MORRIE SAYS HE'S RIGHT ABOUT WIELAND

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP75-00149R000600040146-4
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: November 11, 2016
• Document Release Date: December 15, 1998
• Sequence Number: 146
• Publication Date: June 30, 1965
• Content Type: NSPR

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CPYRGHT
Morrie Says He's Right About Wieland
By Morrie Ryskind
rea er a totany impres-
sion: he would think t h a t
"once again a devoted public
servant had been pilloried by
some self-righteous vigilantes,
but had happily emerged vic-
torious against the w i t c h-
hunters. And, in xebuttal, I
quoted some of the previous
testimony and the commit-
tee's own evaluatign of Wie-
land, made in the 1962 report
and included in the current
one.
The Los Angeles Times, in
running my piece, inserted a
note signed by the editor;.
which hinted at my own lack
of objectivity in the matter:
I had quoted from previous
hearings held in 1962,' where-
as the new report. covered
the later hearings of 1963,
1964 and 1965.
Now that clearly implies-
or I don't understand English,
at all-that the newer testi-
inony,refutes any doubts that
m;jy have arisen from the pre-
vious hearings and that I was
unfair in bringing up. the lat-
ter at all.
But, as. a matter of simple
intelligibility, I admit it is im-
possible to make head or tail
out of the new stuff without
y a,s co um a
the Associated Press of high-
ly questionable omission i
its summation of the hearing
on the William Wieland case
just; released by the Senate
Committee on the Judiciary
It reported that Wieland, hea
of the State Department's Of
f ice of Caribbean Affairs whe
Castro rose to power (an
charged with being an activ
apologist for Fidel), "has bee
fully cleared and his securit
case closed."
And it went on--quotin
the testimony of a State Do
partment offical-"the deci
Sion to close the case wa
made in concurrence with th
Justice Department, the FBI
a special personnel advisor,
board and the then Attorne
General, Robert F. Kennedy.
All of which appeared locall
under the headline, "Wielan
Fully Cleared for Judgmen
of Castro."
I wrote - and now re
peat-that such a selectiv,
presentation gave the'averag
FOIAb3b
rererring. to e o , 1:0 will"
it alludes often. This is not at
brand new book, with a com- 4
pletely different plot and cast ~
of characters: this is just an-
other chapter in the. m a i n
story.
So I read both reports care-
fully, and I cannot find one
cotton-pickin' sentence in the
new material that lessens the
damaging evidence offered by
five-count 'em, five-former
ambassadors against Wieland;
or anything to r e f u t e the
testimony of intelligence offi-
cers that he substituted his
own judgment of Castt"0 '?odisregard of FBI `CIA and
G-2 reports, all oich}t
had access to, linking Fidel j
with communism. If I'm!
proved wrong on this, I
promise to eat the offending.?
column at high noon in the J1
office of either the AP or the
L.A. Times. Come one, come,
all.
The new report does offer,
on the other hand, at least
one more instance where Wie-
land's testimony was of ques-
tionable accuracy. For the
rest, it is simply a 'matter of
State employes evading com
mittee questioning about how
come Wieland is doing all
right while Otto.Otepka, who
was first asked to evaluate
the Wieland file and then to
forget it-which he didn't-
is in the doghouse.
Fully cleared, indeed! State
may have cleared Wieland for
State-but hardly for the am-
? bassadors and the intelligence
officers.
Well, I've faulted tl)e AP;
the Los Angeles Times has
faulted me; and I in turn
fault the Times for not stick-,!
itlg to the nub of the issue.
Somebody's wrong. The. jury !
must decide.
I suggest you write the
Committee on the Judiciary,
3234 New Senate Office Build-
Washington, D. C., for
ing,
copies of both the 1962 and,
Sanitized - Appr ved For Release : CIA- [