WHY LBJ CHOSE HELMS TO RUN THE CIA

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP75-00001R000100110063-6
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 15, 2016
• Document Release Date: November 14, 2003
• Sequence Number: 63
• Publication Date: July 4, 1966
• Content Type: NSPR

Approved For Release 2003/12/02 : CIA-RDP75-00001 R0001
U, S. NEWS AND
WORLD 1ZEPOIZT
o
JUL 4 1966
WHYLBJ CHOS_E,.HELM. TO. RUN,THE. CIA...-
In a business which. makes anonymity
a virtue, Richard McGarrah Helms, the
new Director of the Central Intelligence
Agency, has the dual advantage of being
not widely known outside the CIA and
widely known within it as a tough pro.
This was at least part of the answer
to questions which followed his appoint-
ment to succeed Vice Adm. William F.
Raborn, Jr., in the $35,000-a-year in-
tclligence job. Among questions were:
Why did Mr. Helms get the job? Will
his appointment help silence Senate
critics who feel that CIA operations
should be under closer surveillance?
Here's the way one highly placed
Washington source appraises the new
Director-and answers the questions:
"The President wanted someone really
accepted by the professionals in State,
Defense and by important Senators.
That's Helms. The President also wanted
to prove there was no need for Senate
committees to peer over the shoulders of a
CIA chief who wasn't quite sure of what
was going on in his own agency. CIA peo-
ple are clannish, resent outsiders. It's dif-
ficult for any outsider to know what's
really going on in the CIA. Now the
President has cut off this Senate com-
plaint."
There was speculation in some circles
that one aim of the appointment of Mr.
Helms was to attempt to placate Senator.
.ti.
0
-USN&wR Photo
Mr. Helms. His appointment was expect.
ed to please Government professionals.
J. W. Fulbright, chairman of the Senate
Foreign Relations Committee. Mr. Ful-
bright has been pressing to have his Com-
mittee represented in the Senate watchdog
group which is briefed on CIA activities,
Those activities, which extend from
worldwide intelligence gathering to
cloak-and-dagger operations, have caused
bitter controversy and charges that CIA
should be held in closer check.
After hearing Mr. Helms pledge that
the CIA will devote itself to intelligence
work and leave policy making to others,
.the Senate Armed Services Committee
confirmed him on June 23.
What's he like? An associate describes
him this way-
"He's tough, dedicated, and he comes'
from the operational side. This is im-
portant. CIA in effect has two depart-
ments: intelligence evaluation and oper-
ations. It's the operational side that gets
in more trouble. Helms knows opera-
tions inside out. He's the first guy to
come up through the CIA. There will be
fewer mistakes. His creed? Never anoth-
er Pearl Harbor."
Mr. Helms is a native of Saint Da-
vids,' Pa., a 1935 graduate of Williams
College, a Phi Beta Kappa. He was a
United Press correspondent in his first
job after college, later was advertising
manager for "The Indianapolis Times."
After wartime service in the Office of
Strategic Services, Mr. Helms stayed in
the intelligence field and became Depu
ty Director of the CIA in 1947.
"All told," said Mr.'Helms, "I think
we have done a fine job over the years."
He declined to indicate what changes, if
any, he has in mind for the Agency.
But, given the nature of CIA's vast net-
work of activities,. changes could well
occur: without fanfare or announcement
Approved For Release 2003/12/02 : CIA-RDP75-00001 R000100110063-6