BUSH PLANS TO REDUCE COVERT CIA OPERATIONS

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CIA-RDP99-00498R000100040096-5
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K
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1
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December 20, 2016
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96
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STAT Approved For Release 2007/06/21: CIA-RDP99-00498R000100040096-5 L -J li'EBKUARY 19-(b bush plans to reduce covert CIA o er ions By CHARLES W. CORDDRY W..?inngton Bureau of The Sun Washington-George Bush; the new head of the Central In- te'iigenee Agency, said yester- day the agency is going to cut, less use of covert activity." Mr back on clandestine foreign op-f .Bush said yesterday.. "I think erations like those spotlighted :there is an awareness now that Ia a ear of o i l i ' y c ngress ona n vestigations. He indicated doubts aboutil t'ie secret course pursued in Angola in supoo t of anti-Soviet factions and implied that Presi- dent Ford's intelligence re- forms would prevent a future CIA involvement like that in the overthrow of Chile's Marx- ist President . Salvador Al- Ierrde. Intervened on the NBC beet the PI -_s3 program, Mr. Bush defended the administra- +on's new secrecy proposals, designed to protect intelligence data from unauthorized disclo- sure. The proposals have been criticized by some as potential :means for covering up future and analyzing foreign intelli- :it s much better to approve things in public." That comment came after -Mr. Bush had described the se- eret Angolan operation as a demonstration of American will in the -face of the, Soviet Union-Cuban intervention, and .a- questioner had said it was an odd concept that "we. should demonstrate lwilli in secret."" "I can't- totally -argue with your point," Mr. Bush replied "I think it's.a very, "very valid observation." He could not' say in retrospect that open debate on the Angolan, operation would have been wrong. -- bir. Bush said the CIA must be able to undertake covert op- se S tates has an option "some- Under Mr. Ford's-reforms,': where between sending in a the only kind of-covert foreign; battalion of marines and doing operations that are banned are ) nothing." But, said the new "political assassination" at-director of central intelligence, tempts. Other covert activities have ranged - from pumping -money into anti-Communist political parties- in- Europe to runrirg a secret war in Laos in the 1960's Since James R- Schlesinger was CIA director, before Wil- liam E. Colby; whom Mr. Bush has just replaced. efforts have STAT een made to concentrate more on. the main job- of gathering "to the degree my ju ggmen counts on covert foperationsi, we're going to be very, very careful." Asked what he would do about an order like the one for- mer President Nixon gave Ri- chard. Helms, then CIA direc- tor, in September, 1970, to en- courage a military coup--in Chile, Nlr. Bush replied, >'`I wouldn't do it'." Enlarging on that answer, he said the new intelligence re- forms would prevent such a loose arrangement as formerly existed. Decisions on covert ac- tions are to be institutionalized at Cabinet level and "now no- body can say, oh, I wasn't there or I got a phone call (about. what was going to happenl. Ev- erybody sits around and makes a decision of this nature." In the end, NIr. Bush said, it comes down "to judgment, to integrity" on the part of those running. the intelligence .estab- lishment. Laws cannot guaran- tee there will be perfection and no abuses, he said` He was questioned closely on Mfr Ford's plan to protect secrets about intelligence sources and methods, and about other intelligence matters as well, by having federal employ- ees and contractors sign agree- ments against unauthorized dis- closures and by providing civil and criminal penalties for vio- lations. Questions centered on the is- sue of covering up abuses in the guise of secrets. Disclosures of CIA domestic spying and sur- veillance operations led to the year-long investigations of the agency.. "We want to be darn sure; the sins of the past are elimi- nated, but equally sure that this intelligence system can operate with secrecy in the future," Mr Bush said. He" said domestic spying and electronic surveil)- ance are specifically barred un- der the new rules. A questioner noted there are some exceptions, permitting certain CIA domestic opera- tions linked to foreign intelli- gence gathering, and asked how exposure of wrongdoing could be expected with oath-taking. and criminal statutes standing as deterrents. Mr. Bush called that a "very good question," but appeared 'confident- that new executive branch oversight rules and siim- ilar actions expected from Con= gress would provide the neces- sary safeguards "against the kind of abuses that offended you and that offended me." ..;;::. Approved For Release 2007/06/21 : CIA-RDP99-00498R000100040096-5