LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP74B00415R000300230070-3
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 16, 2016
• Document Release Date: January 4, 2005
• Sequence Number: 70
• Publication Date: July 5, 1972
• Content Type: NSPR

Approved For Release 2005/01/27: CIA-RDP74B00415 03Q0 30070-3
THE EVENING STAR DATEPAGE
Letters to the Editor
The CIA Responds
SIR: As you are aware, the Central Intelligence
Agency seldom responds to criticism of any sort. It
cannot remain silent, however, when a newspaper with
The Star's reputation prints an article alleging that this
agency supports the heroin traffic in Southeast Asia, I
refer to the column by Judith Randal in The, Star of 29
June.
So serious a charge should ? be made only on the
basis of the most convincing evidence. Miss Randal
states only that "reporters have been hearing for more
than a year" and then refers to an article in Harper's
magazine by a graduate student, Alfred W. McCoy,
Charges of this nature have been made previously
and each time have been most carefully investigated
and found to be unsubstantiated. The public record on
this subject is clear, There is, for instance, a report by
Roland Paul, investigator for the Senate Foreign Rela-
tions Committee, in the April 1971 issue of Foreign
Affairs, which states: ". due to the long association
with the CIA, the Meo tribesmen in Laos were shifting
from opium to rice and other crops."'
The Congressional Record of June 2, 1971, printed a
letter from John E. Ingersoll, director of the Bureau of
Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs, to Representative
Charles S. Gubser of California, which states: "Actual-
ly, CIA has for some time been this bureau's strongest
partner in identifying foreign sources and routes of
illegal trade in narcotics. Their help has included both
direct support in intelligence collection, a~ well as in
intelligence analysis and production, Liaison between
our two agencies is close and constant in matters of
mutual interest. Much of the progress we are now
making in identifying overseas narcotics traffic can, in
fact, be attributed to CIA cooperation."
Miss Randal's article is also in contrast to the two
articles by your staff writer, Miriam Ottenberg, on
June 18 and 19, 1972, in which she pointed out: "U.S.
narcotics agents are making a sizable dent in the
Southeast Asian dope traffic and-despite reports to
the contrary - America's Asian allies and the CIA are
helping them do it." And she quoted John Warner of the
Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs as saying,
"he had seen nothing of an evidentiary nature from Mr.
McCoy 'other than gossip, conjecture and old history'."
Narcotics addiction is one of this country's most
serious social problems. The Central Intelligence Agen-
cy is dedicated to eradicating this menace and, specifi-
cally, to interdicting the flow of narcotics entering this
country.
It is difficult to understand why a writer would
publish material tending to undermine confidence in this
effort without the most convincing proof. More than one
year ago, in an address before the American Society of
Newspaper Editors, Richard Helms, director of Central
Intelligence, stated: "There is the arrant nonsense, for
.example, that the Central Intelligence Agency is some-
how involved in the world drug traffic. We are not. As
fathers, we are as concerned about the lives of our
children and grandchildren as are all of you. As an
agency, in fact, we are heavily engaged in tracing the
foreign roots of the drug traffic for the Bureau of,
Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs. We hope we are help-
ing with a solution; we know we are not contributing to
the problem."
This statement remains valid today.
W. E. ,Colhy,~
Approved For Release 2005/01/27 : C~1~ ?0300230070-3