NOTE TO JMM FOR WEDNESDAY'S MORNING MEETING:

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP74B00415R000100070011-8
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 6
• Document Creation Date: December 12, 2016
• Document Release Date: March 12, 2002
• Sequence Number: 11
• Publication Date: April 4, 1972
• Content Type: NOTES

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4 April 1972
Note to JMM for Wednesday's morning meeting:
John Goldsmith called today about a New York Post editorial and
a Tom Ross article (copies attached) both of which indicate that John McCone
is expected to support the Cooper bill to "share intelligence information"
with the Congress. Goldsmith was interested in whether there was any
basis for these articles.
What concerns him most is the reference that since the Administration
is opposed to the bill and Dick Helms as part of the Administration could not
speak contrary to the Administration's position and the fact that former CIA
Director's tend to stick together suggests that support of the bill by McCone
could be construed as support from the intelligence community.
I told Goldsmith I could find no basis for these articles and could
only speculate that enterprising newsmen--seeing McCone's name on a
list of prospective favorable witnesses on the bill--have concluded he will
support it. Goldsmith is inclined to accept this explanation and said Ross'
article leads one to this conclusion also. (I have not seen Ross' piece as
of the writing of this note. )
STATINTL
I queried
on this with negative results, ,
STATINTL buf7 reels the Director would be interested in Goldsmith's call.
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 says that he was consulted and that the l'Emuereur in Brussels, headquarters tions on U. S. foreign policy.
COMMUNICATIONS
IT'T's public relations fiasco .
Despite the welter of testimony and
newspaper stories implying question-
able relations between International
Telephone & Telegraph Corp. 'and the
Justice Dept., the Central Intelligence
Agency, and the White House; there
has been no concrete evidence yet pro-
duced of any illegal conduct. Still, the
publicity has damaged ITT's public im-
age. Even sophisticated businessmen
and investors are talking of the dam-
age done to the reputation of business
in general, describing ITT's recent con-
duct as arrogant and conscienceless. At
midweek, the common stock hit a low
for the year.
ITT is caught up jh a full-fledged pub-
lic relations fiasco, with an unaccus-
tomed spotlight bdaming on the office
of Edward J. Gerrity, Jr., senior vice-
president for public relations. Gerrity,
48, a onetime Scranton (Pa.) news-
paperman, oversees ITT's far-flung cor-
porate' relations staff, including public
relations, advertising, and dealings
with government agencies. Dita Beard,
the lobbyist whose alleged memo about
the company's contributions to the San
Diego Convention Bureau started the
brouhaha, works for Gerrity.
The credibility. Gerrity's operation,
which has a staff of 51 worldwide, has
had a reputation for being effective but
heavy-handed.
In 1967, for instance, three Washing-
ton reporters covering the Federal
Communications Commission hearings
into ITT's proposed acquisition of
American Broadcasting' Co. testified
that ITT public relations staffers pres-
sured them for better treatment. Ei-
leen Shanahan, a New York Times re-
porter, said that Gerrity "badgered"
her, and she later claimed that ITT
asked a former employer about her
character. Now, shredded documents,
discrediting medical testimony, and ill-
advised memoranda have all combined
to make things look very bad for ITT.
When columnist Jack Anderson pub-
lished alleged ITT internal memos im-
plicating ITT in a scheme to block the
election of Chilean president Salvador
Allende, ITT public relations. issued a
statement describing as "without foun-
dation in fact" Anderson's claim that
the conglomerate "had participated in
planning any plots or coup against him
[Allende]."
Yet former CIA director John A.
McCone, a member of the ITT board of
directors since 1966 and a member of
its executive commi
firmed that moves
BUSINESS WIC
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I of ITT-Europe. In 1971, Europe ac-
counted for $3.1-billion of ITT's total
Corporate sales of $7.3-billion. Just last
week, the 11-man executive committee
of the ITT board flew to Brussels for a
company told the U. S. government, "If
you have a plan, we'll help with it." Far
from disavowing the authenticity of
the memos published by Anderson,
McCone says "those were staff." And
he adds that suggestions of "economic
repression" measures were "prudently,
properly, and firmly rejected by Gen-
een and his operating people." McCone
adds that ITT Chairman Harold S. Gen-
een and he are filled with "regret at
the way that the memos were written
and the way they have been read by
the press so that our true policy has
been distorted."
The Image. The way they are being in-
terpreted by the press is, of course, a
problem for globally ambitious ITT, as
well as for ",Ned" Gerrity. What he and
ITT's statuette: A manneken pis for
members of The Brussels Boys Club.
his staff think of it all is unknown, for
Gerrity is refusing interviews "on the
advice of our lawyers."
ITT is not a corporation known for
hiding its light. Each year several hun-
dred journalists, ranging from finan-
cial writers to police-beat hacks, gather
at Manhattan's St. Regis Roof for a
bash that ITT's public relations depart-
ment calls "The Brussels Boys Club."
The tone of the evening is set by a
replica of Brussels' famed manneken
pis, which directs a potable stream into
the glasses of thirsty guests. "Members"
get statuettes of the manneken.
r
~eithis w! 'Q~ii~el~~'C~e~t~IIh~~~nl'1 f~~s~~S ria~
special presentation by ITT-Europe.
Notably absent were Chairman Geneen
and Gerrity, both preoccupied with the
hearings in Washington.
Hanging over the meeting was the
big question: Will the publicity tar the
company with the image of a string-
pulling, cloak-and-dagger operation?
Foreign affairs. If ITT's image is hurt in
Europe, it could not come at a worse
time. The, now-famous deal it struck
with the Justice Dept., which allowed it
to retain Hartford Fire Insurance Co.,
set a limit of $100-million on the size of
a company it could acquire domes-
tically. In effect, this means that ITT
will have to look abroad-especially to
Europe-for large acquisitions, and in
Europe a favorable government atti-
tude is a prerequisite.
A former ITT manager overseas con-
cedes that marketing and politics go
hand in hand in Europe. There is in-
tense expense-account wooing of
postal, telephone, and telegraph offi-
cials. And the same tender, loving care
is devoted to selected French deputies
and Spanish deputados as ITT lavishes
on U. S. congressmen.
ITT also recruits influential allies.
The board of Bell Telephone Mfg. Co.,
ITT's big Antwerp unit, includes former
NATO Secretary-General Paul-Henri
Spaak, while the late UN Secretary
General Trygve Lie was a director of
ITT-Norway. Such tactics apparently
work: In the last 15 months, ITT has ac-
quired six companies in four countries.
Foreign troubles. In Latin American op-
erations, administered from New York,
the experience has not been so happy.
Foreign ownership of telecommuni-
cations systems there is out of style.
Peru and Ecuador nationalized ITT sub-
sidiaries in 1970, and even friendly
Brazil declined to renew the franchise
of ITT World Communications.
For all its overseas interests, ITT is
not averse to waving Old Glory. For ex-
ample, when Charles de Gaulle forbade
an ITT subsidiary to ship highly secret
radar installations to Vietnam, a for-
mer executive recalls, "We just slipped
the blueprints to the CIA."
Public relations is a management
problem, and the current image crisis
at ITT is a serious blow to Harold Gen-
een's reputation for tight controls. An
ITT public relations handout quotes a
magazine evaluation of Geneen as "the
greatest businessman," yet ITT's public
relations operations somehow slipped
from his grasp. Now, Geneen faces
4 sIM %rh he Senate For-
~{~ rhi ee, looking into
indeed been discussed at ITT. McCone eye 'fixed on 11 Boulevard de the influence of multinational corpora-
 Approved For Release 2Y@&O?P@4-RDP74B00415R000100070011-8
29 MARCH 1972
A Matter of Intelligence .
Diplomatic dealing and higher-level
statecraft often require attentive alert-
ness, but it has sometimes. happened
that even the most astute leaders out-
smarted themselves because they under-
estimated their own intelligence.
-Successive recent Presidents of the
United States, for instance, either dis-
counted or downgraded perceptive pro-
fessional intelligence estimates about
Vietnam-the dismal details are fully
recorded in some of the Pentagon
papers-and it is clearly lamentable
that some of the more prescient counsel
went no further than the files.
There are many such reasons why
the Central Intelligence Agency's anal-
yses of various foreign policy problems
should be more widely accessible, and
some of the organization's unhonored
prophets seem to agree. Former direc-
tor John A. McCone is apparently speak-
ing . for them as well as himself in
supporting a pending bill that would
provide key Congressional committees
with CIA estimates and even some
special surveys.
Since the American public is pay-
ing for this advice, its representatives
are fully entitled to more than a fleet-
ing look, and it is quite possible that far
better informed. Congressional opinion
would result-whatever the prevailing
view at the White House.
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 CHICAGO, IL'Approved l or Release 2002/05/06 : CIA-RDP74B00415R000100070011-8
SIIN-TIMES
0
M - 536,108
S - 709,123
MAR 2 a
Doitht onress can defy Nix~n
on c/A data
0
search division, Insisted the
administration's fear of leaks
was unfounded but, nonethe-
less, very real.
Scoville argued that the CIA
has been providing secret re-
ports to the Joint Committee
on Atomic Energy for more
- than 20 years without any leak
of security information. But
Cooper pointed out that "few
of the AEC issues are political-
ly contentious," while most of
the Foreign Relations Com+
mittee's are.
The bill, sponsored by Sen.
John S. Cooper (R-Ky.), is de-
signed to give key Senate and
House committees the type of
secret information that will al-
low them to judge whether the
President is following the best
intelligence advice.
Fulbright said his ex-
perience over the last 10 years
has;, been that the "reports of
,the CIA have proved more ac-
curate than any other esti-
mates."
Sen. Frank Church (D-Idaho)
suggested the State Depart-
ment opposed the bill because
it wanted to make "adminis-
tration stooges" of key mem-
bers of Congress.
Church joined Sen. Charles
H. Percy (R-Ill.) and the five
o t h e r committee members
present in supporting the bill.
But he contended that an even
information. You'll get a lot of more important issue was how
bulk but not much pour- to stop the CIA from "military
ishment." and paramilitary" operations
Cooper and Herbert Scoville, around the world. He said Con-
former head of the CIA's re gress had never received a
By Thomas B. Ross
Sun-Tirnes Bureau
WASHINGTON - Sen. J.
William Fulbright (D-Ark.)
and a former official of the
Central Intelligence Agency
expressed doubt Tuesday that
Congress would be able to pry
loose the CIA's secret in-
telligence reports from the Nix-
on administration.
Fulbright, chairman of the
Senate Foreign Relations Com-
mittee, opened the hearings
on a bill that would require the
CIA to give its estimates to
Congress as well as the White
House. After disclosing a State
Department letter declaring
the administration's opposition
to the bill, Fulbright indicated
lie was pessimistic about the
prospects of overriding a Pres-
idential veto.
The first witness, Chester
Cooper, a former CIA, White
House and State Department
'intelligence analyst, said he
doubted an OK would be forth-
coming until the adminis-
tration was convinced the
CIA's secrets would be pro-
tected by Congress.
"Frankly," he testified, "I
think the Executive does not
want you to have this informa-
tion. Unless the issue is faced
squarely, you are going to get
very sanitized, thin, harmless
satisfactory answer on the
s t a t u t o r y authority under
which those operations are
conducted.
Percy said the CIA had
proved more valuable to him
than any other source of secret
information but said he was
still appalled at how little sen-
ators are told about vital ques-
tions. Ile confessed to voting
wrong on the supersonic trans-
port and the antiballistic mis-
sile because of "fallacious" in-
formation.
The State Department letter
argued that the bill would un-
dermIne the secretary of
state's role as the President's
chief adviser on foreign policy,
violate the separation of pow-
ers between the executive and
levislative branch and risk vio-
lations of security. Fulhright
dismissed the department's re-
sponse as "about as weak a
letter as I've ever seen."
Scoville and Chester Cooper
agreed on the charge that
there- was no merit in any of
the department's arguments.
Cooper went so far as to sug-
gest that the administration
was making a "conscious ef-
fort to confuse."
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 Approved For Release 20069 W_: -I4BOO415ROOO1OOO7OO11-8
28 MARCH 1972
; S
S
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By Thomas B. Ross ports to the Foreign Relations
. Sun-Times Bureau Committee, the Senate Armed
WASHINGTON - John A. Services Committee, the House
F o
McCone, a former Central In- r e i g n Affairs Committee
and the House Armed Services
telligence Agency director, has Committee. It also would re-
endorsed a bill that would re- quire the'CIA to provide spe-
quire the CIA to turn over its cial information on request.
secret intelligence reports to Tuesday's witnesses will be
Congress. Chester Cooper, former in-
His endorsement indicates telligence analyst for the CIA
that the CIA has abandoned its and the White House, and Her-
long-standing opposition to the bert Scoville, former head of
circulation of its secrets out- the CIA's research division.
side the executive branch. Sec. of State William P. Rog-
'Aide? to the Senate Foreign ers, who has a s s e r t e 4 the
Relations. Committee reported right to testify for the CIA, has
Monday that McCone had com- been asked to appear after the
mitted himself to testifying in Easter recess to present the
favor of the bill during hear- administration's position. He
ings starting Tuesday. The may send a subordinate but
aides said the Nixon adminis- presumably not Ray Cline,
tration had registered its head of the department's bu-
opposition to the bill, thereby reau of intelligence and re-
preventing the current CIA search.
director, Richard M. Helms, a An ITT director'
presidential appointee, from Cline, a former deputy CIA
taking a position on It. O 'd i r e c to r for intelligence,
Indirect support recently ? told the committee
But McCone's testimony is that he favored the distribu-
sure to be interpreted as in- tion of CIA reports to Congress,
direct CIA support of the bill. provided the "sources and
Former directors of the agen- methods of intelligence gather-
cy, a loyal and tightly knit ing" were not jeopardized.
group, rarely, if ever, take a Cooper insists that his bill pro-
public position that the in- vides adequate protection.
cumbent director opposes. McCone is scheduled to testi-
The bill was introduced by fy next month. It may be the
Sen. John Sherman Cooper (R- first in a series of appearances
Ky.) last July, shortly after before the committee. As a di-
the New York Times, the rector of the International
Washington Post, the Sun- Telephone & Telegraph Corp.,
Times and othef newspapers he is a potential witness in the
published the Pentagon pa- committee's planned investi-
pers. The papers revealed that gation of the involvement of
the CIA consistently expressed major corporations in U.wt
a skeptical view of Vietnam foreign policy.
from the Truman to the Nixon According to memos re-
administrations. Cooper and leased by columnist Jack An-
other senators argued that derson, McCone was given re-
Congress might have blocked ports on ITT negotiations with
the deep U.S. Involvement if it the CIA to devise a plan for
had received the intelligence blocking the installation of Sal-
estimates. vador Allende, a Marxist, as
Regular reports President of Chile in 1970.
Cooper's bill would require
the CIA to make regular re-
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25X1
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