CIA HAS 'OPENNESS,' DIRECTOR TELLS CRITICAL STANFORD CROWD

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP99-00498R000100130041-5
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 20, 2016
• Document Release Date: June 13, 2007
• Sequence Number: 41
• Publication Date: February 7, 1978
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

MERCURY (San Jose, Ca.)
7 February 1978
Approved For Release 2007/06/14: CIA-RDP99-00498R000100130041-5
bas
a' for
e s criticl;il St 'n
By Charles Bricker
Staff Writes
placed on political action by.CIA agents.
the Un ted States, but I do say it is better 'con=
trolled," Turner said.
He' said there hasbeen much less `emphasis
ur
affairs also. is changed- I don't say we, should es=
chew litical action when it is in the interest of
' attitude toward interfering in internal
"O
collect that information," s: l Turner. He said
agents now must emphasize t by things are hap-
pening in other countries and what tomorrow
will bring.
A third major change, he said, is "openness."
American intelligence operations, went before
an audience of Stanford University students He said the CIA today must submit its plans to
Monday night and laid himself open to a barrage unprecedented numbers of oversight committees
of tough questions. ' .. at the federal level
He was asked about current covert activities:'-.-. Turner said he personally. must subject the
by the CIA,. the training of secret police in South CIA's programs to the scrutiny of.the "Presi---
? Africa and Iran, and illegal domestic spying. - dent, vice president, and eight committees of
Congress as well as the National Security Coun-
Using a variety of blunt'"talk and glib wit, cll."
Turner rebuffed all charges: against the CIA. -
Speaking directly to future graduates of Stan-
And he got strong applause for a partial de- ford, Turner said that. there is a need for new
fense of CIA activity in Chile under. the Allende blood in the intelligence community, and that
regime when he told an abrasive questioner: the "life blood of the CIA is the bright young col-
"What you think went on there and what I.. iege graduate.".
think went on there are two different things. Responding to criticism of CIA covert' activi-
It was an unusual speech before a, college au- ties and charges of illegal actions over the past
dience by the head of the super-secret spy agen- decade, Turner said, "I am very happy to see us
cy, but one apparently designed to promote the turning the corner on the. critical: attitude to-
CIA's new image of openness._ . - wards intelligence."
Turner spent a half hour before the estimated, : He said that the CIA is' working toward elimi-
crowd of 2,000 at Kresge Auditorium on campus nation of all of the abuses that have been alleged
outlining what he has done in 10 months as head over the last decade.
of the CIA to change the agency's image. During a half-hour of questions and answers
with students, Turner denied that the CIA is
He said four big changes have been under-,
taken. training secret police in South Africa and Iran.
The first, said Turner, was. to "shift the prod 'He said he would not discuss individual covert.
71 uct of intelligence" so that. the Soviet Union's activities going -on around the world, but..that,
military secrets are no longer a sole, object of "Even if I was to tell you what they were, it .
wouldn't sell in a book: -
spying by United States agents.
Today, said Turner, CIA agents are after mili- He said that the CIA is very sensitive to the
tart'; economic, and political information on violation of. rights of citizens of the United
nearly all. of the 150 countries around -the globe. States and that-the CIA today is in no: way in
"Today we need to know what goes Ion around r volved in any kind of spying on domestic organic
the world and cover 'a wider range of topics and zations.. _,,,.,
STANFORD - CIA Director Stansfield Turn-
er, claiming an historic new sense of openness in
A second- change, said. Turner; is what he
++ "Now, we have advanced technical devices to
He said the American spy has. been the basic-
STAT
Approved For Release 2007/06/14: CIA-RDP99-00498R000100130041-5