JACKSONVILLE CONGRESSMAN HITS 'RAMPARTS' CIA STORY

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP75-00149R000100340018-8
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: November 11, 2016
• Document Release Date: November 25, 1998
• Sequence Number: 18
• Publication Date: April 8, 1967
• Content Type: NSPR

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Senior Subcormjfele Member
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By DALE PULLEN/
Washington Bureau
CPYRGHT
counter propaganda efforts by this paragraph concerning Ram-
Communist
groups in various pat
rs:.
infornnfin s e
1 ac sonv e Congressman , t6harles Ben-
nett, a, conservative Democrat
perhaps is best known national-
ly for (1) his more than 15-
year record of never 'having
missed a roll call vote in the
;House, and (2) his recent push
to get the House to police itself
jwith an' Ethics Committee.
33 Not so well known is the fact
Ithat he has been a member of
;the House Armed Services sub-
,committee on the CIA' longer
,rhar, any other member (10
Jyears).
i It gives Bennett a long haul
view of the Central Intelligence
!Agency not available to many.
The recent furor stirred by
a story in "Ramparts" maga-
'zine that the C? had been se-
Icrclly pumping taxpayer dollars
?into front organizations who
Then passed the money on to
individuals or groups also has
stirrcd Bennett.
IIe is very upset about the
fact that the beans were spilled
from the CIA can because, in
hi
s opinion it h b
,aseen very
damaging to the U.S. ---
And, to show what he thinks
of "Ramparts" magazine,, the
gazette that opened the can with
a story, he has introduced a
report by Negro columnist Carl
T. Rowan in the "Congressional
Record."
Bennett last week said, of the
CIA can-opening:
"Our country received a seri-
ous blow.
"And there is no serious alter-
native to getting money to some.
I these groups now."
Many of the groups receiving
he funds engaged in interns-
ion-"I meetings and carried the
ublicity and propaganda foot-
ails for the United States posi-
ion on a variety of subjects.
I The groups often needed th
ett
unds, U.S. officials believed t
o
Bet
to. Bennett - the loss of a
means to get funds to some of
these 'groups - but he also is
upset b e c a u s e "just talking
about spying is not helpful to
our country."
He indicated this was so be-
cause effective spy work does
not operate very well in a fish
bowl.
The Rowan column that Ben-
nett pushed into the "Congres-
sional Record" is significant.
Congressmen often put arti-
cles into the Record that ex-
press their views - views they
don't necessarily want to take
publicly or "on the record."
Rowan said an editor of
"Ramparts" h a d been in
Prague, by his own admission,
to meet with officers of the In-
ternational Union of Students
for two,~flays.
Rowan quoted the editor, Rob-
ert Scheer, as saying of the IUS
that "it is.essentially an organ
of the foreign policy of the Sovi-
et Union."
The columnist wotynd up with
?
Sanitize proved
can these clays and tell
where he gets his money. Be-
fore the suspicion fades, 'Ram-
parts' may find it desirable to
reveal in detail who has provid-
ed the estimated million and
a half dollars the magazine will
have lost by the end of this
year. And Scheer may have
more to say about his, mission
to Prague."
Said Bennett of Rowan after
referring to the last para-
graph:
"He's not the kind of guy you
would say unusually favors the
conservative position," which
was Bennett's way of saying he
thinks Rowan is a liberal.
Actually, and Bennett knows
this, what is, extremely signifi-
cant about owan's final para-
graph is Rowan's background
graph is Rowan's background
as a U.S. government official
who, before he took to his syndi-
cated column, surely must have
known plenty about CIA funding
and , work in the international
arena.
Rowan, in 1964 was named
by, President Kennedy to re-
place Edward R. Murrow as di-
rector of the United States In-
formation Agency.
What did the USIA do?.
President Kennedy
in 1963
,
,
said its mission. was to "help
achieve U.S. foreign policy ob-
jectives by influencing 'public
attitudes in other nations."
Carl Rowan obviously knows
a good deal more on the subject
than he is able to write about.
FOIAb3b
For Release : CIA-RDP75-00149R0001*340018-8