CIA CHIEF ASSAILS CONGRESS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP91-00561R000100090061-5
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: February 24, 2012
• Sequence Number: 61
• Publication Date: January 24, 1976
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

S1 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/02/24: CIA-RDP91-00561 R000100090061-5
THE PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER
24 January 1976
WASHINGTON Leveling his
strongest criticism ever at congress,
CIA Director William E. Colby said
yesterday that the number of legisla-
tors given access to intelligence se-
crets should be sharply restricted.: .
"The fewer members ... 'the bet-
ter,".Colby told the Senate Govern-
ment Operations Committee. He
one committee be
ed that onl
ur
y
g
told of oversew covert operations and
'ki 1;L
said -. that there should lie criminal
penalties for staff members who re-
~.. veal secrets.
Too many members "The system won't work,", Colby
said of the present procedure; in
hold secrets, he says; which eight congressional commit-
tees are briefed on-covert operations-I
"Every. one if the-new projects that,
were -subjected-: to, his process hasl
leaked into the 'public domain,". he
added, in apparent-reference to re-
cent; news reports. about CIA, opera-
tions in Angola and Italy.
.'I believe it- is, essential to -repeal=
that procedure 'and, replace; it _ .by
.another which will include provisions.
for adequate secrecy," 'said . Colby,
who is about to leave the CLA post
.__
Of the other side of the Capitol, the
House Select Committee on Intelli-
gence, approved- 9-4'the- final: report
-on its lengthy investigation-of_intelli-1
gence agencies after deleting phrases
that the agencies: said: could endanger
agents or- embarrass''the'-United
States.'~_
But- the committee's=seniorRepub:;
Bean, Rep. Robert McClory= of. Illi- j
nois;r. -.said the - report still:' disclosed'
=too: many secrets and he-6aid he.was
considering: asking for-_a-secret. 'ses-
on of-the- full-' House'to block. their
Si
rele
_ WChairrrrari-btii G'Pik- -oJ`.,
agreed that President Ford-and the
:intelligence agencies-probably'woul&
not be-satisfied with the report; evert
though .many:al their specific objec
Lions- had been solved by deleting se-
crets. `; ..
'`'Pike. 'said 'the report-- p'robably
would ? not published..-until 'early. l
next month.
-In :criticizing. Congress for disclos
ing intelligence secrets, Colby flatly
'denied recent - speculation by Sen.
Clifford Case (R., N.J.) that the CIA
had leaked information in an effort to
discredit the congressional commit-
tees. ;rColby, .who is expected to be re-
placed by former Republican Party
Chairman George Bush after a Sen-
ate confirmation vote scheduled for
next week, seemed to reserve his
harshest criticism for the House.
In an obvious reference to the
House intelligence committee, Colby
labeled as "absurd" a "situation in
which a committee agrees not to re-
lease individual reports of secret ac-
tivities but then proposes to publish
them in its final report." ? "'
Making'what is expected to be his
last appearance on Capitol Hill As
CIA director, Colby also complained
that:-.some congressmen are told
about` covert operations but then
claim "that they never heard of them-
wlien' they came to public attention."
He said that a. chairman of one cf'
the . CIA supervisory committees
"once indicated on the floor.. of the.
Senates that he had no inkling of one
of -our operations; 'although be bad.
approved the specific, appropriations
necessary to continue it."
Anotlier l witness before the Senate :
committee, former national security
adviser McGeorge Bundy, took issue
with Colby, saying. it was wrong to
attribute the disclosure of the Angola .
operation to . the large number of
committees privy to CIA secrets.
The real cause, Bundy said, "is the
breakdown of the broad political con-'
sensus. which made it possible -10 or
15 years ago. -for the. CIA to conduct'
'such large operations in the face of I
widespread. knowledge of their: exis-
tence without any :admission or ex-
planation from ? the, M. S. govern-
ment."
Bundy, who served under President
John F. Kennedy, cited as -an exam-
pie U. S. covert operations, against
Cuba during the early 1950s. "The-ex-
istence -of" his effort was widely
known and .::'in the climate of the
time the major media and the` Con-
7:greys inade-i:o effort whatever-to ex-,
is pose ;ltid.tletail rt;f ti c ~r~ sir,
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/02/24: CIA-RDP91-00561 R000100090061-5