A CIA ROLE OF QUIET VIGILANCE

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP91-00901R000500080002-6
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 3
• Document Creation Date: December 9, 2016
• Document Release Date: November 14, 2000
• Sequence Number: 2
• Publication Date: November 10, 1981
• Content Type: NSPR

STP~TTIVT . --
Approve or elease 2 ~/%T :0q J, RDP91-00901 R000
10 November 1981
By FRANK GREEN
Staff Writer, The. San Diego Union
William Colby believes that the Central
Intelligence Agency should be given new
freedom to infiltrate and influence terror-
ist 'groups.; ? .
"Suppose you have a band of terrorists,
say backed by Libya and Mr.. (Moammar)
Khadafy, plotting and planning subversive
activities~.against this government,,'.' said
the 61-year-old former CIA director. "It
might be appropriate to have the CIA in-`
valved to ferret out these people."
Colby, in a telephone interview prior to a
speech last night at the University of San
Diego, emphasized that he did not foresee
using the resources of the agency to spy on
or disrupt American,: political. organiza,
.... , ......
tions.
"You. have vigorous congressional
watchdog committees that were establish-,
ed in 1973 and 1974 to oversee CIA opera-
tions," he noted, adding that it was import-
ant that some of the congressional powers
and regulations passed "during the. white:..
heat of the mid-1970s" be modified - as
has recently been recommended by the
Reagan administration- so that the agen-
cy could do the work that it was originally
empowered to do.
"Our job should be to help our allies in
moderate, decent and quiet ways to diffuse
tense situations," he said.
Colby lamented that the CINs image has
not been good for the last: decade. He
blamed part of the problem on the Senate:
CIA investigations of the mid-1970s, headed'`
by Sen. Frank Church, which accuse- the.
agency of, among other things, the over-
throw of the democratically elected social-
ist government of Salvadore Allende in
1973.
"The popular notion is that the CIA con-
ducted a coup in Chile. That's just not
true," he exclaimed. "Over the 1960s, we
helped political center groups, in that coun-
try. We wanted. to keep Allende not from I
being elected but from
being ratified. He was hos
tile to us and was supported
by Castro and the Soviets,
who would have used Chile
as a base for further expan-
sion in South America.
"When the Chilean mili-
tary moved against him in
1973, the CIA stayed away.
Our strategy was to wait
until the elections in 1976 in
the hope that a democratic
center government would
be voted into power."
Colby, a Princeton gradu-
ate, has had a long career in
covert activities dating
back to World War II when
he served with the Office of
Strategic Services.
As a paratrooper with the
OSS during the war, he was
dropped behind enemy lines
in France to work with the
underground.
After the war, he prac-
ticed law and worked for
the National Labor Rela-
tions Board.
Colby joined the Foreign
Service in 1951 and was as-
signed to Stockholm and
Rome. A decade later, he
jumped to the CIA, serving
in 'a number of capacities,
including directing the no-
torious Phoenix pacifica-
tion program in South Viet-
nam during the Vietnam
conflict.
He served as CIA director
from 1973 to 1976 and is now
a Washington-based attor-
ney specializing in interna-
tional law.
People , who have been
close to him over his career
have described him as being
a cold, quiet and unassum-
ing man who has an
unswerving firmness and
unflinching nerves.
In yesterday's interview,;
he was guarded in his re-
sponses and refused to dis-i
cuss sensitive issues regard-
ing the organization he once
headed.
However, Colby was out-1
spoken about his contempt j
for former CIA operatives
now working as mercenar-
ies for foreign powers, some
of which' are enemies of the
United States government.
Two ex-agents, Edwin P.
Wilson and Francis E. Ter-
pil, were recently indicted
by a federal grand jury on
charges of illegally export-i
ing terrorist equipment to
Former agents such as
and convicted," Colby said.
"We should apply crimina
sanctions against them a
vigorously as possible
He explained that in an
organization such as thei
CIA, consisting of thousands
of people, there are always;
a few bad apples. "There)
have been a remarkably,
few bad apples in the CIA
over the years," he empha-
Colby was equally harsh"
on private citizens engage
in the naming of names of i
CIA agents stationed over-
seas, saying it was al
"crime" comparable to;
someone attempting to
raise a mutiny in the armed
forces.
"Those individuals who'
would make a little cottage'
industry of attacking and
trying to destroy the CIA
must be stopped. Agents
should not be put under the
unnecessary threat of being
exposed," he said. "They do
expect that to a certain ex-
tent from the other side.
But they don't expect that
from fellow Americans."
Such publications as Co-
vert Action Information
Bulletin and Counterspy
have been responsible ford
naming agents who were
then subsequently harassed
and even killed - by ter-
rorists, he said.
While Colby said he was
content with most of the
congressional regulations.
placed on
mid-1970s, he was upset I
with the ".hcsteria and sen-
sationalism" that went
along. "So much came out
of the debate on CIA abuses
- much of it untrue - that
our allies didn't think that
we could keep secrets. It
was a dangerous. time."
But today these policies'
should be modified, he
stressed, because. in an in-
creasingly unstable world,
the American government
"seriously needs the - eyes,
ears and brains of the agen-
cy.
"We should be there to {
help understand the com-
plexities and the factors
pushing any one govern-
ment economically, politi-
cally and socially. And to
understand the factors that
are rapt to result in political
upheavals."
Approved For Release 2001/03/07 : CIA-RDP91-00901 R000500080002-6
 r Courant Staff Writer
By ROBERT GETTLIN
Approved FoVne1ease 2001/03/07 : CIA-RDP91-00901 R0005000
HARTFORD COURANT (CT)
6 November 1981
There was a time,says former CIA His speeches come at a time of re>
Director William E. Colby, when the newed congressional debate over the
agency was told..to "go out and be CIA Several senators have sharply
more ruthless than its Adversaries." It criticized a plan by President Reagan.
was the late 1940s,.and "nobody asked to: allow the intelligence service to
.qt -ist; as about-Whether the CIA was conduct- some domestic spying. On
following the.Coftstitution:" ' Wednesday, two key Republicans and
But things changed :during the last a Democrat on the Senate intelligence
decade, when revelations of ache last, committee warned the president that
d
don pplots and domestic spying such a move would rekindle public sus-
a public spotlight on the gfocused rnment's pinion about the agency and the gov-
most secret activities. To Colby, who Colby, erwwho self. , said his
headed the agency-from 1973 'to 1976 speeches reflect
those turbulent years sparked a ``great sepersonal views emed to come down on both sides of
orgy of recriminations" which must the domestic spying-debate. He said
not be repeated the agency's role is-to gather i.,telli.
Colby, 61t whose conservative well= genre abroad, but "there are some
tailored suits match a dry, scholarly cases in which groups operating might
demeanor, is now a Washington D.C. - be infiltrated. if they are connected to
lawyer and an "investment -risk asses- foreign groups."
sor" for several multinational corpo- Saying the gravest threat today is
rations. But he also is busy these days the great gap between the affluence
trying to project a new image for the of our society and the poverty of the
F CIA. Third World," Colby asserted that thei
Speaking,' at Quinnipiac. College in CIA should "try to understand prob.
Hamden Wednesday night,. Colby com- lems of poor nations and neutralize
plained, that critics "greatly exagger- threats before they break out in vio.
ated the way the CIA violated rules" fence." He said the CIA should gather
and said all the 'the breast beating" information which would help poor na
i had created "oceans of myths" about tions improve their economies while
the U.S. intelligence service. also helping American corporations:
Returning to.the post-war mentality gain "a positive image" in the Third:
is not the answer, said Colby, who fa- World.
vors congressional oversight of the As a consultant to corporations pur-1,
CIA. suing worldwide expansion, Colby said!
"The CIA used to make up the rules that. American corporations should not!
as it went along,". he said. `That can't be prevented from conducting their af-
happen anymorebecause~now we have fairs in the same manner as competi-
.someguidelines:'?But-h6 also warned tors from other nations. Specifically!
that. urdess "we reignite the.spark in be criticized anti-bribery laws and ati'
our intelligence officers" it will be dif- tempts to force U.S. companies in I ,
ficult to counteract the military threat South Africa to reject that country's 1
from the Soviet Union.._ apartheid policies...
Colby who. received $2,000 for his "`What the CIA must do is gather in-
two-hour lecture to a friendly audi- formation about the rest of the world
ence of 350 students and' local resi- so that we can develop policies which
dents, has. been busy spreading this would avoid another situation like
message across the country. He said Iran," he said. "That doesn't mean
that about once a week he travels finding a lot of secrets. Khomeini was
somewhere in the country to give his not a; secret before the shah fell. It
. views. / means understanding how we can im- i
"Let's let the CIA get back to work," prove our position in another country'
be concluded }, ~ -r< before its too late to meet a threat:'
Approved For Release 2001/03/07y: CIA-RDP91-00901 R0005000 0002-6
 STATINTL
Approved For Release 2001/03/07 : CIA-RDP91-00901
NEW STATESMAN
6 November 1981
lthe CIA-file,
JONATHAN MIRSKY suggests how
Reagan's (anti-public expenditure)..'
government might use the CIA '
against its opponents
THE CIA has always been a broad church.
It contracted with the: Mafia to assassinate
Fidel Castro and ran an opiuni-producing
private army in.Laos It also, ferreted.'out
but withheld from me on national security.
grounds, that my mother was. musician
and author.
And now, if Ronald Reagan gets his way;
for the first time since its founding in 1947.
the CIA will be permitted to spy legally on-
American citizens, a pursuit prohibited in
the 1947 National Security Act which states:
`the Agency shall have no police; subpoena'
law enforcement or internal security func-
tions.' For years the Agency ignored this
prohibition and kept thousands of domestic
files. .
Why did this vast organisation, busy with
murders, destabilisations, and military re-
sponsibilities around the world, bother to.
break the law at home? The 1975 Rockefel-
ler Commission onr the CIA explained:
'Continuing anti-war demonstrations from,
1968 led to growing White House demands
for greater coverage of such groups"actiyi
ties abroad.'
Although the CIA itself assured hirrilit-
was not. true, President -Nixon felt certain
that gold from Moscow, Peking, Hanoi and
Havanasustained the protesters. The Presi-
dent therefore ordered the CIA to establis
the Special Operations Group, which shel
tered behind the cryptonym `CHAOS':-t.;
From -300,000. names in-the. CHAOS.
4. computer index, x7,200"`personality-files'-
were 'developed': According to the Rock-
t:.
efellr'r report: .'....._.. _. ,.., ~';~
_`Even the staff of the CIA's Inspector General
were precluded from reviewing the CHAOS
file '... It is. safe to say that CIA's top
leadership wished to avoid even the appear-
: ante. of participating. in internal security
would generate adverse public reaction if
revealed..' -
CHAOS was 'terminated' (as the CIA used
:to say of successful assassinations) in 1974..
%1 WAS ONE of its 7,200.`personalities'. As
the dossier shows Iliad been a good soldier'
in the anti-war movement since 1963, when
a group of my students at the University of
Pennsylvania invited nie to stand on. a
grapefruit box and deliver a US-out-of
:'4ietnarn talk to seven spectators. Thereaf-
-ter I wrote articles and books about Viet-
nam, went to Indochina twice, and to jail
three times, once for. a week after sitting
under a bus-full of draftees. At the Spock
trial I testified 65 seconds' for the defence.
During this time I continued to teach my
university classes, sit on academic commit-
tees, publish scholarly;. articles on 8th-
:.century China, eat most,of my dinners.at`
home,- and make appointments for polite
disagreements in the White House, Senate,
and-even the CIA.
These. facts, and sensations like my
mother's_ occupations, emerged from. my'
CIA, FBI, Navy, Army and Defense De--
_partment files, which I obtained in 1975 and ?
1976 under the Freedom of Information
:Act_-.The cost of such extensive surveill-
ance, if paid for by anyone other than the
taxpayer, would have broken a substantial
bank account and floated ?a private detec-
tive agency forever. .
My conservativeVermont Senator, also a.
believer in free speech, prodded CIA
Director William Colby to hand over my
file. Colby maintained that my allegations
of 'a massive illegal domestic intelligence
operation were totally false'. This assertion
was revealed, as a lie when Nixon resigned
and.the Rockefeller Commission emptied a
lot of dirt onto the table. -
I then engaged in a postal duel with the
CIA's `Freedom of Information Coordina-
toe, who finally conceded that we do have
certain information believed to be identi6i-
able to you', and months later disgorged my
heavily-deleted. film in a? thick brown en-
velope which proclaimed the CIA to be an
Equal Opportunity Employer.
The file naturallyincludes my three years
spent as an English teacher in Taiwan-for
the Asia Foundation.- I say "naturally--!
-because' unknown _to? me at the tune the
Foundation was?a. CIA front. This may.
CIA JUDGMENTS about me during..-the-
C, anti-war movement were not always flatter-
ing. In one `priority security check' I'am
merely'fairly knowledgeable on Commun-
ist China and North Vietnam'. In 'Director
Cable 62520' I am `anti-us vis-a-vis Vietnam'
which I later realised must mean `anti-US'.
Much energy went into reproducing dozens
of my speeches to. Quaker meetings, Rota-.
.rians and coUeges_:_.
What was riever"granted' was the name
of the efficient person in my hometown
Thetford, Vermont, pop-57, who annually
reported that my wife and I were good
citizens. 'Granting' me that name, said the {
chairman of the CIA's Information Review
Committee, 'would- reveal investigative
technitlues and procedures'.'_
Such sensitivity started- at the very,jpp..l
When the first CHAOS report was deli-: 1
vered to.Henry Kissinger by the Agency's
then - director, -- ;;Richard . Heirns,: ' -he
cautioned: ..'Shauld anyone learn. of
CHAOS's existence it would prove ost
embarrassing to all concerned'.
There is no suggestion anywhere in this
mountain- of -documents that my country
suspected me of. illegal 'activities. What
attracted the spies, accordi'ig to the Free
' dom of Information Coordinator,ware. my
`views; travels, - and 'speeches'; In one
document,: a Mr-Ober, whose name was
inistakenly not deleted; asks fora check on
`subject' (later revealed to be me). Mr Ober..,
was the head of CHAOS....',Last . week, the .:Congressional sub-i
committee endeavouring to.. explore the
White House plans to unshackle the CIA
from the, 1947 prohibition on. domestic.:
spying was foiced to shut up shop after half
an hour. The committee's cbairmari, Con
gressman Don Edwards o'f California, said
:`The public is entitled to know that pressure
teas' been placed. one this' committee'. to.;
:withdraw frois the.debaie and that prosper-
five witnesses have been pressured not to j
?appear.'.
Approved For Release 1/ 1?P a6` P94d09g'01 R000500080002-6
were, excised from the file, is the hope, I
suppose,: that I might have forgotten who I
wnrir..ri fnr - i'~