LETTERS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP91-00901R000700060052-1
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 16, 2016
• Document Release Date: June 17, 2005
• Sequence Number: 52
• Publication Date: November 28, 1982
• Content Type: NSPR

STAT
A?PZARED
'~I GAY F':: w MAG,. 16
BOSTON GLOBE
28 NOVEMBER 1982
- --
with the Vietnamese and Chinese, were I guages,. some
]Utters
The dictates of diplomacy .
of American -Diplomacy," August
eff Stein was kind enough to send
me a copy of the cover story he
wrote about me ("Mystery Man
29). In his accompanying note, he of- stantial impairment to the investigation.
fered to interview me or to allow me With respect to the overall Water-
space to comment upon his article.- As gate matter, I can .only. say that every
he pointed out in the article itself, I nor- Y step I took at that time. was scrutinized
mally refrain from interviews and -sel- in numerous and: -'endless public hear-
dom comment on stories. I do so not 'l ings. Nevertheless, I remained in office
because I am particularly opposed to until 1976, four years after the break-in
publicity about me. Indeed, during the occurred. -In 1974, Director of the -CIA
five years from. 1976 to 1981, as a pri-
vate citizen, I wrote a book, Silent Mis-
sions, not Secret as Mr. Stein's research
suggests. Not a single US secret is con-
tained in the book. It was published in
six languages. I traveled widely and
appeared on national and international
television and radio programs -hardly
the activities of a shy or reclusive man.
I shun publicity because the nature of
my duties as Ambassador-at-Large re-
quires me to move discreetly and incon-
spicuously in quiet pursuit of our coun-
try's foreign policy. Publicity under-
mines my ability.to do this.
Nevertheless, I feel compelled to re-
spond to some of the allegations con-
tained in the Stein story because they
call into question my personal integrity
during my tenure as Deputy and Acting
Director of the CIA. I_.feel strongly that
the American people must have confi-
dence in the integrity of their public
servants and that to allow Mr. Stein's
allegations to go unchallenged is to
shake that confidence.
The first allegation relates to an old
matter: Watergate. Mr. Stein, like oth-
ers, continues to play the "who-knew.
what-when" game that has always left l
even the most informed observers]
befuddled. I do not intend to rehash the I
matter- here. I would simply like to
stress that when it became clear to me
that no CIA assets were endangered by
an FBI investigation, I refused, as Dep;
uty Director, on behalf of the CIA, to
have any involvement whatsoever in the
matter. When John. Dean first asked me
to stop the FBI iWWW" k %P Rhte
Mexico money, I thought perhaps that
clandestine meetings with Castro, simi-
u1 progress. When I learned otherwise I
convey to -th
r I speak- eight' lan-
.elt it important that I
refused to restrain the FBI probe in anv
way. Indeed, I threatened to resign if
ordered to do otherwise. John Dean has
acknowledged this refusal in his own
testimony .before Congress. The delay
caused to the FBI, while I checked our
sources in Mexico, resulted in no sub-
James R. Schlesinger, a man respected
for his integrity, intelligence, and so-
phistication, awarded me the Distin-
guished Intelligence Medal for showing
o
araguay. I
"the highest qualities of moral integrity had never even, heard of Ambassador
and rigid adherence to his constitutional Landau's cables unto August 1976,
responsibilities despite a number of se- when the CIA -brought them to my
vere pressures to lead him to-a contrary-ry attention. I answered that I knew noth-
position." Mr. Schlesinger is not known (?ing about passp?` rts for any Chileans.
as a man who passes out encomia freely. Furthermore, I dxplained that I had no
When I retired, moreover, President ! reason to becom i
l
d
i
h
vo
ve
w
t
official
Gerald Ford, another man respected US business withl Chile or Paraguay be-
for his straightforwardness, awarded cause I was, th en, a private citizen. No
me the National Security Medal, only mention, moreov r, was ever made of
twenty of which'had ever before been Orlando Letelier."
given. Mr. Stein's impressive research
apparently failed to: discover these two
awards, although both are mentioned in
Silent Missions, from which he.quotes
extensively.
With respect to Mr. Stein's allega-
tions about the senseless murder of Or-
lando Letelier, I repeat here what I told
the FBI and the Justice Department in
1976: I knew nothing whatsoever of the
matter.
As Deputy Director of the CIA, I
met with most heads of foreign intelli-
gence services when they visited Wash
guages the co
States, and
intelligence co
:men in their own lan-
mitment of the United
cularly of the American
mfmcnity, to continue the
struggle against our enemies even in
times of great domestic turmoil for us.
Never in. an of the meetings with
Colonel Contreras, the head of Chilean
Intelligence,-.didi the subject of Orlando
Letelier or Chilen passports ever arise.
Anyone who thinks otherwise is mis-
taken. The', Iasi l time I saw. Contreras
was .over a.::.y before Letelier was ,
murdered. My tzip to Paraguay, just be-:
fore .I retired in July, had nothing to do
with Chile or passports or I,etelier. I am
still, however, n ,t at liberty to discuss
the nature of m trip.
After I retir from the CIA, I had
nothing to do with Chile
r P