WTOP EDITORIAL COMMENT ON CIA ACTIVITIES IN CHILE

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP09T00207R001000020053-5
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 9, 2011
• Sequence Number: 53
• Publication Date: September 24, 1974
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/08/09: CIA-RDP09T00207R001000020053-5
RADIO TV REPORTS. INC.
PUBLIC AFFAIRS STAFF
PROGRAM Radio 15 News STATION WTOP Radio
WTOP EDITORIAL CO!IMENT
September 24, 1974 12:15 NI
Washington, D.C.
STAT
JAMIE BRAGG: New disclosures about CIA activities
in Chile have presented a new problem for makers of foreign
policy, determining the proper role of U.S. intelligence operations.o
Editorial Director Ray White has a W TOP editorial
comment.
RAY WHITE: One function of the Central Intelligence
Agency has never been seriously disputed: the gathering of
intelligence information and its analysis and interpretation.
But for more than 25 years it has been understood, but not
publicly acknowledged, that our foreign policy included on
occasion clandestine intervention in the affairs of other
countries. In this respect, the CIA has been accepted as
one of those necessary evils, an agency that did the dirty
work that normally would be considered out of bounds except
that the dirty work was necessary to counteract the dirty
work of communism.
Never, perhaps, has a President been so candid about
this as Gerald Ford was at his last new conference. The President
defended CIA activities in Chile against President Salvador
Allende, who was killed in a bloody successful coup against
his government. '.While President Ford denied direct U.S. involvement
in the coup, the distinction is academic if U.S. activities
helped set the stage.
Some of Allende's blood is on America's hands, and
recognition of that has prompted calls for reexamining the
role of intelligence in our foreign policy. We believe those
calls are timely, and, for that matter, so does the Director
of the CIA, William Colby.
For too long this nation has tied itself in moral
knots trying to justify the sort of activity in foreign lands
00714
._ ~'u 'll Ft C4 ? G'W V(lOK . ['1FYSitIIT ? NFW FN.:I GNII ? l~Hlf'A r.~l
SanitizedcCopy~w Approved in ..a for Release 2011/08/09: CIA-RDP09T00207R001000020053-5
 Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/08/09: CIA-RDP09T00207R001000020053-5
that it does not condone within its own borders. Furthermore,
it's increasingly questionable whether the practical benefits
have been worth all the bending of democratic principle.
Whatever the benefits, there have been major setbacks,
from Chile to the Bay of Pigs to Indochina. Worse, the activities
have further damaged the nation's credibility and its reputation
for principled democracy. How can any nation deal with us
without fearing that behind its back we are applying our double
standard? The question is raised at a time when international
cooperation was never more imperative, when the world's economic
and political stability depends in great measure on how well
nations can trust each other. Against that, we think, the
supposed needs to subvert foreign governments is small indeed.
President Ford has invited Congress to play a larger
role in overseeing activities of the CIA. That is the least
that can be done. The subject of dirty tricks by American
intelligence needs a thorough reassessment by the Executive
Branch, by Congress and by the public.
?07J.S
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/08/09: CIA-RDP09T00207R001000020053-5