SECRET TRANSCRIPTS OF SENATE ARMED SERVICES COMMITTEE FOR FRIDAY, 16 NOVEMBER AND WEDNESDAY, 21 NOVEMBER 1973 TESTIMONY OF ANDREW R. ST. GEORGE AND MR. COLBY ON THE FORMER'S ARTICLE IN THE NOVEMBER ISSUE OF HARPER'S MAGAZINE, "THE COLD WAR COMES HOME"

• Document Type: FOIA
• Collection: FOIA Collection
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 01482361
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 11
• Document Creation Date: December 28, 2022
• Document Release Date: August 7, 2017
• Case Number: F-2007-00094
• Publication Date: December 4, 1973

UNCLASSIFIED
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INTERIApproved for Release: 2017/01/18 C0148231. AL
I-- USE ONLY
ROUTING AND RECORD SHEET
EKSECRET
SUBJECT: (Optional)
FROM:
John M. Maury
Legislative Counsel
EXTENSION
NO.
DATE
4 December 1973
TO: (Officer designation, room number, and
building)
DATE
RECEIVED FORWARDED
OFFICER'S
INITIALS
COMMENTS .(NuMber each comment to show front whom
to whom. Draw a line across column after each comment.)
DIRECTOR
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Attached, for your
review and return, are the
transcripts covering two
days of testimony by St.
George and your testimony
on 16 November before the
Senate Armed Services
Commtttee.
Your testimony covers
pages 65-94 and suggested
deletions to sanitize the
transcript, corrections and
insertions for the record
occur on the pages clipped.
If they meet with your
approval, we will makreup a
set of the transcripts for
the Committee.
Also attached is a
memorandum covering some
of the major points develop
JOHN M. MAURY
gislative Counsel
FORM 61 0 USE PREVIOUS
EDITIONS
SECRET El CONFIDENTIAL 0 MT& fl UNCLASSIFIED
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MEMORANDUM FOR THE RECORD
4 DEC1973
Al(' 737&S
SUBJECT: Secret transcripts of Senate Armed Services
Committee for Friday, 16 November. and Wednesday,
21 November 1973 testimony of Andrew R. St. George
and Mr. Colby on the former's article in the
November issue of Harper's Magazine, "The Cold
War Comes Home".
1. Allegations
The Senate Committee focused on two of St. George's
allegations.
a. The Agency had prior, knowledge of the
breakin because Eugenio Rolando Martinez,
an informant on retainer with the Agency
for a considerable time before and up to
the breakin, was infiltrated by CIA to
report on the activities of the Plumbers;
b. A conversation occurred between a young
Agency watch officer and Helms at 0700
hours on the morning of the breakin
(17 June 1972) which corroborates or
strongly implies that Helms indeed had
prior knowledge of the activities of the
Plumbers' group if not on the actual
breakin itself. This in turn validates
the thesis of the article that the Intel
ligence Community was aware of a program
by the White House to obtain complete
control over domestic activities through a
group of loyal political followers in the
federal bureaucracy.
2. Martinez Connection
St. George provided no proof that Martinez was an
Agency "plant", but did allege that:
a. Martinez was on the Agency payroll at the time
at full salary ($8-9,000 per annum), not the
$100 per month reported by Agency officials;
b. Martinez had been instructed by his CIA case
officer in Miami to join the Hunt/Liddy team
when asked to do so by Hunt but on the condition
that Martinez systematically report to CIA on
the activities of the group as if this were a
regular intelligence project.
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LUULi
St. George's sources for the above are:
a. Sturgis, who claims that Martinez confessed
to his cohorts on his CIA role immediately
after their arrest, including the maintenance
of a "contact diary",
b. sources "within CIA".
3. Helms/Watch Officer Conversation
St. George refused to identify either the source of
his information or the watch officer involved, refusing to
answer any questions about either on the basis that he
would be giving away their identities on a piecemeal basis
and standing on his first amendment rights.
Although St. George did not identify his source he
did give possible clues indicating:
a. that he had known the source a long time;
b. "...Regulations would have prevented him
(the watch officer) from commenting. We have
no reason to expect that the man who signed an
oath of the secrecy as a precondition of his
employment would answer a question coming out
of the blue from someone he did not know."
(Reflects argumentation in Marchetti case)
St. George admits that the gap in the record on the
identity of the source and proof that the conversation took
place is the "Achilles heel" in the story but excuses him-
self from seeking to obtain corroboration either from the
watch officer or the Agency on the grounds that in his long
years of journalism he never was successful in obtaining CIA
comment on anything. (He admits knowing of Angus Thuermer.)
When pushed by members of the committee on how he
could be "absolutely sure" of the accuracy or veracity of his
source, St. George; on the advice of counsel (Bernard Fenster-
wald) quoted Helms' testimony that he had no "recollection" as
to when he first heard Of the breakin but admitted that if
Helms specifically denied that the conversation ever took place
then he (St. George) would have to reevaluate his information.
Subsequently, when informed of Helms' specific denial St.
George intimated it put a different light on his information
but eventually stood by the accuracy of his quotation.
St. George claims to have many other quotes of
Helms which he did not use which tends to corroborate the
quote that he did.
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St. George also made the following points:
a. The watch officer was one of several men
on duty,
b. "more than one operations center is active
on holidays and overnight" and
c. with respect to the conversation St. George
said he "gathered" it was by tEre-khone.
4. Cover up obstruction of justice
Per St. George, much of his information comes from
Sturgis, with whom he had a confidential agreement for
collaboration on a book, a magazine article, and a tele-
vision program. The relationship started shortly after the
arrests and continued up until the trial. On 10 January .
1973 Henry Rothblatt, the attorney for Sturgis and the other
Miamians, objected to St. George about this arrangement in a
discussion in the presence of Jack Anderson. Anderson,
Rothblatt and St. George then returned to one of the four
apartments leased for the Miamians in the Arlington Towers.
Rothblatt excused himself and after returning from one
of the other apartments, told St. George and Anderson that
"someone" had just offered the four $1000 a month for
silence plus clemency if they pled guilty; per St. George
this is what Rothblatt told him. The Senate Armed Services
Committee pushed St. George hard on whether CIA was involved
in the bribe or coercion. St. George said he felt the indicted
probably felt so since per Rothblatt "one of those involved
in the attempt is a CIA guy" (later identified as Hunt) and
"the other one is a'former Bay of Pigs commander wearing a
pistol" (probably Barker) "who said I guarantee on my word
as a Bay of Pigs commander that this money will be paid."
St. George said he had testified on this fully before the Grand
Jury.
5. Miscellaneous comments
Bernard Fensterwald: was former staff chief of
former Senator Long's Administrative Practice and Procedure
Committee and in that capacity was helpful in getting inserted
in the Omnibus Crime Act of 1968 that provision of the Act which
provides statutory recognition and approval for wire-tapping in
foreign intelligence cases
.: was also James McCord's lawyer
and heads up the Committee to Investigate Assassinations (CIA).
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St. George: denied that he had ever worked for any
other country except the United States in any capacity, including
casual jobs;
: CIA sanctioned the invasion of Haiti.
: Martinez reported po CIA but can't
say he reported to Helms.
: Alfred C. Baldwin III, (a former FBI
agent) may have been a double agent.
: The four Miamians thought of Hunt as
a "CIA guy".
: His source has provided other informa-
tion to him on CIA matters.
: To clear up conflicts about the quota-
tion and Martinez, suggested that the committee obtain a
copy of the "contact diary", interview Martinez and Sturgis.
He will submit other suggestions to the committee.
: Works for the London Sun-Telegraph
(distributing syndicate)
: Never was employed by Sweden
: Never was under a Honduran passport
: Contacts with Sturgis and interest in
the case goes back to 4 October 1972.
: In describing the pressure on Sturgis
not to collaborate with St. George, Hunt told Sturgis
"you know what happens to traitors in our group". As a
result Sturgis told St. George that he (Sturgis) feared
for his life.
� � Maintained he had done a number of
articles on CIA, some of which CIA liked, such as one on Che
Guevara.
: The main point is not the Helms quote
("I had no thought I would ruin Helms' reputation") but
the major malfunctions of CIA/DIA.
Senator Stuart Symington (D., Mo.) referring to
Fensterwaid: my 'old and respected friend".
Jim Woolsey, Senate Armed Services Committee staff:
In effective response to St. George's plea that the root
of the problem is that CIA has never opened up to journalists
even "one inch", pointed out that St. George had not gone
"one.inch" towards finding out from the Agency about the
purported conversation, etc.
Sen. Symington: Tribute to the importance of the
Agency and character of Helms "...what protection does a man
in a position that Mr. Helms is in, where he has open knowledge
of the American people running a covert agency which is
considered essential the way the world is today, and because
of the strength of certain other countries and the importance
of Obtaining as much information as possible about those
countries, in order to frame our own budget as to what we
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should or should not build and what we should or should
not do in the defense of the United States, now the man
who was assigned that position has been in it all his life,
and the people without any exception, that I have known in
the intelligence business, have recommencled this man
before he was appointed, which was relatively recently to
the position of Director, as being the best man in this
field. Nothing like 15 years ago, he was not the Director
of the Central Intelligence Agency. The question that Sen-
ator Nunn asked you, what protection does a man who is willing
to undertake this position for his country, what amounts to
be a covert operation, what protection does he have from
slander and yellow journalism if anybody decides to try
to destroy him, what is his protection?"
: was quite effective in showing the
weakness in St. George's theory that international misad-
ventures by federal agencies enhances the power of those
agencies
6. Correction and Sanitization of Agency Testimony
Mr. Colby's testimony covers pages 65-94 in the 16
November transcript. Changes and deletions have been made
on the pages clipped.
Associate Legislative Counsel
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Senator Symington. Make them part of the record.
Mr. Colby. Yes, sir.
Senator Symington. Any further questions from any member
Df the committee before he proceeds?
Will you proceed.
0-ri 114 (:
M:r. Colby. With respect to Mr. St. George, Mr. Chairman,
I have some raw information which consists in great part of
allegations by individuals about Mr. St. George in the long
past. The are not conclusive proved facts about his record
but it is the kind of trace --
. .
Senator Tower. Raw data?
� Mr. Colby. ,Tes, that intelligence communities use in
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judging whether iztrkree-1-41 do business with a man or not in the
future.
"Andrew St. George/ whose name was originally Andrew
Rudolph Szentgyorgi, was 'born on October 5, 1923 at Budapest,
Hungary. From 1942 to 1944\he was a reporter for a Budapest
newspaper. In October 1944 he was arrested by the Germans
claimed he escaped. He worked briefly in the Swedish Legation
in Budapest in November 1944, was..,again arrested by the
Hungarian Government in December 1944 but was released when
the Russians encircled Budapest.
"From June 1945 to December 1946 St. George worked as an
interpreter and investigator for the American Military Mission
WC-1M,
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[(AM of the Al�ed Control Commission (At In Liudapest,
gathering data on war crimes perpetrated by Hungarian civilians
against Allied airmen downed in Hungary during World War II.
During this period a Hungarian criminal police official stated
that St. George was engaged in smuggling stolen automobiles
from Vienna to Budapest and crossed the border into Hungary
with these automobiles by wearing an American uniform. A
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partner of St. George in this enterprise was arrested by the
Hungarian Police but was released when St. George vouched for
him as an investigator for the AMM. In December 1946, St.
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George was arrested by the U.S. military authorities in Vienna,
Austria but later released.
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"In June 1947 St. George left Vienna for Switzerland,
France, and Italy on a Honduran passport. On 14 July he was
arrested by the Belgian Police on suspicion of forgery and had
in his possession a false Honduran passport. St. George was
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released to the custody of the American Military Counter-
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intelligence Corps (CC) in Vienna by the Belgian Police. He
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apparently worked thereafter for CIC in Vienna and in January
1953 he came to the United States. St. George subsequently
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worked as a free lance newspaper reporter and contributed to
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various magazines. In May 1957 he was in Cuba developing a
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story for Life magazine about Fidel Castro. He later did
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stories on raids by Cuban exile groups into Cuba, the death
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of Che Guevara, and worked for CBS covering an exile group
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'invasion of ,iti. He is not a unitea ;a-ces citizen.
77
"The are numerous allegations that St. George worked
for the Soviets. A wealthy Hungarian stated that in 1945,
four days after the Soviet occupation of Budapest St. George
armed and in Soviet uniform together with Russian soldiers
robbed the Hungarian in his home. He was not prosecuted,
according to a Hungarian police official, because he was being
protected by the Soviets. In May 1946 an employee of the AMM,
who confessed under interrogation that she was an agent of the
Hungarian Military Intelligence, said that the Hungarian office
who directed her mentioned St. George as a man who had a
criminal past, was a Gestapo collaborator during the war,
and was working for the Soviets as a penetraction of the ACC.
In early. 1946, after St. George had admitted to his Soviet
Intelligence connections, he was played back against the
Russians by an American Intelligence officer in the AMM in
Budapest. This officer later became convinced that St. George
was under control of the Soviets even while professing to work
against them. He cited instances of meetings with Russian
Intelligence agents which St. George did not report, the lack
of worthwhile information from St. George on his Soviet contact
and indications of fabrication of reports as leading to his
conclusion."
Senator Symington. Senator Tower, have you any questions?
Senator Tower. Of course I am sure that, for example,
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I the fact that he worked for the Swedish Legation is easily
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documented. 'ILiat alone gives the lie to he assertion he had
never worked for any other foreign government or any other
government other than the United States.
Mr. Colby. I can't document these right at the moment.
Senator Tower. But it is pretty good.evidence he worked
for a little bit of everybody.
Mr. Colby. It is rather clear that he was one of the
people floating around Budapest at that time.
Senator Symington. It is always a pleasure to give the
CIA information on these matters that they did not know.
We are now able to report to you that he is operating under
a Brazilian passport which has expired.
Mr. Colby. Thank you.
Senator Symington. Otherwise, he has perjured himself.
Senator Tower. You mentioned that he came to the United
States on a Honduran passport in '53?
Mr. Colby. No, I don't know what passport he came on in
1953.
The Hondurian passport was in '47. He came to the United
States in January 1953 and I don't know what kind of passport
he had at that time.
Senator Symington. Could you find out?
Mr. Colby. I would think we could, yes. I am pretty
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sure we can and I will. We have not made any special investiga
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o this. ThiL _Ls just the material tild.L -1.11 our files. I
thinI could ask the FBI and :they could run it down.
Senator Tower. He has been a Hungarian , a Hondurian, and
a Brazilian.
Senator Symington. He has been a Swede, almost, been a
Swede, and he wants to be a United States citizen.
Mr. Colby. He w9rked for the Swedish Legation. That
does not necessarily mean he
Senator Symington. Ys 111
Senator Tower. I do not really have any further questions
Let me establish -- I think it has already been estab-
lished actually -- this man suggests that it is conceivable
that the CIA arranged for a trap at the Watergate, but I think
that is pretty well covered when Helms states flatly he had
no prior knowledge.
Mr. Colby. We had no prior knowledge of it in the agency.
Senator Tower. You don't know of any subordinates in
the agency?
Mr. Colby. No other knowledge of that event.
Senator Tower. Who did Martinez report to in the agency?
Mr. Colby. Well, he reported to a variety of people
down in Miami from 1961 to 1969 when we had him on an $8,100
a year contract relationship relating to
In 1969 we terminated
that project. We carried him for a bit in that pay status but
(b)(3)
(b)(3)
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