CONGRESS AND GATES: A STEP TOWARD 'RE-ESTABLISHING TRUST'

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP99-01448R000301270069-1
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 9, 2012
• Sequence Number: 69
• Publication Date: February 19, 1987
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

STAT
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/08/10 : CIA-RDP99-01448R000301270069-1
19 February 1987
CONGRESS AND GATES: A STEP TOWARD 'RE-ESTABLISHING TRUST' ` 0N1.~
BY LAWRENCE L. KNUTSON`~
WASHINGTON
After a decade of stop-and-go supervision of the nation's spies, the Senate
Intelligence Committee is using the nomination of a new CIA director to try
again to rein in an agency once condemned as a "rogue elephant."The opportunity
is provided by the resignation of CIA Director William J. Casey and the
confirmation hearing for his proposed successor, Casey's deputy, Robert M.
Gates.
The secret sale of arms to Iran, described by Gates as "a risky gamble" that
in hindsight should not have been tried, was one of hundreds of covert
operations initiated by a president since the end of World War II.
Until the Senate and House intelligence committees were made permanent
institutions in 1976, most of these operations were conducted in the shadows,
outside the reach of regular congressional oversight.
Assassination plots, experimentation with mind-altering chemicals, the
organization of coups all were included in the characterization of the CIA by
the late Sen. Frank Church as a "rogue elephant" resistant to the control of
Congress during the 1970s.
Since 1976, Congress has sought to make oversight of covert operations a
matter of expected routine.
But lawmakers had increasingly complained that information has been
grudgingly and sparingly provided by Casey's CIA.
Sen. William Cohen, R-Maine, vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence
Committee, has said that to get information from Casey, even behind closed
doors, one had to ask precisely "the right question" and even then senators
could count on getting only "half the right answer."Gates promised to end that.
In testimony Tuesday and Wednesday, he repeatedly pledged to be forthcoming and
forthright. He acknowleged the CIA made mistakes in helping the National
Security Council facilitate the Iranian arms sales.
Under questioning, he finally said he would.feel it his duty as CIA
director to report to the panel on any illegal intelligence activity by any U.S.
agency, including the NSC.
For his part, Sen. David Boren, D-Okla., the Senate panel's new chairman, has
promised to guarantee that the CIA's secrets remain secret.
On the other hand, Boren and his committee want no more surprises about what
U.S. agents are up to.
That goal of secrets shared and secrets kept can be achieved, both Gates and
senators agree, only if a "relationship of mutual security and trust" is nutured
and sustained.
Gates said he believes the oversight committees should be told in advance
about covert operations, except in emergencies when he said there might be
justification for delaying for "several days."He said if he had felt the
relationship of trust with Congress was in danger because knowledge of a covert
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/08/10: CIA-RDP99-01448R000301270069-1
 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/08/10: CIA-RDP99-01448R000301270069-1
a.
operation had been withheld, he would "contemplate resignation."Several senators
said they are unconvinced Gates did all he could have done to make sure the
CIA stayed within bounds at two key flashpoints during the Iran-Contra
episode.
Some said Congress should have been told when NSC aide Lt. Col. Oliver L.
North.asked the CIA to make available a charter flight by an agency-owned
aircraft to ferry what turned out to be a cargo of U.S. arms into Iran.
Others said Gates should have told Congress immediately when he was informed
by a senior CIA analyst on Oct. 1 that disgruntled international arms dealers
might expose the secret contacts with Iran by claiming that profits from the
arms sales had been diverted to the Contras.
The confirmation process, Gates said, has been a healthy ordeal which helped
get the facts on the table.
And as the public phase of the process closed, both the nominee and key
senators agreed progress had been made..
Cohen told reporters, "I would say he has taken a.very large step toward
reestablishing trust."EDITOR'S NOTE: Lawrence L. Knutson covered the
congressional investigation into illegal, activities by the CIA a decade ago
and is now one of the AP reporters covering the Iran-Contra affair.
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/08/10: CIA-RDP99-01448R000301270069-1