THE CIA'S 19 YEARS: SUCCESSES, FAILURES

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP99-00418R000100100009-2
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 4
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: May 11, 2012
• Sequence Number: 9
• Publication Date: February 22, 1976
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

ST"T
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/05/11: CIA-RDP99-00418ROO0100100009-2
WHERE IS. THE T R U ?
22 FEBRUARY 1976
portant as the OSS concentrated on trying to create guer-
rilla movements in occupied territory. When the CIA was
formed ? in 1947, the operatives-most of whom had
served in OSS-quickly got control of the agency, and
L.ICJ U0.. G 116.U V,. U,l_. al?...
"Over, the, years, - the CIA has, of course, greatly ad-
vanced the arts of espionage, counterespionage and covert
action. But it has been covert action-interference in an-
other country's internal affairs-which has been title most .
highly developed ... partly because the operatives who
.'WASHINGTON-Is-the CIA, as its . :. at the strategic impact
'supporters; contend, a well-controlled many years," he said.
agency dedicated' to, advancing' the A sample of Colby's perspective:
cause of freedom eieryc hens? "The Bay of. Pigs obviously was a
Or:Is' it: as its :critics contend, a disaster, but take yourself back to
reckless roguetrampling into forbid- the early '60s when we were con
den '`fields, ., making - ' America : the corned that the Cuban revolution
bogey man of the' world?
`?Where.does the truth lie?
would: spread like wildfire through
Latin America.'
"That was the day of Che Guevara,
winter, morning outside his living 'would turn the whole continent has-
room window ard,like a spy in from tile -to the United States-there was
the cold, talked wistfully of what: a serious assessment that this was a
ttiight have beer.:,; ? possibility.
"I had sort of hoped;' he said "that "So we Put. together, a program
these skeletons might remain in the which . was a political. . program
family closet." through the OAS (Organization of
They. hadn't: One by one, slowly; AmericanStates) 4 an economic pro-
-They,
:Central Intelligence Agen- -rrogress.
cy's closet during Colby's three years
as director :. ' "There. was some military aid, and
.'Assassination .plots Burglaries_ there was some CIA work both in in-
:Mail openings. Domestic surveillance., telligence and in support of some of
Secret armies. Undercover cash ' for-," the forces to prevent the rise in ter- .1
foreign politicans. Covert attempts'to. rorism and guerrilla activity. ; .
overthrow other governments "At the end of' he period, in 1975,
it
Latin America is--no garden, but
l
hash t been turned totally hosti
e to
;;ZML.imonth; t.ie revelation's ended
-. -_1 r._.-_
the
e
.,-..,, ,--?
- -
the CIA. He had little to do with ershrp ?
most oftlio.misdeeds, but he-displays "You can't say : it was the CIA
1no visible?b,"iferness about his ouster. . alone, but the CIA, f think, made a
i. Turning, from th& window to lean ? contribution in a number of countries.
back ;.on':a gold coloredsofa,. Colby. Its been worthwhile.
argued in.quiettones that the CIA's ---=; .
sing, ;were paraded before 'an.Ameri . Across the Potomac, in another
can;public;ill-prepared for the disclo- Washington suburb, another spy in
slues because it, had "no frame of re from the cold has already written a
~ference for intelligence,.except spy book giving his - perspective of the
novels c,. agency's operations:,.Victor Marchet=
So, , retired to a modest and un- ti, who, resigned-after'14 years as a,
guarded suburban home, he' -is. writ- CIA: analyst and, executive;: co-au-
Ing.arbook=trot-.a:py- novel; but, a .thored,"The CIA andxthe-Cdlt of In-'
"serious book 1 he hopes will place , the telligence';
.agency's operatons: in .nistoricaIper-' 'Phis is his historical perspcct vc:
u
ti
specvc
much of the debate :.rating
Too,
-around the agency, he said, has cen-,
?:-Aered on."diddly-little things" such as
?a :"minuscule . number". of burglaries-
committed in the: United States by,
?.C'IA operatives tion and counterespionage. ? Espion- 1
'; Iristead:?the debate shouId stake a' age, or spying, was relatively unim-
broader view, "looking at the sweep'
.. The real CIA_'is clandestine
organization, as it has been from the
very beginning. If one looks at the
,CIA's predecessor, the wartime Office
of;Strategic Services, one finds that ..
its primary activities were covert ac-
ran the agency were not very interested in espionage.
"These men. preferred. causing events to happen in
foreign countries, whether 'destabilizing leftist govern-
ments in Chile, Guatemala and Iran,' or secretly strong- +
thening repressive regimes in Vietnam,. Brazil and the 1
Dominican Republic . What the CIA's operatives really
like to do is play'the game of nations' .. " ?
.Whom to believe? .
In an attempt to answer that question, The Times inter-
viewed friends and foes of the CIA, reviewed the findings Ti
of investigating congressional committees and examined
government documents dating back three decades. The
result was a bundle of contradictions:
-The CIA has, in fact, committed some colossal blun-
ders, .damaging both U.S. policy and America's image
abroad.:
-Yet the agency has silently. scored some long-term
triumphs,; helping build a foundation for today's uneasy
'.detente.
-The CIA has strayed far from the limited charter en-'
visioned by its founders, secretly expanding its scope of
operations without precise legislative authority.
-Yet the, agency has been responsive, perhaps too re-
.sponsive, to the desires of its presidential overseers. ?'
-The CIA has at times been plagued by waste and
bureaucratic 'bumbling, spending millions of dollars on
questionable projects. .
-Yet the agency's staff includes the world's foremost
'experts in fields from architecture to zoology, a quiet
corps sincerely dedicated to furthering America's interests.
-The CIA is such a mass of contradictions that it is lit-
tle wonder that pollster Louis Harris last month found
"much doubt and confusion among the American people".
questioned about recent intelligence revelations..
"On the one hand, it is clear that the public nozlonger
'trusts the-CIA and FBI to operate on. their own, foi? fear
that they. will 'engage in excesses of the kind that have
been revealed,' Harris reported. "On the other hand, peo-
ple are. aware that the two agencies need to conduct their
-activities in:a.reasonable amount of secrecy.
".Somehow,' ,He observed, "the contradiction will have '
I to be worhed'out'f
~l3i t how ,