REMARKS BY WILLIAM H. WEBSTER DIRECTOR OF CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE BEFORE THE AMERICAN BAR ASSOCIATION TORONTO, CANADA AUGUST 9, 1988

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP99-00777R000400800001-2
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 15
• Document Creation Date: December 27, 2016
• Document Release Date: May 12, 2014
• Sequence Number: 1
• Publication Date: August 9, 1988
• Content Type: REPORT

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REMARKS
BY
WILLIAM H. WEBSTER
DIRECTOR OF CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE
BEFORE THE
AMERICAN BAR ASSOCIATION
TORONTO, CANADA
AUGUST 9, 1988
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Thank you very much President MacCrate, Prime Minister Robinson, other
distinguished guests and fellow members of the American Bar Association. I am
delighted to be with you. I can't resist saying that if some day -- as I'm
certain I will -- I am called to account for my sins, I hope that Bob MacCrate
is around to impanel the jury.
I particularly feel pleased to be here this morning and to follow in the
wake of the award of the American Bar Association Medal to my fellow
St. Louisan, Bill McCalpin. It is richly deserved. I've known Bill for 40
years as a friend and a colleague and, along with your distinguished past
President John Shepherd, we worked together on many projects. I am proud for
Bill, I'm proud for St. Louis, and I'm proud for the American Bar Association
that Bill has been selected for this high honor.
Well, I am here in Canada speaking largely to Americans, and that, in a
way, is a relief. I spoke to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police Annual Mess
several years ago and discovered at the last minute that I was expected to
engage in a bilingual exercise. I stumbled through a few formalities in
French about being glad to be there, and then finally I said, "And now, I must
return to my own language -- unless you want my views on closing the window or
putting the crayon on the table."
In a world of disarray, some very interesting things are happening, even
as we visit together. The prospect of peace in the Persian Gulf and a
cease?fire in the war between Iran and Iraq; the withdrawal of Russian troops
from Afghanistan; the Cambodian peace talks and the prospects that the
Vietnamese may soon withdraw their troops from that country; the ongoing
discussions in Angola and the promise of a cease?fire; and the constructive
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discussion of possible solutions for the conflict in the Western Sahara. All
to the good.
In contrast to these developments, we see a faltering effort to provide a
permanent solution to conflict in the Middle East; insurgencies in the
Philippines; five nations arming the Spratly Islands off the coasts of Vietnam
and China; the spread of chemical and biological warfare in the Middle East;
and the emergence of China as one of the great munitions makers of the world,
now specializing in missiles of great distance. And I guess I have to mention
Latin America. Nicaragua, Panama, Honduras, Chile, El Salvador, and Bolivia.
I need only mention the names for us to realize how much there is to do to
create a safer and more peaceful world. We saw the U.S.?Soviet summit meeting
in June, and we saw the recent meeting of the Soviet Central Committee plenum,
when Gorbachev gave an amazing speech promofing the principles of glasnost and
perestroika. And yet, we know that no essential goals of Soviet domination
have changed -- or, at least, the Soviets have made no public statements of
such a change.
And we see across the world that three problems are emerging again, as
they have always been there: espionage, terrorism, and drugs. And we have to
ask ourselves what kind of tools we need -- and what kind of tools we can be
allowed to use -- to deal with these threats. And, what reasonable limits
should be placed on law enforcement and the Intelligence Community in their
efforts to bring these worldwide problems under control?
Some 15 years ago, while I was still serving on the Eighth Circuit Court
of Appeals, I had occasion to review a statute which made it unlawful to carry
or attempt to carry a firearm aboard a commercial aircraft. In the opinion
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that I wrote, I discussed the evolution of the airport inspection or
checkpoint system -- a system that had been challenged not too long before as
a gross intrusion into personal privacy. Subsequently, a rash of hijackings
brought home the reality of the terrorist threat and the need to balance
individual privacy interests with legitimate security interests. I opined
then -- and I believe today, with equal force -- that if those checkpoints
were removed, there would be a storm of protests from passengers who value the
security and protection that they afford and consider such inspections to be a
reasonable price for that security.
Some of you no doubt attended the morning session run by Dick Friedman,
Chairman of the Standing Committee on Law and National Security. Nick Rostow
gave some opening remarks about how to balance humanitarian concerns and
respect for the rule of law with our national security objectives. This is a
tough issue and one that is very much on my mind today. While I was still at
the FBI, I often spoke of the balance that must be maintained between each
citizen's right to be let alone, and the right to be kept safe and free. Bob
MacCrate and I have also talked about this balance. And when Bob asked me to
speak to you today, he suggested that I address this topic again from my
vantage point at the CIA. And so, today I will try to do that -- to discuss
how the work of intelligence can provide greater safety without unreasonable
sacrifice of individual liberty.
The CIA and other components of the Intelligence Community collect
information on a host of issues that affect our national security. Two of the
issues that most clearly touch on the relationship between safety and
liberty -- issues that therefore demand special safeguards -- are the threats
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posed by hostile intelligence services worldwide, operating against this
country, and the threats posed by international terrorists. Our activities in
these and other areas are governed by Executive Order 12333, which outlines
the duties and responsibilities of the CIA as well as the limitations upon
intelligence activities undertaken by the Agency. The order reflects the
requirements of the National Security Act of 1947, the CIA Act of 1949, and
other laws, regulations, and directives, as well as intelligence policies.
In addition to following the executive order, the CIA and other agencies
within the Intelligence Community are required to develop and have approved by
the Attorney General their own guidelines and procedures. The procedures at
the CIA were developed to:
11 encourage legitimate intelligence activities;
? provide legal protection to employees by providing authority for
intelligence activities;
? and -- I think this is of major importance -- assure the American
public and the intelligence oversight committees that all CIA
activities involving U.S. persons are lawful and related to
legitimate intelligence objectives. For instance, we file an annual
report with the House and Senate intelligence oversight committees
spelling out significant intelligence activities, and we follow up
with briefings if necessary. Our activity in this area is closely
monitored by the oversight committees, which act as surrogates for
the Congress as a whole and as surrogates for the American people.
The first of the issues that I mentioned, counterintelligence, is critical
to our national security, and clearly a legitimate intelligence objective. In
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fact, an effective and comprehensive counterintelligence program has never
been more important to our nation, because the threat against us has grown.
The number of operations against us has certainly increased, and the number of
intelligence services involved in such operations has also grown.
Over the past three years, we have discovered more penetrations of the
U.S. defense and intelligence communities than at any time in our history.
The costs of these compromises are estimated in the billions of dollars.
Two major espionage cases which affect our country have surfaced in Canada
this summer. Stephen Ratkai was arrested in June for attempting to pass U.S.
naval secrets to the Soviet Union. And during that same month, the
revelations of a Soviet defector, Yuriy Smurov, led to the expulsion and
barring of 17 Soviet officials who were trying to steal Canada's advanced
commercial and military technology.
Although many countries engage in intelligence operations against the
United States, the Soviet intelligence services, the KGB and GRU, represent by
far the most significant intelligence threat in terms of size, ability, and
intent to act against U.S. interests -- both at home and abroad. And despite
Soviet glasnost and perestroika, we have actually seen an increase this year
in Soviet attempts to recruit U.S. sources.
Because we can protect ourselves best if we understand what our adversary
wants, I think it's worth considering just what is being collected. The
highest Soviet collection priority is information on U.S. strategic nuclear
forces. Other high-priority subjects are key foreign policy matters,
congressional intentions, defense information, advanced dual-use technology
the kind of technology that is civilian in nature but can be adopted to
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military purposes -- and, not surprisingly, U.S. intelligence sources and
methods. The Soviets also target NATO intensively, partly as a means to
obtain, through information that we share there, U.S. foreign policy and
military information.
And the methods employed by the Soviets to get the information they want
are becoming more aggressive and more sophisticated. We expect to see greater
Soviet efforts to recruit U.S. personnel abroad; increasing use of third
countries for clandestine meetings with American agents -- the better we get
here, the more likely they are to meet outside this country; greater efforts
to penetrate allied governments that might be privy to U.S. secrets; and
greater emphasis on exploiting the intelligence collection capabilities of
Warsaw Pact allies.
But the methods the U.S. Intelligence Community uses to counter this
threat are also impressive. And the most impressive of those methods is the
increased cooperation among the various agencies within the Community. For
example, the FBI and CIA are today working closely together in mounting both
offensive and defensive measures against hostile intelligence services.
In recent years the FBI has made great strides in countering the
intelligence activities of the Soviet Bloc countries. The Bureau has improved
the quality and sophistication of its intelligence systems and, as a result,
has succeeded in disrupting hostile intelligence operations aimed at critical
U.S. targets at home.
The FBI's main tactic has been to "spiderweb" known or suspected
intelligence operatives. In spinning webs with physical and electronic
surveillance -- and, incidentally, all electronic surveillance must be court
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authorized under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act -- U.S.
intelligence has been able to weave a barrier between hostile agents and our
citizens. Those of you familiar with FISA will recall that there is a much
higher threshhold required to direct electronic surveillance against U.S.
persons.
To provide the information that will allow enforcement agencies to protect
our citizens, we have bolstered counterintelligence efforts throughout the
Community. For the CIA, such efforts include collecting information outside
the United States on Americans who are or may be engaged in activities on
behalf of a foreign power, and collecting information in circumstances where
an American may be the target of a foreign power. Our own procedures dictate
that we must use the least?intrusive collection technique feasible to obtain
the intelligence required.
To make the best use of that intelligence and to improve the effectiveness
of counterintelligence activities both within the CIA and in the Intelligence
Community, I created a new Counterintelligence Center at the Agency. The
center works to protect the Agency's foreign operations and the security of
all Agency components against penetration by foreign security or intelligence
services. This center was badly needed and, for historical reasons I don't
have time to discuss, too many things were falling between chairs in the
absence of this new and important development. The Counterintelligence Center
not only provides analysis of hostile intelligence threats and past espionage
cases, it also provides instruction for our people going abroad.
The CIA is authorized to collect information on yet another problem: the
targets, the victims, and the hostages of international terrorist
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organizations. This is a very important role for intelligence. The CIA is
also authorized to collect information on Americans who may be engaged in
international terrorist activities.
During the past three and a half years, there have been 253 cases in which
some sort of counterterrorist actions -- efforts to prevent terrorism -- were
taken on the basis of intelligence information collected and disseminated by
the Agency. We can't say in all of those cases that the information or
measures taken were solely responsible for the preventions, but they clearly
had a role and that is important to us.
In one such case, the Agency received a report that terrorists planned to
assassinate a senior American diplomat in a Middle Eastern country when he
arrived for a meeting. When the diplomat was informed of the report, he
confirmed that he was to have such a meeting. At the last moment, he arranged
for the meeting to be held elsewhere, thus escaping an attempt on his life.
On numerous occasions in recent years, the Agency has received reports of
planned terrorist attacks on our embassies in several parts of the world,
particularly the Latin American countries of Colombia, Peru, and El Salvador.
In each case, the embassy, upon receiving such a report, increased its
security. On several occasions, a source has subsequently informed us that
this increased security persuaded the terrorist group to cancel its plans to
attack.
But in spite of such successes, last year the property and citizens of
over 84 nations were the victims or targets of international terrorist
attacks -- attacks that resulted in nearly 3,000 casualties. Information
collected for this year indicates that the citizens and property of almost 70
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?
countries already have been the victims of international terrorism. These
figures support a trend. Since 1981, we have noticed a steady increase in
international terrorism worldwide. In 1981, we recorded close to 500
incidents, in 1985 almost 800 and, if early trends continue, we could register
almost 900 acts of international terrorism by the end of this year. And I
think that we should keep in mind that about half of these international
terrorist incidents are directed against U.S. persons, U.S. property, or U.S.
institutions around the world.
The CIA, cooperating with other intelligence and law enforcement
organizations in accordance with the National Security Act of 1947, has
collected valuable information about terrorist groups. Some of the most
useful information has come from walk?ins -- terrorists who wish to defect
from their organizations. By protecting, and in some cases resettling, these
individuals, we have been able to gain their cooperation. They have told us
about their former colleagues, about who finances and protects their
organization, the location of their headquarters, and the names of their
leaders.
Such information is often vital in protecting both U.S. and allied
interests overseas. We learned, for example, that the Palestinian terrorist,
Abu Nidal, had an extensive international commercial network that dealt in the
gray arms market. This network had key offices in Poland, East Germany, and
several other countries. By using this information, the U.S. State Department
delivered a series of diplomatic demarches to the governments of these
countries expressing U.S. concern about the presence of these businesses As
a result, the companies were closed down.
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We also keep track of the movements of wanted terrorists. If our
government has an outstanding warrant for the arrest of such individuals, we
are able to make this information available to judicial authorities so that
they can locate and apprehend them. In some cases, the United States asks for
extradition. In other cases, as in that of Fawaz Yunis, wanted for the June
1985 hijacking of a Jordanian airliner which carried U.S. citizens, our
information enabled the FBI to arrest Yunis in the Mediterranean. We worked
with the Trevi Group, the organization of the ministers of interior for the
European free countries who are united in an effort to end sanctuary for
terrorists. An important effort if we are going to succeed against terrorism.
We share information with foreign governments on names of potential
terrorists, including aliases used and false documentation, that allows them
to add these names to their watchlists. Such improved, border control enabled
one government to arrest a well-known supporter of several terrorist
organizations. Information has also been used to deny entry and safe haven to
known terrorists and their associates. I understand today that there was an
important development in the Hammadi case -- the terrorist arrested and now on
trial in West Germany. And over the summer we were instrumental in giving
positive identification of one of the principal terrorists who planted an
underseat bomb in an airplane going from Tokyo to Honolulu a few years ago --
an incident resulting in the death of a young Japanese boy.
I'd like to say just a brief word about what the FBI is doing in the
United States because I think that it is a record that has gone largely
unnoticed, and it shows that considerable credit is due to the men and women
who are out there laboring to make it possible for us to be safe and free in
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this country. While this trend has been developing worldwide, the number of
bombings and terrorist incidents in the United States has gone from about 100
a year when I took office to less than a dozen in the last two years. And
there have been very few casualties. They have done this not just as police
officers, because that's after the fact. They've done it by developing good
intelligence on the workings of international and domestic terrorist groups in
the United States and by developing criminal, prosecutable cases against
them. And they've done it with strict adherence to Attorney General
guidelines on terrorist investigations which permit this form of
intelligence?gathering.
And I know that such investigations are always sensitive and apt to
attract criticism when they do not go 100?percent as one would wish. In the
past year there has been considerable speculation -- and I think undue
criticism -- about one particular terrorist investigation, mostly because of
its mischaracterization. It was said that this investigation was a widespread
investigation of the critics of the Reagan Administration. It had nothing at
all to do with the Reagan Administration. It was said that it involved the
investigation of over 150 individuals and organizations. My understanding is
that it involved about a half dozen organizations. It was said that it was
massive. My understanding is that it involved five man years per year for two
years, ten man years in all. Hardly massive. It has been charged that it
involved highly sensitive and intrusive techniques. It did not involve
electronic surveillance. It did not involve undercover operations. It did
not involve searches. The investigators were criticized for taking down some
license numbers and taking some photographs. This case did not produce an
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indictment and it was closed a few years ago. It is only now receiving
scrutiny and criticism. And if there were flaws in it, and I'm sure there
were, they will be brought to light. , But I think that we have to take into
account the security that good intelligence has produced for this country in
asking ourselves whether or not we can afford the taking of a few license
numbers and a few photographs in the interest of our national security and our
personal safety.
I have been making the point that effective counterintelligence and
counterterrorism programs are critical to our national security. And they are
certainly critical to the physical security of our citizens. But I want to
emphasize as well that how the CIA and other intelligence agencies carry out
their responsibilities is of equal importance to our country. We are subject
to specific laws and we operate under internal procedures approved by the
Attorney General. In addition, my General Counsel's staff briefs employees --
both at home and abroad -- to ensure that those Agency employees who deal with
issues that affect the constitutional rights of American citizens know what
our laws and procedures are. My Office of General Counsel also works closely
with the Office of Intelligence Policy and Review at the Department of Justice
in dealing with those types of activities that may require Attorney General
authorization. They work together to examine relevant issues and obtain the
necessary approvals, consistent with applicable requirements of our law.
We want to catch spies and curb terrorism, but we will not circumvent our
own laws to do so. We must maintain absolute fidelity to our laws and our
rules -- rules imposed to ensure our citizens that we are indeed accountable.
I do not think the CIA, or the FBI, or any member of the Intelligence
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Community is exempt from this principle. In fact, I believe that it is the
key to public acceptance of our vitally necessary work.
We must, in the end, have both safety and liberty. The balance between
the right to be let alone and the right to be kept safe and free is central to
our profession and to our heritage. And in our ability to strike that balance
true, lies our future as a land of ordered liberty. Former Supreme Court
Justice Robert Jackson must have had this balance in mind when he observed
that the constitutional Bill of Rights of the United States was not a suicide
pact. The protections it includes and affords to us must be rationally
applied if we are to prevail against those who would threaten our national
security.
I really believe that we have sufficient legislative restraints and that
we should stop looking for legislative solutions to problems as they emerge,
because such "solutions" can impede necessary work in the interest of national
security. Rather, what is needed is a better understanding of the
requirements of existing law and the discipline -- the iron determination
to see that these laws are scrupulously observed.
And then there are people, the people who work for you in law enforcement
and in the Intelligence Community. I am looking for a certain kind of person
and I am getting them, with applications coming in at the rate of over 1,000 a
month. People who are risk takers, but not risk seekers. People who are not
particularly interested in fame or fortune, but who see in our work an
opportunity to pursue their highest aspirations for a safer and a better
world. This blend of requirements and balancing was best expressed by an old
friend -- Sir William Stephenson. And I can think of no better place to
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recall his words, than in this, his homeland of Canada. In the introduction
to the book, A Man Called Intrepid, which chronicled his remarkable
intelligence accomplishments during the Second World War, Sir William wrote:
"Perhaps a day will dawn when tyrants can no longer threaten the liberty
of any people. When the functions of all nations, however varied their
ideologies, will be to enhance life, not to control it. If such a condition
is possible, it is in a future too far distant to foresee. Until that safer,
better day, the democracies will avoid disaster, and possibly total
destruction, only by maintaining their defenses.
"Among the increasingly intricate arsenals across the world, intelligence
is an essential weapon, perhaps the most important. But it is, being secret,
the most dangerous. Safeguards to prevent its abuse must be devised, revised,
and rigidly applied. But, as in all enterprise, the character and wisdom of
those to whom it is entrusted will be decisive. In the integrity of that
guardianship lies the hope of free people to endure and prevail."
I subscribe fully to this statement and I believe deeply that a nation
dedicated to the rule of law can protect itself and its heritage in no other
way.
Thank you.
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