LETTER TO HONORABLE GEORGE H. MAHON FROM JOE L. EVINS, M. C.

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP71B00364R000100080089-2
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 12, 2016
• Document Release Date: June 13, 2002
• Sequence Number: 89
• Publication Date: February 23, 1968
• Content Type: LETTER

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JQE L. EVINS
FOURTH DISTRICT
TENNESSEE
I(Congress.q of the &niteb, tat 4 COMMITTEE ON SMALL BUSINESS
2 oufse of 3&epre entotibm
COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
CHAIRMAN:
23 February 1968
F E B 2 41968
APPNS. CMTE.
With very best wishes, 3: am
Sincerely your friend,
Honorable George H. Mahon, Chairman'
Committee on Appropriations
U. S.. House of Representatives
Washington, D. C.
My dear Mr. Chairman:
Sometime ago you suggested that I not criti-
cize the Central Intelligence Agency, and in deference
to you I am not placing the enclosed column from the
Nashville Banner of February 19 last in the Record.
However, I think this column is worthy of
thoughtful and careful consideration.
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 Approved For; Relga 2'02/08/01 CIA-RDP7'rg00364RM6"b080089=2
February
,U.S. Intelligence
Agency Needs 1 o
Overhauled
,Be NEW'YORK-North Korea's hijack-
711g of our intelligence Ship Puelllo, like
the Israel] bombing of our similar:
ship, the Liberty, during the' Egyptian
Henry J.
rV 4%
Ill for
'war, raised the question at to why,
with all we do in the intelligence field,
we're so constantly the victim of surprise,'
surprise, surprise..
The function of intelligence is to keep us
from being surprised. Incredibly, Washington
is spending at least 44 billion a year for in-:
-telligenca. What's wrong!
Castro surprised Washington at the Bay:
of Pigs, the Soviet's Cuban missile installa-i
tions were a surprise, the Berlin Wall was, a
Red attack on the Dominican Republic and the
Zanzibar take-over were surprises, and the
whole Vietnam war has been one endiess'snr
prise after another. Why?
On November 29, 1965, while we were being
told that all was well, Defense Secretary lloh
crt S. McNamara stated: "I must say I was
r surprised by the intensity and scale of these:
Viet. Cong attacks." Now, more than two
years later, Washington is admittedly still
surprised by the same uncxpcctcd Intensity
and capability in the attacks on Saigon and 20.
additional cities.
The Central Intelligence Agency's currant
budget (secret) is certainly around $13z bil-
lion a year, according to the official findings.
of the House Aimed Services Committee. The'
CIA alone is larger than the State Depart-
ment and spends sore than twice as much
money. Its Langley, Va., headquarters cost
518 million. About 10,000 people wails there
in intelligence. At least another 5,000 are scat.
toned throitilboll the world, burrowing cvcry-
vlier' for inlellig;enco. And this should make
Ih,' taxpayers wonder we'ar's haf,ps'nnd to the
CIA's official contentin is.
Ci.i. DEP5 Y DIREMIt L. K. White'.
testificu to the House Appropriations Commit-
tee in 1.3:16 that its $46 million building head-
quart.rs would "put things under one roof
and rave $600,000 a year. Well, now still an-
other CIA building ("No. 213") has arisen.
'chin] be scones at the Naval Gun Factory';
in so;llheast Washington at the cost of an-
'nnthr:: $10 million. And surprise, surprise, the
CIA row has branch offices in Denver, Detroit,
Houston, Miami, Minneapolis, New York,
Philadelphia, I'itisburgh, St. Louis, San Fran-
cisco, Seattle, etc., although the. CIA is sup-
posed to concern il;ielf with foreign intelligence
wherc?a,s'the U.S.A. Is the domain of the Fill..
The only blessing is that CIA Director Richard
Ileum, is a very able tnau, but, as Tiny '3'im.
said, "Thera-'s never bccn such a squish."
In addition, the. ceurpct ng :agaeacles are,
too it any and enormous for me to expect you
to believe the facts. Actually, there were re
centiv in Berlin alone. at bast 40 known U.S.:
InicHigence agencies and their, branches' --
competing.
't'he'CIA'vas founded to eliminate the dam>.
germis compartment.alizaLion and duplication.
But tine Pueblo, for example, wasn't operated
,by ilia CIA entirely.-It was controlled by the
.hush-hush` National Security: Agency, a sep-
arate, immense group that grows and grows
inside still another gigantic building In.WWash
inglot's suburbs..
* * *.
THIS IS A SPRAWLING, secret adjunct of
the (1.5. Army and Navy and both the NSA
and CIA spend much tune,, wondering what
each other is doing. Beyond this MTr. McNa~..
mara somehow built an additional large in-:
tellig nee .stn ucture within his own office that'
reported only to him and competed behind
the scenes in Vietnam and elsewhere with the
NSA and CIA alike. This, of course, is' one
of Ll' e first things incoming Defenso . Secre-
lary Clark Clifford should abandon. '
Wa simply e mwt afford, nor should we
]nit up with the surprises, surprises, surprises
that result:. It Is absolutely imperative Oct con-
dense the fog in Washington's cockoo-hand in
telligence cloud, Into an efficient rain. The.
overl;ippiag and mutually jealous agencies
arc loaded with empire builders. In the field
where the country's unsung heroes daily risk',
their lives in espionage they are terribly
suafr,cd by the tremendous bureaucracy here
at home. And many whorit I know well are
likewise disgusted by the special MCNamura
;agenIs who materialize majestically like Slier-
loCk Il(dairs "1341W Stlent irregulars" when-
ever mid drones het-kin and Ni1r. McNamara
t.tl. u,: hl. Itu?re seas to job to he dune.
'1'lu? hmwr it.. hula. 11n11 Ibi? Il;uq;cr t;rr:11.
WA-.l ii-: lou "nr,al raulla? ?:ip I.,I-.llhm.,, ill'.
rlrr: Lip;iinr! ruin ;,'h11111a1q: of II ,' '.irk ittl'II,
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