Wash Post article

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP64B00346R000400090007-6
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 15, 2016
• Document Release Date: September 25, 2003
• Sequence Number: 7
• Publication Date: October 23, 1961
• Content Type: NSPR

Approved, For Release 2003/10/10 : CIA-RDP64B00346R000400090007-6
A 10 Monday, October 23,1961 THE WASHINGTON;IOST
MeConeSelection Criticized Some
By Chalmers M. Roberts mend Mr. McCone as director be opposed had no chance to However, as
state Reporter you know, the to oversee CIA's major ven-
SOMETIME this week John News Analysis of the CIA." ? mount a counter-offensive National Academy of Sci- tures.
A. McCone will return to But Sen. M.) Clinton
P. Ander- once they realized he was ences has issued a report this The McCone backers con-
Washington, ready to b
son (DN. M.) McCone about to tap McCone Th
telligence c
gi
e
n
ommunity wh
ere year completely ditiid
o.scounng ser him a man who "has a
r process of -taking ;control deals with the CIA called the a very able, conscientious was only time enough for a such danger." McCone also toughness" and who
the "can
of the Central ` S p u b 1 i c servant," adding: leak to the
press half a day accused the scientists of be- make up his own mind,"
in t e Cent ce : 'appointment "outrageous." A "Though we did not always before the appointment. ing taken in" by Soviet prop- though they say he is "apt to
f number of scientists-in-Gov- see eye to eye; he stuck to his Killian's successor as press- a
Agency. His , ur--4. - - .
anda t
g
h
have bet nationsthitid
ere e
u
b enusasc enorsers, it is
en repors son was speaking of the years
eri has
adviser, George Kistiakowsky would ge h
that same CIA
om
ca
s
Is A
forme Robep ens Lovett,
employes were when McCone was President also is reported to be un- This row brought recurrent thereporte
causemur threatenin
g M&-.-A a ,.. g to resign and a Eisenhower 's Ch _ r t ~r
rnl --
b
.
get the he m10itt, 1rfess a ors triea to State Department official on
e o others are at least the Atomic Energy Commis- science adviser, Jerome Wies- get t lo
tering, to put in a skeptical mood toda sion and the Senator was her. Such feelings appear profess fired. whom the President
from
it mildly .on y g to He was out of the U. S. last time to time calls for advice.
some sectors But opposition so public, far on-the has -re been cord, Chairman of the Joint Con- reflect views of a number of week, on a CIA look-see, and Another who played a role
of the New gressional Atomic Commit- scientists and others who could not be asked directl in the a
Frontier. minute. Sen. Eugene J. Mc- tee. have become involved in the y ppoHe said was Sen.
Anderson. He said he was
Roberts Carthy (D=Minn.), commented Well informed persons in- nuclear test ban issue Th S E N ANDERSON h
One mein-
y w 0
e
. , ber of - the Wa the other day that "thr:re is sist that James R. Killian, have never forgiven McCone chaired the confirmed hear- consulted by the President in
$hingtan in,nothing particular to recom- who now heads the Massa- for what he did during the ing for McCone's 1958 AEC advance of the appointment
chusetts Institute of Tech- 1956 presidential campaign. appointment, then absolved to and get t did
him (McCone) I stake
nology, was so out of sorts After Adlai Stevenson had McCone by saying at the ) of take
view
over the appointment that come out for a test ban, 10 hearing that "Mr. McCone Cone is Anderson's
"he is persuaded
he threatened to resign as scientists at the California took them pretty strongly to strongly that the Russians
Chairman of President Ken- Institute of Technology is- task and there ware sug- are not up to any good, that
nedy's Foreign Intelligence sued a statement of support. gestions, which I understand they are deceiving us. He be-
Advisory Board. When asked, McCone, then ?a Cal Tech he did not make, that they lieves they were cheating on
Killian said there is "abso- trustee, was outraged. He all be fired." McCone. added the test ban though I don't.
lutely nothing to it." He did contended the scientists, that "there was no scientist McCone is not a neutral; he
say that the board was not among them-Harrison Brown fired from Cal Tech on ad- is against the Russians."
asked to pass on the nomina- and Thomas Lauritsen, were vice or recommendation from
tion. Other sources say that approving a unilateral stop- me, sir." THIS hard-line approach
he and Clark Clifford, Wash- page of tests by the United McCone said that he felt by McCone is no secret. Im-
ington attorney and a mem- States: the scientists had "used their mediately on taking Oyer the
her of the group, did give He wrote a letter to Laurit- position as professors of dis- AEC chairmanship, he did
their endorsement. sen saying the scientists' tinction at the California In- his best to persuade Secre-
statement was "obviously de. PRESIDENT Kennedy kept signed to create fear in the express of Technology themselves leon a a nct to par- Dulles tart' of not to State agree John Foster
to atest
his choice so secret until al- minds of the uninformed that titular technical matter, but, ban moratorium, but without
most the point of announce- radioactive fallout from H to inject themselves into a success. He later fell in line
ment that those he knew to. bomb tests endangers life. Political discussion." He said publicly with the test an
coffee with an obscure revo-
lutionary at a cafe in Geneva,
a fellow known as V. I. Lenin.
Committee, which will con-
duct the hearing and some
of whose members control
the CIA's secret budget, will
raise any real objections.
Despite this, the McCone
appointment can properly be
called the most controversial
of any yet made by President
Kennedy to post of. major
importance. No one doubts
McCone's long record of ac-
complishment in both public
service and private industry.
But many Administration of-
ficials will be watching to see
all along the line. But they whether he is indeed the man
point out that, as one put it, to run the CIA.
"there will be so many .----
checks and balances" on his
operation of the CIA that his
opponents need not worry.
There will be a scientific
board, through which Mc-
Cone's critics will have ac-
cess to the President, and
there also is a n e w I y
strengthened, high-level in-
Approved For Release 2003/10/10: CIA-RDP64B00346R004Ud6691 committee
they had "an abosolute right" treaty talks, but it was evi-
to do that "but not using the dent he?never really had his
university as a platform for heart in it.
so doing, in my opinion. Some of McCone's oppon-
In reply to Anderson's ques- ents, including some within
tions, McCone said he felt the Washington intelligence
that two other other scient- community who obviously do
ists, equally vocal on Mc- . not want to be identified,
Cone's side of the test ban consider this attitude a fault
issue-Edward Teller and the in a CIA boss-Not that he is
late Ernest O. Lawrence- "against the Russians," but
had spoken as individuals. that he is so dogmatic about
McCone did in the end Agree, it that they think it could
that the 10 had signed' the color his intelligence report
statement as individuals to the 'President.
rather than as Cal Tech pro- McCone himself no doubt
fessors. would flatly deny any such
THE NUB of all this is thing.
that at least an important About two and a half years
sector of the scientific com- ago, in an interview with an
munity felt McCone was in. Associated Press reporter,
fringing, on academic free- McCone recalled that he had
dom and at least threatening been Air Force Undersecre-
to have the 10 at Cal Tech tary in the Truman Admin-
fired for their views. istration. "In my Air Force
Hence, it is argued by Mc- days," he said, "I was devoted
Cone's opponents, he is not a to the concept of massive re-
man with an open mind,, with taliation and I still am."
the kind of view toward free This was the doctrine so
inquiry and free expression strongly fought by Gen. Max-
required to head the Na- well Taylor, now President
tion's chief intelligence body. Kennedy's military adviser,
The CIA, they say, in us t who is among those who are
consider even the most seem- unenthusiastic about the Mc-
ingly stater-brained idea and Cone appointment.
get to know even the in o s t McCone will go to work,
obscure personalities. It is first alongside Dulles and
t
i
ou
go
ng CIA chief Allen Dul- then succeeding him in mid-
les himself, some recall, who November," undgr a -recess
likes to tell of his own goof: appointment from the Pres.
the tiie many years ago he ident. He will come up for
went off to play tennis in- S e n a t e confirmation next
stead of accepting a sugges- January. But it is unlikely
tion that he have a cup of - that the Armed Services
WHILE THOSE close to
the President who favored
the appointment are aware of
these criticisms, one of Mr.
Kenedy's intimate advisers
had never heard of the Cal
Tech affair until this report-
er asked him about it.
This official and o t h e r s
close to President Kennedy
privately acknowledge t h a t