...AND OVERLOOKED POLITICAL REALITIES

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP99-00498R000100010116-5
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 20, 2016
• Document Release Date: June 19, 2007
• Sequence Number: 116
• Publication Date: November 12, 1975
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Approved For Release 2007/06/22 : CIA-RDP99-00498R000100010116-5
1r1L' i;t10::__-;3. _'1 i VJ.L
12 November 1975
s owland Evans and Robert Novak
The wholly predictable storm over
President Ford's* nomination of former
? Republican National Chairman George
Bush to head the CIA has forced the White-
House into a dangerously overdue
calculation of political realities, with with-
dra,.cal of the nomination now a possibility.
The political realities; apparently never
considered by the president or the very
few top aides privy to his secret plans to
replace' Central intelligence Director
William Colby with Bush. boil down to this
essential: to avoid possible refusal of the
strongly. Democratic Senate to confirm.
Bush; he or President Ford must ab-
solutely. rule out any- possibility. of Bush
winding ..:up Mr. Ford's .Vice=
Presidential runcing mate. -
Such a contit~r has now reached the
stare of gos ei inside the Democratic
Senate 'estabiisi.:ne and particularly
with Democras on the Senate Armed
Services Cornmiuee_ Although Sen. John
Stennis, conservative chairman 'of the
Committee. has. said nothing at all, in-
of.-.the highly influential.
Mississippian fully-agree that all Vice
Presidential doors -must be closed to Bush
to avoid an- inflammatory, cconfirmation
battle.
. Failure of the President to consider this
aspect of his appointment of Bush. a highly
regarded and 'extremely. -popular
politician, was further exacerbated during
Mr. Ford's appearance on Meet the Press
last Sunday. Instead of seeking to calm the
roiled waters when asked if he should not
eliminate both Bush and Secretary of
Defense-designate Donald Rumsfeld from
all consideration for second place on the
1976 Republican ticket, Mr. Ford bristled.
"I don't think people with talent... ought
to be excluded from any further' public
service," he replied coolly.
STAT
Precisely that probability was instantly
perceived by Capitol Hill operatives when
.Mr. Ford summoiked Colby back to the
White House last week. and asked him to
Thus; the President's gravely-mistaken- ?
reading of the political impact of the
Sunday Morning Massacre continues in his
failure to perceive that to the controlling
Democrats on Capitol Hill (and many
Republicans as well). the Director of CIA
must be above political suspicion. .
But some Presidential aides are'more
keenly tuned in to Congressional
frequencies. It is no accident that even
though Bush's nomination has been for-
maliv sent to the Senate for confirmation
hearings, no hearings. are now scheduled
for several weeks at best-and possibly not
until next year. ,
That raises the question of a deliberate
stall, based on the President's suddenly-
expressed desire to keep Bush at his
present post in Peking at least until Mr.
Ford's. China trip. If, as-presently
assumed; Mr. Ford goes to China within
the next month, Bush would not be
available for his confirmation hearing
until well into December..
With Congress eyeing either December
1? or December 19 for the start of the
Christmas recess. it now looks doubtful
that Bush could be. confirmed before next
year. By then, with far-deeper un-
derstanding of the anti-Bush sentiment,
the President could make another.mid-
course correction. giving Bush a different
post that would keep him available for a
possible Vice Presidential nomination next
summer (the job Mr. Ford came within a
whisker of giving Bush instead of Nelson
Rockefeller last year) and naming. some
one else to succeed Colby. ?
stay at the CIA until. a successor had been
confirmed by- the Senate. Earlier, when
Colby left Mr. Ford's oval office on the
morning of Sunday, Nov. 2, he' was
preparing to pack out of the CIA instantly:
Still. one- of.-Washington's darker'
mysteries is why the President chose-t&
put the long-suffering Bush through such a
the
wringer without understanding-the
political realities. White House aide.,,:.
normally involved with -CIA affairs,. in-
cliding the Congressional probes, knew
nothing of Colby's sudden sacking or his
replacement. by Bush until too late..
Indeed, on top of the C IA's long misery is'
the grip of Congressional investigations.
and press exposes,-the Bush nomination. is
regarded by'som.e intelligence experts as:
another grave morale deflator. They.
reason that. any identified politician, no,
matter how resolved to he politically pure,
would aggravate the CIA's credibility gap.
Instead of an identified politician like
Bush-former Zlember of the House,
twice-defeated Senate nominee from
Texas and Vice Presidential aspirant
--what. is needed they feel, is a respected
non=politician, perhaps from business.or
the academic world-
Not all experts agree. One former CIA
official-wants the, CIA placed tinder
political leadership capable of working
closely with Congress. But even. that.
- distinctly minority position rebels against.
any Presidential, scenario that looks to the
CIA as possible stepping-stone to the Vice
Approved For Release 2007/06/22 : CIA-RDP99-00498R000100010116-5