken in Ang
Ia.
bie. ar_ fear of them is
widesnread and real, they
should c-: ruled out," Bundy
said. "if such large-scale
covert aerations are not
plainly and credibly fore-
sworn by the administra-
tion, they should be pre-
vented by Congress...."
Colby said Congress
should establish a single
Senate-I-louse committee
that would supervise CIA
activites, pass on the agen-
cy's budget and handle any
other legislative matters
affecting intelligence.
"The fewer members
that are on the oversight
committee, the better."
Colby said.
Colby said the proposed
committee should volun-
tarily agree not to ask cer-
tain questions such as the
identity of "deep cover"
agents. -
MEANWHILE Sen. Clif-
ford Case, R-N.J., one of
two members of the Senate
Foreign Relations who re-
ceive CIA briefings, sug-
gested- the agency might be
orchestrating" leaks in an
effort to discredit congres-
sional efforts to control
intelligence activities.
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/02/24: CIA-RDP91-00561 R000100090056-1