THE DANGER CAN'T BE IGNORED

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP99-00498R000100200024-6
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 20, 2016
• Document Release Date: June 15, 2007
• Sequence Number: 24
• Publication Date: May 5, 1980
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

ac r Approved For Release 2007/06/18: CIA-RDP99-00498R000100200024-6
LUJ HOULLLJ I II'ILJ
"" 5 May 1930
he prospects for' a comprehensive' charter: fog low morale has continued under a series of directors
the Uentrat Intelligence Agency are dim: The whose guidance of the agency nas ocen contesteu -t
intelligence committees in the Senate and the House by its members. There are suggestions from serious
,seem to have.,taken.the view.;that whatjthe CiA pbservcrs.,that. it.s,.current chief, Adm Stansfield
plausibly ;enough,: we . thougl;t-that the agency:'
its chairm.-la'in a move 'to`pusn fora charter:- The
.
next day t ;e Senate, Intelligence Comriiittee gave.uo .,, .would , act more. effectively: and freely`if'it knew ,
shortene i bilm to give the CIA more scone ed .:ln any case, a charter would prevent its agents:
The setback for the charter isin part the result of from the excesses they had fallen into in the past.
election-year politics: Sorrie Republicans in on This; is not to: deny: that a charter is difticult.to
gress believe. that a . Repubiican.' Administration write- Its authors have to give the CIA power to: do
could propose a charter next-year more to: the agen the job without overdoing it. It was partly in draw,:-,
cy's ,liking; some Democrats fear being accused of ing those fine lines that the attempt foundered
voLrng fora stringent ball One aspect of the short bill favored by the Senate
The crises in Iran and Afghanistan 'are. the CIA's clearly sensible: The number: of congress,orial.
best ally in the congressional struggle., The.agency committees to which the agency would have to re !:l
has been appealing to a vaguely based but. strongly:;- port future actions would be cut from eight to t=wo:.:
felt, belief in Congress that the CIA has been let If. Congress-which got no hemp, by the way, from
tered.and that, if it hadn't been, the American pcsi an ambivalent:Administration-is unable to write a
tion Jin 1.1!e world would be, better =There is' no charter1 this year, it. will- have to next year _They;
:evidence for thins belief, nor' has the CIA offered any A excesses=of the past cannot be forgotten, the danger4
.It is true ti,at the agency-has been rocked and, some- inherent in such secret power cannot be' overlooked
accounts. say, demoralized by toe' series of events It is not beyond the wit of Con yess, in calmer. times,'
that began with the revelations several years ago of-- ;, to write a charter that promotes American security
vr-idetpread illegal acid questionable 'activities. The Lin ways consistent with Americanliberty.
Approved For Release 2007/06/18: CIA-RDP99-00498R000100200024-6