PRESS CONFERENCE HELD BY MR. WILLIAM E. COLBY IN CIA AUDITORIUM ON 12 SEPTEMBER 1975

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP99-00418R000100100020-9
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 26
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: November 21, 2012
• Sequence Number: 20
• Publication Date: September 12, 1975
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

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PRESS CONFERENCE FIELD BY Mr. William E. Colby in CIA Auditorium on 12 September 1975
Mr. Colby: I asked you all to come out here today to try to clarify a little
bit what the discussion this morning was all about. The
first and I think most important aspect is that it is not
a dispute between the executive branch and the Congress
over the Congress' access to information. All the information
concerned has been made available to this committee by
this agency and by the other agencies. What it really is
all about is whether that material, which is highly
classified, will be released publicly, and to the other
nations that are most interested in it, by the action of
a subcommittee of the Congress in a matter of an afternoon,
and by a vote of that subcommittee without consultation
and discussion with the originators of that kind of
material. The material in question does include some
material that in my view would reveal the intelligence
sources and methods; and there is a specific statute that
calls upon me to protect intelligence sources and methods
from unauthorized disclosure. The particular kind of
material we are talking about also happens to be communications
intelligence, and there is a specific statute referring
to that and giving that kind of intelligence specific,
extra protection beyond what other statutes do for other
kinds of classified information and even for other kinds
of intelligence sources and methods. Therefore, the
question is not whether we will provide this information.
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We have provided it. The question is not whether it
cannot be made public in some form or another, because
over the years we have worked with the other committees
of the Congress on many occasions in seeking a particular
way of phrasing or paraphrasing or sanitizing in some
fashion the documents that they have so that they can be
publicly released. I think you'll find that in both my
own testimony at various times and in other documents
given to the Congress and published by the Congress.
You'll also find it, I might add, in a number of subjects
that are covered that stem from the most sensitive and
highly classified sources. I refer, for example, to the
fact that most sophisticated Americans who study Soviet
weapons systems know that there is a new generation that
is in the process of deployment after considerable experimentation:
Most Americans know, on an unclassified basis, the character-
istics of those weapons systems, the fact that they have
MIRVS, and various aspects of them; and this material
comes from the most highly classified and sensitive of
sources. But it has been separated from the source
indications so that it does not pinpoint the way in which
this information was gathered. Therefore, we have in
this question here whether we are going to apply the
statutory requirement that I do protect intelligence
sources and methods and whether we are going to give
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extra protection to this particular kind of intelligence
sources and methods. We are certainly prepared to negotiate,
discuss, and work out solutions to the very real problems
we know that this presents to the Congress in wanting to
report to the people; and we are sympathetic with that
problem and are sure we could do so. But we can't do so
if there is an assertion of a unilateral ability of a
subcommittee chairman to do this without consultation and
ti`aithout an effort to develop a way in which it can be
made public without injuring our sources. With that, I'd be
glad to listen to questions.
Speaker: Mr. Colby, the Committee's rules seem to indicate, and I think
the Chairman cited today, that the Committee has the
power to release whatever information the Committee
determines. Do you challenge the legality of that Committee
rule or .
Mr. Colby: This problem came up in the earlier stages of this relationship,
particularly with these investigative committees, and we
determined that it is easy to avoid coming to the ultimate
question there. Good faith on both sides can be worked
through and a solution arrived at that is satisfactory to
the other committees and yet does protect the particular
sources. And I think that kind of negotiation--discussion,
consultation--would have resulted in a solution to this
problem.
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Speaaker: Mr. Colby, you've said in the past that some of the
things that have been examples of wrongdoing by the CIA
were aberrations, that you should be judged on what the
Agency does. Are you at all embarrassed by the revelation
that the Agency was so wrong in the Mideast in 73?
Mr. Colby: No, it isn't a revelation. I've referred to it in public
many times myself that our estimates were wrong about
that war. Many of the journalists here probably have
heard me say that. In various speeches I've referred to
it. And so, the fact is that we are wrong sometimes.
This building is not a crystal ball. It's an attempt to
work out the facts and understanding of foreign situations
so that our Government can approach those situations on a
basis of knowledge and better understanding. Now, in the
course we obviously try to point ahead and see what is
likely to develop in the future; and we aren't always
right. This was the purpose of the post-morturn, which is
the subject of discussion today, which was to examine the
way we do these things, to find any weaknesses in them,
and improve our performance. And we have made a number
of changes in order to improve our performance.
Speaker: Chairman Pike suggested this morning that what had happened
is that he had simply hit a sensitive nerve, that he was
about to demonstrate that the Intelligence Community
isn't worth the expense. Were you concerned about that?
Do you think that's an accurate statement?
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Mr. Colby: No. I've indicated that I really have looked for and to
these investigations as a way of clarifying to the American
people the real nature of modern intelligence and to get
us away from some of the old myths about it. And I'm
convinced that a full, fair, responsible investigation
will show that our intelligence is the best in the world;
and, yes, that it is costly, but that it's important to
America and is very valuable to America.
Speaker: Mr. Colby, just so we can be sure . . . (Interruption)
2nd Speaker: Chairman Pike was having a discussion with Mr. Rogovin
yesterday about why sources and methods would be revealed
in six paragraphs of conclusions from the analyst's statement,
and he said that, to him anyway, the average man couldn't
see where--pardon me, the average person couldn't see
where any sources or methods were revealed by the text of
those paragraphs. Could you explain to us as a professional
intelligence officer some of the reasons you feel sources
and methods were disclosed in those six paragraphs yesterday?
Mr. Colby: Surely. Only in the ones that were deleted and certain
aspects that were included, a very few items that were
included, does this apply. The fact is that . . . (Interruption)
Speaker: Mr. Rogovin objected at first to the release of any of
those paragraphs.
Mr. Colby: We didn't think that they were totally relevant in that
degree. We did release it after some discussion, and the
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overall conclusion was released at the outset. The
overall conclusion about the failure and the way in which
it happened was released.
Speaker: There was nothing about the sources and methods in the
release of conclusions--in the release of all the four
words.
Mr. Colby: Of all but the four words and the other items that are
still deleted.
Speaker: There's nothing about sources and methods in what we have
now.
Mr. Colby: That's right.
Speaker: Except for the four words.
Mr. Colby: Except for the four words, and I'm not going to pinpoint
those four words.
Speaker: Well, can you pinpoint why they were being
Mr. Colby: The reason I do not want to pinpoint the four words and
the reason it is important is that they do reveal intelligence
sources and methods, and average men and women don't
study these things. Very expert analysts go over it.
They go hack to the date on which the event took place.
They look at the practices that they were going through
at that time to see what the basis for the statement in
that particular phrase might have been. They examine
their own machinery to see if there are chinks in the
armor and whether there are gaps in their ability to keep
secrets that they want to keep secret.
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Speaker: But aren't experts now going through this and aren't they
going to spot those four words? And then, why not the
rest of us?
Mr. Colby: They may well, but I don't want to help them. And some
of their experts may not be as good as some of the others.
Speaker: You've already said that it deals with communications intel-
ligence and it seems a fairly good guess to speculate
that the four words you are talking about are "and
greater communications security," which indicates that
whatever security the Egyptians had we had the ability to
penetrate.
Mr. Colby: Well, I'm not going to discuss the specifics of the four
words. I am referring to the fact that we do have to
examine very carefully whether a particular revelation of
certain material would indicate the source. This is the
same problem that you ladies and gentlemen of the press
have in the way you write certain things in order to
protect your sources; that if you write a thing in a
certain fashion it will reveal the source, and if you
write it in another fashion it won't reveal the source.
Speaker: Why did you have Mr. Rogovin object to the release of the
whole paragraph at first, when he first spoke yesterday?
Mr. Colby: When we first talked about this, the question was "Can we
release enough of this so that the conclusions come
clear--so that the basic thrust of the message comes
clear?" And the answer was "Yes, we can." The question
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of whether to release the individual texts of the assessments
at that time immediately gets into the picking out of one
word, two words, three words; and initially we didn't
really think it was that important to the theme being
pursued, and that consequently it would be easier if he
left the whole thing out. But, when an issue was made
about it, we looked at it carefully and stressed that
only certain, very key words would be important to determining
the source.
Speaker: Mr. Colby, you've been concerned about the public credibility
of this agency and the substance of this, without going
into things that you don't want to discuss, the substance
of this involves a four-word phrase and which you assert
may jeopardize the sources. But, time and time again,
the assertion has been made that sources are involved.
Frequently, what seems to be involved is something which
any 25-year-old on any side would know. If it is a
matter of whether they could come to the conclusion that
we have a capability for monitoring communications--is
this a great surprise to you?
Mr. Colby: That's no problem. We've indicated that in the text
we've released that communications intelligence operations
are carried on. The problem here is that we were referring
to one specific thing at a specific time and date; and,
obviously, in a foreign country certain specific things
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were being done at that time. And, a recapitulation of
those--a meticulous recapitulation of those--by experts
in that country could indicate to them that certain of
their systems are strong and certain of their systems are
weak.
Speaker: Are you convinced that these four words, whatever these four
words are, are really important enough, either in themselves
or as an example of something else that would be more
harmful, that would justify this confrontation that you have
now entered into?
Mr. Colby: I certainly think these four words are worth it. I
confess I'm delighted that this issue did not arise over
the revelation of a name of an American who has helped us
at some risk to his own company's business and his own
livelihood, or to a foreign agent of ours who might be
exposed to punishment and some form of retribution by his
government. We did not have that issue, but it's inherent
in this issue that we are discussing: As to whether the
Chairman and the subcommittee unilaterally will decide
upon the release because they don't think it's important,
or whether they will consult with us and work out a
solution to the way the matter is phrased so that we both
can go away happy.
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Speaker: What steps are you prepared to take to. regain control
of the material that they now have, if they have decided
to . . .?
Mr. Colby: That's a subject for further negotiation and discussion.
It's premature to answer that question right now.
Speaker: Mr. Colby, did you ask the Committee to delete the four
words that we're talking about, or did they just not do
it, or were they not asked to delete those four words?
Mr. Colby: They were asked and they voted against it.
Speaker: Mr. Colby, there's always been a suspicion of using the
sources and methods argument to keep secret things that
would be embarrassing and now there seems to be growing
suspicion that you're using this furor to cut off cooperation
with that committee and stop its work. Are you going to
try to stop the work of that committee?
Mr. Colby: Of all the things I've done in the course of these investigations,
I think that keeping information from the committees
was not prominent among them. If anything, I've been
criticized rather forcefully for giving them more than
perhaps was necessary. So we are not holding information
back from the committee; we're not holding information
back from the Congress; we're not holding information
back from our normal links on the Hill. Voe are asking
that we have some arrangement by which we have some
assurance that there will not be a unilateral decision by
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a subcommittee to go ahead and release so