MENTION OF CIA

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP99-01448R000402060001-6
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 4
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: May 22, 2012
• Sequence Number: 1
• Publication Date: July 15, 1995
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sl Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/05/22 :CIA-RDP99-014488000402060001-6
R4DI~
NREf;=IRIS
FOR
PROQ~RAM
DATE
SUBJECT
PUBLIC AFFAIRS STAFF/CIA
Inside Washington
July 15, 1995 7:00 PM
Mention of CIA
STATION
aTY
AUDIENCE
WUSA TV
Syndicated
New York: 212-309-1400
Chicago: 312-541-2020
Detroit: 810-344-1177
Boston: 617-536-2232
Phi ladelph la: 215-567-7600
San Francisco: 415-395-9131
Miami: 305-358-3358
Washington: 301-656-4068
Los Angeles: 213-466-6124
Washington, D.C.
GORDON PETERSON: Federal law enforcement was in the bull's-
eye this week. We heard of a possible cover-up at the FBI.
Justice is investigating whether an FBI official destroyed
documents about the Bureau's raid on white separatist Randy Weaver
and the killing of Weaver's wife in Idaho in 1992. And also this
week, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms conceded that
several of its agents attended a racist gathering in Tennessee in
May. And now the revelations come just as Congress is about to re-
open an investigation on the federal raid at Waco and Ruby Ridge,
the location of the assault on Randy Weaver's house.
Carl, you talked with the head of the Bureau of Alcohol,
Tobacco and Firearms, and he concedes that agents attended the
meeting in Tennessee, right?
CARL ROWAN [Syndicated columnist]: Yes.
PETERSON: What were they doing?
ROWAN: At least 20. Well, this started out in '80 as just a
family outing. It deteriorated into a drunken brawl where they got
thrown out of the national forest. Then it became nothing but an
orgy of racism. And one retired ATF agent organized this. But at
this affair where agents of the FBI, the CIA, the DEA, North
Carolina, Tennessee law enforcement people, even policemen from
Canada.
So this event was just the tip of a dunghill that says
something about every law enforcement agency. They all have a
problem with racism.
PETERSON: Wow. And were any of these people providing
intelligence, or it was just a party?
While Radio N Reports endeavors to assure the accuracy of material supplied by it, it cannot be responsible for mistakes or omissions.
Material supplied by Radio N Reports may be used for file and reference purposes only. It may not be reproduced, sold or publicly demonstrated or exhibited.
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/05/22 :CIA-RDP99-014488000402060001-6
 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/05/22 :CIA-RDP99-014488000402060001-6
ROWAN: Well, you know, the interesting thing is the
intelligence came from one of those militias, which is the larger
picture. There's a campaign now to really try to destroy the ATF
and FBI because of Waco. So you've got some guys crying crocodile
tears about racism in Tennessee, but their goal is not to wipe out
the racism. It's to wipe out the ATF.
CHARLES KRAUTHAMMER [Syndicated columnist]: Well, that's
what's interesting here is that the charges against ATF and FBI
with Waco and Ruby Ridge have, of course, nothing to do with race,
because the people who were attacked were all white. But it is an
attack really, in a sense, out of nowhere. I mean it's an attack
that was unexpected in the midsts of other attacks on the ATF and
the FBI, which I think is going to make it very hard for them in
the future.
PETERSON: What's the bigger issue here, Jodie, in terms
of....?
JODIE ALLEN [The Washington Post]: Well, the bigger issue is
whether we can clean up these law enforcement agencies that seem to
need it. Clearly, if anything at the moment, they seem to be doing
the amazing job of uniting the far left and the far right in hatred
for federal law enforcement. But at the same time, there does
appear to be reasons to think that there should be more
investigation, that there were cover-ups, that there was behavior
that did perhaps violate the law even, and that there's a need for
some of these hearings and some internal reforms.
PETERSON: Now how does this affect the White House, Doyle?
DOYLE McMANUS [Los Angeles Times]: Well, Bill Clinton and his
people are terribly worried that these hearings are just going to
play into the hands of the Republican right and of the militia
movement and are going to legitimize some of the charges.
I happen to think they've come down on the wrong foot by being
very defensive and saying "We don't have any reason for new
hearings," because there are a lot of questions out in the country
about Waco and about Ruby Ridge, even if they may be unfounded. I
think they ought to go ahead and say "We welcome more openness
here."
PETERSON: Meanwhile you've got the NRA playing a hand here.
KRAUTHAMMER: Yes. But whenever you have hearings of any
kind, you always invite conspiracy theorists and wackos on all
sides. When we had Iran-contra, it engendered all kinds of
conspiracy theorists, and it makes the government look bad. But
that's what investigations are about, and Congress has a duty to do
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/05/22 :CIA-RDP99-014488000402060001-6
 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/05/22 :CIA-RDP99-014488000402060001-6
ROWAN: You know, last week we were talking about Rubin's
concern that this would redound to the detriment of law
enforcement, and et cetera....
PETERSON: And Secretary of the Treasury Rubin is the head of
the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.
ROWAN: That is exactly right. And I took the position that
I can see nothing coming out of this that doesn't hurt law
enforcement people.
But I must say the law enforcement agencies make it very easy.
I mean you had these New York cops coming to Washington, sliding
naked down the bannister in the hotel. New York can find only six
cops that they can charge with anything.
You got this ATF orgy in the hills of Tennessee. I mean we've
got to ask better than this of the law enforcement agencies.
PETERSON: What about this FBI cover-up, or alleged cover-up?
Is this going to harm Director Freeh?
ALLEN: Oh, yeah, it sure does look like it will. Of course,
again, it's Mr. Potts, who....
ALLEN: The number two man, very inadvisedly appointed to that
position only in the last few months after a lot of this was known.
It does look like there was a cover-up in terms of the Ruby Ridge
engagement.
KRAUTHAMMER: And what's odd here is that the administration
has shot itself in the foot, because, after all, Ruby Ridge
happened in '92....
PETERSON: This is the attack that killed Randy Weaver's wife.
ALLEN: Right.
KRAUTHAIrIl~IER: It happened under the Bush administration. So
it wouldn't have involved the Clinton administration, except for
the fact that the man who was in charge of that operation, Larry
Potts, who was reprimanded in an internal investigation, was then
appointed by Freeh as his number two, which was a rather
astonishing thing to do at the time. There was a lot of
opposition. And I think it's going to come out and really hurt
them.
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/05/22 :CIA-RDP99-014488000402060001-6
 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/05/22 :CIA-RDP99-014488000402060001-6
McMANUS: And I think what's going to be, in a way, most
painful for the Clinton administration here is that up until now
the Attorney General, Janet Reno, and the FBI Director, Louie
Freeh, have been stars in this administration. They've had a lot
of public confidence. Now their judgments are on the line.
ROWAN: Can I say just one little controversial thing? Lyndon
Johnson knew these law enforcement agencies had all these elements.
And one of the things driving him to affirmative action was his
knowledge that these elements tried to keep certain people out.
They tried to insure that they never got promoted. And people who
want to change them had better rethink affirmative action.
PETERSON: When we come back, what Bosnia says about the
United States and its political and moral leadership.....
[End of references to law enforcement and intelligence
agencies.]
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/05/22 :CIA-RDP99-014488000402060001-6