THE CRISIS THAT IS BRINGING BASIC CHANGES TO CIA

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP09T00207R001000020105-7
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 3
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 9, 2011
• Sequence Number: 105
• Publication Date: September 16, 1974
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

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16 SEP 1974
THE CRISIS THAT IS BRIP14GING
BASIC CHANGES TO CIA
Outside pressure is forcing
CIA to shed some of its old
ways--including supersecrecy
of the past. No one is yet sure
that it's all for the best.
It's a time of sweeping change inside
America's top-secret "cloak and dagger"
organization-the Central Intelligence
Agency.
In broad terms, the CIA is putting less
reliance on its "dagger" while at the
same time it is revealing more of what's
hidden behind its "cloak." In specific
terms:
? Covert operations aimed at
influencing or overthrowing foreign
governments are losing emphasis. Those
still authorized are coming under closer
scrutiny and supervision.
? Activities by the CIA inside the
U. S. are being subjected to tighter con-
trol than ever before. The aim is to
prevent the agency from becoming in-
volved in illegal operations against
Americans at home, such as happened
during the Water,,-ate affair.
? A policy of greater openness on the
part of Director William E. Colby marks
a bid for wider popular understanding
and acceptance of CIA. He hopes to
overcome widespread distrust of
Government intelligence secrecy and to
Director William E. Colby has taken over
the job of reshaping trouble-ridden CIA.
demonstrate that his agency performs a
constructive and indispensable service
to the nation.
? A far-reaching reorganization has
been carried out to meet official criti-
cism of the way the CIA operates. The
critics-led by Secretary of State Henry
Kissinger-complained that much of the
agency's work was too academic and
unrelated to the needs of Government
policy makers. Now the emphasis is
shifting from projects that intrigue the
CIA to others with practical value for
officials such as Mr. Kissinger.
Survival of CIA. All these changes
result from the most serious challenge to
the CIA's existence since its establish-,
ment in 1947. In fact, the pressure of the
challenge has been so heavy that some
high-ranking officials in the agency are
wondering if a secret intelligence orga-
nization can continue to function effec-
tively in the political climate prevailing
in the U. S. today.
Outside the agency, critics ask this
question: Is a secret intelligence organi-
zation really necessary-especially one
that has concentrated so much of its re-
sources on operations against foreign
governments?
Over all, the Central Intelligence
Agency employs more than 16,000
people. Its budget totals roughly 750
million dollars a year-with more than
half that amount reportedly spent on
covert activities of one kind or another.
Besides a small army of officials and
experts at its headquarters outside
Washington, the agency has teams as-
signed to most U. S. embassies around
the world.
The crisis that now is raising questions
about the CIA's future was fueled by
three developments:
1. CIA involvement in Watergate.
The agency was strongly criticized for
allowing itself to be drawn illegally into
the Watergate affair on two occasions.
One involved the delivery of spy para-
phernalia to a former CIA agent, E.
Howard Hunt, who was a member of the
White House "plumbers." He used the
equipment for the break-in at the office
of the psychiatrist of Daniel Ellsberg,
accused at that time of giving the secret
Pentagon Papers to the press.
The second involved the preparation
-of a psychological profile of Mr. Ellsberg
by CIA experts at the request of the
White House. Both actions were de-
nounced by a.congressional subcommit-
...?... -s.. 0440 7u+a,.F-
"I'M BEING SHADOWED"
tee as illegal. The CIA is explicitly
prohibited from engaging in domestic
security activities of any kind. Legisla-
tion now before Congress would tighten
the law to reduce the danger of abuse in
the future.
2. Breakdown of CIA security. The
agency's ability to protect its secrets is
endangered by two publishing ventures
involving former agents. One book,
"The CIA and the Cult of Intelligence,"
reveals much about the inner workings
of the U. S. intelligence establishment.
The CIA went to court to contest publi-
cation on the grounds that the authors.
Victor L. Marchetti and John D. Marks,
were violating contracts signed when
they joined the intelligence services.
The court allowed publication with
168 deletions for security reasons. Nov
another former agent, Philip B. F. Agee.
is preparing to publish a 220,000-word
book in Britain describing the CIA's
clandestine operations in Latin America.
CIA officials warn that its effective-
ness could be gravely damaged if this
trend continues. As one put it: "We're
not worried so much about Marchetti as
we are about the 999 others who might
follow him with other books."
One point made by intelligence offi-
cials: Under existing laws, a Department
of Agriculture employe can be jailed for
divulging secret crop figures but a CIA
employe-present or past-can escape
prosecution even if he reveals the iden-
tity of secret agents.
3. Reaction to Vietnam. The CIA's
clandestine role in the Indo-China con-
flict is blamed by many critics for draw-
6079O continued
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Symbol of the new CIA openness Is road sign showing the way to Massive complex in northern Virginia countryside is the command
headquarters of America's top-secret intelligence organization. center for CIA's staff of 16,000 that operates around the. globe.
CIA's CRISIS
[continued from preceding pays]
ing the United States into a war that
became highly unpopular and nationally
divisive.
Critics contend that such interference
in the internal affairs of other countries
in peacetime is morally wrong and un-
necessary. The charge also is made that
these overseas operations are not effec-
tively controlled.
The Bay of Pigs fiasco is cited as a
prime example of a covert CIA action
that ended in serious international em-
barrassment for the U. S.
Other examples of "counterproduc-
tive" operations listed by critics:
An Indonesian Army rebellion in 1958
aimed at overthrowing the Communist-
leaning regime was backed by the CIA.
Failure had damaging repercussions for
the U. S. among nationalistic Asians.
A Chinese Nationalist Army that took
refuge in Northern Burma was helped
by the CIA in the 1950s. The American
Ambassador in Rangoon, kept in igno-
rance of the agency's role, repeatedly
denied to Burmese leaders U. S. involve-
ment with this 12,000-man force that
was engaging in banditry and opium-
running while ostensibly preparing for
action against Communist China. When
the CIA's role came to light, the Ambas-
sador was humiliated and U. S. relations
with Burma were damaged for years.
Its achievements. Defenders of the
CIA, on the other hand, point to suc-
cesses achieved by covert operations,
including the overthrow of the Mossa-
degh Government in Iran in 1953 and
the establishment of an anti-Communist
government in the Congo in the early
1960s.
The CIA has been charged with sabo-
taging U. S. policy by engaging in "free
lance"-operations. The defense:
No clandestine operation can be initi-
ated without the explicit authorization
of the "40 Committee"-a group headed
by Secretary Kissinger, acting in his dual
role of director of the National Security
Council. Other members of that com-
mittee include high-ranking representa-
tives of the Departments of State and
Defense as well as the joint Chiefs of
Staff.
Furthermore, "watchdog commit-
tees" in Congress have unlimited access
to information concerning CIA activi-
ties. Informed observers say the intelli-
gence agency even is willing to provide
the committees with names of its secret
agents if requested to do so.
Critics, however, question the
effectiveness of these outside controls on
the covert operations of the CIA.
Even while the controversy height-
ens, intelligence officials are the first to
admit that covert operations considered
acceptable 10 years ago are no longer
feasible.
To quote an exceptionally well-
informed source on this point:
"In 1963, President Kennedy instruct-
ed the CIA to organize a secret army in
Laos after the North Vietnamese Com-
munists failed to comply with terms of a
political settlement. During the recent
Cyprus crisis, the U. S. President like-
wise had the option to order the CIA to
influence events on the island. But he
did not-and probably could not-exer-
cise that option."
The most valuable work done by the
CIA has nothing to do with secret enter-
prises. It involves overt intelligence ac-
tivities of two kinds.
First, the analysis of political, econom-
ic and military information by a small
army of scholars. Their job is to provide
the President and his policy-making
aides with assessments of the capabilities
and intentions of foreign states and to
alert them to any potential crisis situa-
tions taking shape.
Espionage agents operating around
the world supply some of the informa-
tion that goes into these assessments.
But most of it comes from open. sources
-such as government reports, technical
and academic journals, and broadcasts.
The second form of overt intelligence
carried on by the CIA is in the field of
technological espionage. Another article
on these pages describes the organiza-
tion's scope.
Spying: a new era? The agency's
Director, Mr. Colby, says "technology
has revolutionized the intelligence busi-
ness." In his view, it paved the way for
the Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty
and the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty by
making it possible for the U. S. to moni-
tor compliance with such arms-control
treaties.
Under Mr. Colby's leadership during
the past year, the "intelligence business"
as practiced by the CIA is being revolu-
tionized in another way.
The extreme secrecy that surrounded
every aspect of the agency's operations
in the past is being relaxed. A symbol of
the change: the appearance of road signs
indicating the location of the agency's
massive headquarters at Langley in the
Virginia countryside.
More important, many reports which
the CIA Director in the past presented
to congressional committees in secrecy
now are being made available to the
public. These include the agency's
assessment of Russian and Chinese eco-
nomic and military potential as well as a
recent controversial analysis of the So-
viet Union's naval activities in the In-
dian Ocean.
What these changes add up to is
recognition by top intelligence officials
that the domestic and international
political scenes have been transformed
in the past few years.
During the cold-war years, the CIA
had no need to justify its existence-or
continued
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its methods. The "James Bond" image of crecy as a result of Watergate, and create a new and more open public
secret armies and airtight security was disillusionment over the Vietnam War. image while, at the same time, preserv-
aceeptable during that period. A critical attitude surfaced, putting ing the degree of secrecy that is neces-
Then came Soviet-American detente, America's secret intelligence agency on sary for the survival of its worldwide
a new cynicism concerning official se- the defensive. Now it is striving to espionage network
C079?
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