LETTER TO THE HONORABLE L. MENDEL RIVERS FROM RICHARD HELMS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP79-00632A000100080004-8
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: C
• Document Page Count: 16
• Document Creation Date: December 14, 2016
• Document Release Date: November 4, 2002
• Sequence Number: 4
• Publication Date: September 25, 1967
• Content Type: LETTER

 CHARLES BARTLETT
moment was ripe for a quiet
uprising against supervisors
all over the government.
The extent of this insur-
gence is marked by the Ervin
bill's provisions that:
An employe reprimanded
for even such minor infrac-
tions as tardiness has a right
to insist upon counsel; ag-
grieved applicants for jobs as
well as employes are empow-
ered to file suit in District
Court whether or not available
administrative remedies have
been exhausted; a new Board
on Employes' Rights is
established to receive com-
plaints and respond as discre-
tion dictates.
A
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'
aecur-ty uanger Seen in
The Ervin bill to protect the
privacy of government em-
ployes, which has just rolled
through the Senate, has a
Jeffersonian thrust that makes
it awkward for critics to point
up its Frankenstinian aspects.
The Senate's 79-to-4 vote for
the measure is a full pendu-
lum swing away from the
Senate's. posture of 12 years
ago. when the rights of the
individual in government were
being weighed lightly against
the risk that he might be a
Communist.
The concern of Senator Sam
Ervin of North Carolina for
the privacy and other rights of
the federal workers has led
him to push through the
Senate a bill that can leave
the managers of 3 million
government employes in an
excessively defensive position
and the doors to employment
dangerously open in areas
where security is a considera-
tion.
One of the Senate's liveliest
legal minds, Ervin was at-
tracted to his crusade by a
fear that the Civil Service
Commission was moving
toward the establishment of a
quota system for the employ-
ment of Negroes.
As he probed into the com-
plaints arising from the CSC's
insistence upon racial identifi-
cation (since rescinded), he
uncovered other causes of
indignation. Some resented
pressures to buy political
banquet tickets or saving
bonds; some disliked the.
disclosure of holdings required
under a 1965 directive on
government ethics; many
reported unhappiness . at
special tests required for
acceptance by the CIA and
National Security Agency.
His bill assumed the shape
of a collection of specific
responses to these grievances
and its momentum was as-
sured.. by the. federal employ_e..
unions, who perceived that the
DD/S
Initially the bill was so
stiffly drafted that a supervi-
sor who asked an employe
where he was born could be
subject to criminal penalties.
The latter were softened by
the Senate Judiciary Commit-
tee but the consequence of
Ervin's bill, in the judgment
of the Civil Service Commis-
sion, will still be to make the
government less efficient
because supervisors will be
more defensive.
Ervin became embroiled
with the CIA as he developed
his bill and the most damag-
ing aspects of it are the open-
ings that it pries in the. securi-
ty cover over intelligence,
code-breaking, and other
classified activities.
The inducements of money,
sex and ideology (preponder-
antly the former) have per-
suaded 11 Americans in
sensitive government opera-.
tions to cooperate with the
Communists in recent years.
Indeed Gen. Serov of Soviet
intelligence was reported by
Oleg Penkovsky to have told
his trainees in 1962 that the
economic pressures in the
capitalist countries render
many people ready to run
risks "to collaborate with us."
In the. last two years Com-
munist :agents abroad made
more than 600 contacts with
U.S. officials that could be
plainly characterized as
attempts to establish a basis
for collaboration. One-third of
these were directed at CIA
personnel.
The damage done by past
penetrations and the evidence
that they persist as a threat
are more compelling ingredi-
ents of the national interest
than Ervin's indignation over
the methods of screening
applicants for employment.
The North Carolinian who
will handle the bill in the
House, Chairman David
Henderson of the Post Office
and Civil Service Committee,
is not fired by Ervin's sense of
crusade. He is expected to
produce a more balanced
measure if he can contend
with the weight of the unions.
? 1967
,NOTES
We sympathize with the
President's grandson. It looks
as though he is going to be one
of those people who have to go
through life with their names
parted in the middle as P.
Lyndon Nugent.
The big lie has been on
display at the United Nations.
Also several that were some-
what smaller, but still nothing
for an ambitious liar to be
ashamed of.
The word from the Presi-
dent's chief economic adviser
is that income taxes must be
raised to safeguard prosperi-
ty. No true patriot will shrink
from going broke to safeguard
prosperity.
Ronald Reagan's liability is
said to be insufficient experi-
ence. On the other hand,
Richard Nixon's liability is too
much experience.
-BILL VAUGHAN.
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21 September 1967
Further to our conversation I have one
suggestion for improvement of this letter.
On page 4 immediately after the two
paragraphs dealing with psychological and polygraph testing
or on page 5 after our discussion of Section 6 I think we should
make the point that, in addition to the heavy burden placed upon
the "designee" to pass on several thousand cases each year,
there is no known criteria upon which this determination could
be based. For example, who would have known that Martin
and Mitchell, Johnson, Mintkenbaugh, Scarbeck, or any of the
others involved in the last ten espionage cases should have
been given a polygraph or psychological test? The point is
that if you had reason to think they should have been tested,
you would have turned them down anyway.
I haven't had time to concoct any lan-
guage, but perhaps you, Bob Bannerman, and Howard Osborn
could draft something for my consideration if you agree that
we might make a little more of this particular point.
/n,' T". K. ire
Attachment
cc: D/S
General Counsel
P. S. One other point which we might consider (I am not sure
we should include it) is that only a very small percentage of
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applicants rejected are suspected of having Communist lean-
ings, and only a slightly larger percentage are suspected of
being security risks at the time of their application. Never -
thelese, it is extremely important that to the best of our ability
they be suitable in all respects to minimize the chances of their
ever becoming a security risk.
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The. Washington, Daily News, Thursday, August 24,,,1967
Yen Lie
to tell .
they flatly refused.
CRA tYEIL lines
." '.. 9 to 4:30
,
,
By JOHN
Here are four'-shocking exam-: mm Their supervisor said he
,pies of unwarranted 'privacy didn't know anything about.; that
invasions. by Government mves memo and since hit. ipvestiga-
tigators, tors weren't l a w y e r s th(iy.
couldn't rule, on the relevance of
They wet e cited by Gegrgc 13 the questions,they asked.
l ),r the
Autry; chid counse
-Rights V "Thehere was. the IRS ern
ale Sub constitutional-Rights to nvestigated for a
Sub - committee, in an address to ye with being i Service whose . tale this week ' to the National Asso- 7
ciation of Internal Revenue Em- neighbors were asked how he
toes in convention in Los An- treated his adopted children.
geles Neither the neighbors nor the
From the Sub - committee children knew they were adopt-
files, Mr. Autry ed_;___,
reported:
"An engineer applying for a r/ "On the basis of another
job with a private airline com employe's contention 'that he
em Flo e
pany, was subjected to an ex- waant in the Defense a civil sere- -
Department
view e by Air Force investigation and inter- investigators was locked in a room and inter:
iew
because the company had a rogated for hours by investiga-
defense' contract. They asked tors, refused the presence, and
him, a married man, such ques- advice of his supervisor or a
thins as "Have you ever had 'lawyer. Ile was told to write
extra-marital relations? Have and sign a statement describing
you ever lied -about your golf his personal life and habits in
score? Do you and your wife great detail. Then he was pres-
have an agreement that both of. sured to take a lie detector test.
you, can. engage. in extra-marital When he demanded to know the
activitaes?' . reasons for the investigation and
the charges, he was told there
"There _is . a dlefensg Depart- were none.. Yet, he was immedi?
ment memorandum . s e t;i n g? ately removed from his top - (se-.
guidelines for,. security investiga cret job and assigned to a non -
tions? sensitive personnel job where he
"But when he asked the mves- has remained for three months,
tigators what possible relevance despite Sub - committee de,
.such questions had to a security
determine".'ion under the guide- (Continued on Page 20)
(Continued from Page 2)
mands to the Army and the Civ-
il Service Commission that the
matter be cleared up.
"One employe was inver,ti at
ed for pilfering candy machines.
In the process of the investiga-
lion, he was asked whether he
knew his wife was running
around with another man"
The growing air of unhappi-
ness which engulfs Congression-
al efforts to work out 'a pay Lill
acceptable to the President (and
responsive to the needs of
.underpaid Federal employees)
emerged clearly the other day
in -a statement by the very ex-
cellent Rep. Morris Udall (D.,
A-viz.).
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9-547,381
S-701,460
SEP 181967
CHARLES .BARTLETV
y7-, wishe ? Uprisings
Bureaucracy WASHINGTON-The Ervin bill to protect the privacy of
government employes, which has just rolled through ,the Sen-
ate, has a Jeffersonian thrust which makes it awkward for
critics to point up its Frankenstinian aspects.
The Senate's 79-to-4 vote for the measure is a full pendu-
lurn swing away from the Senate's posture of 12 years ago
when the rights of the individual in government were being
weighed lightly against the'risk that he might be a Comilla-
The. concern of Sen. Sam J. Ervin Jr., (D-,
N.C.) for the privacy and other rights of the
federal worker has led him to push through
the Senate a bill that can leave the mana-
gers of 3,000,000 government employes in,
an excessively defensive position and the,
doors to employment dangerously open in,
areas where security is a consideration.
One of the Senate's liveliest legal minds,
Ervin was-attracted to his crusade by a fear
that the Civil Service Commission was
ERVIN BECAME EMBROILED with the CIA as he de-
veloped his bill and the most damaging aspects of it are the
Fopenings which it pries in the security cover over intelligence,
code-breaking and other classified activities,
The inducements of money, sex and ideology (preponder-
ntly the former) have persuaded H_ Americans in sensitive
government operations to co-operate with the Communists
in recent years. Indeed Gen. Serov of Soviet intelligence was
,reported by Oleg Penkovsky to have told his trainees in 1962
that the economic pressures in 'the capitalist -countries. render
Over the last, two years Communist agents abroad- made
more than 600 contacts with American officials that could.
'be, plainly characterized as attempts to establish a basis for
..collaboration. -
The damage done by past penetrations and the evidence
that they persist as a threat are more. compelling ingredients
'of. the national interest than Ervin's indignation over the
methods of screening applications for employment.
ERVIN
moving toward the establishment of a quo-
ta system for the employment of Negroes.
AS HE PROBED' into the complaints arising from the
CSC's insistence upon racial identification (since rescinded),
he uncovered other causes of. indignation. Some resented,
pressures to buy political banquet tickets or savings bonds;,
some disliked the disclosure of holdings required under a
1965 directive, on government ethics; many reported unhap
piness at special tests required for acceptance by the Central
Intelligence Agency and National Security Agency.
His bill assumed the shape of-a collection of specific re-
sponses to these grievances and its momentum was assured,,'
by the federal employe unions, who perceived that the mo
nlent was ripe for a quiet uprising against supervisors all
over the government.
The extent of this insurgence is marked by the?Etvin bill's'
provisions that: an employe reprimanded for even such mi-.,
nor infractions as tardiness has a right to insist upon counsel;
aggrieved applicants for jobs as well as employes, are em-
to file suit in district court whether or not available;
powered
administrative remedies have been exhausted; a new- board!
of employes' rights is established to receive complaints -and t
respond as discretion dictates.
Initially, the bill was so stiffly drafted that a supervisor,
who asked an employe where he was born could be subject
to criminal penalties. The latter were softened by the Sengte:
Judiciary Committee but the consequence of Ervin's bill, in.,
the judgment. of the Civil Service Commission will still be:
to make the government less- efficient because supervisors.
will be more defensive.
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NEWS ~t ~ Sir ~~tr
0
V
1967
He May Win .
WASHINGTON Sen. Sam And although it has a 53 co 's "Bill of Rights"
doer little more than skim the It sounds silly, but all the
Ervvin in Jr Jr..,, whose d u a 1 sponsors, the Ervin bill is in Ervin's
questions were actually in-
personality makes him one of trouble in the Senate beto the top off such silliness. The bill gquesti on one or another
our most fascinating public CIA and NSA opposition to the would make it somewhat peluded 'i
ersonnel questionnaire.
figures, is now playing a role anti-test provisions. The bill harder for the supersecret
which seems unlikely for was postponed before the agencies to engage in some of Ervin's bill would preclude
him. Labor Day holiday when the the more dubious forms of such questioning except in
agencies circulated objections cases approved by the top
? : g
If Ervin were only the - contained in a "top secret" testing. bosses of the intelligence
C I a g h o r n a n t i- N e g r o 10-page letter - a m o n g The evidence seems to be agencies.
"constitutional expert" that senators. that thousands of workers, as
he often seems to be, it would d th cret attack many as 5,000 a year in both The outcome of the fight
A re wired to over his bill may not be
e
q
S
Senator .m 9
W cj4
Roy Parker Jr., Washington Correspondent,
The News and Observer
,are
CIA and N
be a s s i n g Ervin sai e s
h hill was "+un. d ;im er8onality tests dramatic. There undoubtedly
e a
k
strange that he
has become the
major nemesis
of a sacrosanct
gence Agency-
But because of
t h e duality of
on is ta
e
precedented" in his 13 years should be some sort of com-
ofobserving Congress in ac, and submit to lie detectors '. promise worked out in the
. tion from the inside. Even each year. This figure would siderooms of the congressional
those who engineered the , indicate that many thousands . process. Face will be saved on
postponement agreed with the whose tests become f i 1 a both sides, and CIA will pro
observation. records of the secret agencies bably get essentially what it
------- -.,.4....17? w.nrir for the
But, u+cii, ? , agencies.
always been unprecedented. An Ervin victory over the
Its multi-hundred m i 11 i o n Granting the need for such CIA would, to many, con-
: ,.11,... 1- A-+ ;e hirlrlPn and testing for many of its 1 stitute a rare breath of fresh
his nature, it Parker
seems com-
pletely in character t h a t
the North Carolinian is now in
the role of harrier of CIA.
There is even an o u t s i d e
chance that he may win his
battle to crack-ever so slight-
ly - the secrecy which has
kept that agency from public
scrutiny for a generation.
spot about civil rights for
some folks, he has a tenacious
bent when it comes to such
rights for others. His bill to
provide a "Bill of Rights" for
the army of federal govern-
' m Io es is one of his But like any other giant testing, Ervin asked:
v
simple. He is aiming , at a
species of humbug, not trying
to bring down the nation.',
His best tactic might be to
try to laugh his bill across.
The quote about secretaries
hinted at a good store of
material, but that would be
against his basic nature. And
in this mordantly s 111 y
business it would probably be
doomed to failure anyway.
III"& 7P
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men e p
better efforts, in that direc- enterprise, CIA also has a "Do they know how to
tion. large element of humbug, a evaluate a secretary for
And it is this bill which has component of silliness. employment without "asking
' brought him up against the Because of the necessity for her how her bowels are, if she
CIA, and its even more secrecy, it is more likely that has diarrhea, if she loved her
supersecret compatriot, the the agency never has to ac- mother, if she goes to church
National Security Agency of count for the humbug and the every week, if she believes in
the Defense Department. The ' silliness. God, if she believes in the se,
Ervin bill would make it ? cond coming of Christ, if her
harder for closed-door and lie sex life is satisfactory, if she
detector tests to employes and has to urinate more often than
prospective employes. other people, what she dreams
. , about,- and other extraneous
never debated in Congress. Its
employes are exempt from
many of the normal regula-
tions of civil servants. Its
bosses are never called on the
public carpet, even when it
has made colossal blunders.
And much of this is no doubt
necessary. No one would deny
that the CIA has brave men
working at a dirty business. If
their story is ever told,
Americans will no doubt thrill
l
y
to their exploits and justifab
count them heroes in a
dangerous age.
operatives, Ervin insists that air; a win for goodness over a
the business is overdone when sordiness -which may be in-
it becomes a general policy evitable In our society, but
applied even to the hundreds which nevertheless rankles
.of clerical and service person- men of altruistic nature.
nel who back up the Ervin's personality adds
operatives. credence to the symbolism.
The Morganton senator, who Despite his love of corny
masks an essential - mountain humor, the senator
bashfulness behind a penchant is essentially an earnest man..
for purple rhetoric in debate, He seeks to fight all his bat-
may have overdone it ties on planes whch are so
somewhat in the following lofty they often seem out of
floor remarks, but you get the ,, the world.
idea. In this case, what he ac-
1 Speaking of CIA personnel tually is trying to do is rather
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Cill.IISTIAN SCp r
e
LnOMITOR
I.Je a:.ai~e fire
y Lyn Shepard
Staff correspondent of
The Christian Science Monitor
These members held with the majority
that to enlarge the "watchdog" group might
endanger national security, the greater like-
lihood of a "weak link." ,
But today these three members have
joined the 23 CIA critics - all of whom re-
main in the Senate. Retiring liberals like
Paul H. Douglas, Ross Bass, and Maurine B.
Neuberger weren't included in their num-
ber.
Roll call averted
On the other hand, some strong CIA sup-
porters like A. Willis Robertson and Leverett
Saltonstall have left- the Senate. Their suc-
cessors may not share their views.
The key issue in the Ervin bill-whether
or not to allow the CIA and NSA a blanket
exemption-didn't come to a vote. A compro
n mise averted a roll call. Had a vote been
recorded, Senator Ervin would probably
have lost it. Yet it would have reflected a
marked falloff from the backing accorded
the CIA little more than a year ago.
What has prompted the shift of sympathy?
Certainly one factor is the disclosure of wide-
spread CIA use of foundations to gain in-
formation - through international student,
labor, and cultural groups.
Probably more important, the CIA has
irked some members by sharing details of
its operations with the "watchdog" grpup
while refusing to pass any of it on to other
members.
One senator obviously miffed by this prac-?.
tice is Norris Cotton, who sits on the Appro-
priations Committee but not on the "watch-
Washington
A major fence-mending job in Congress;,
awaits the Central Intelligence Agency';
(CIA).
The magnitude of that task became ap-
parent during recent Senate debate on a
"right-of-privacy" bill which passedi,
eventually by a lopsided 79-4 vote.
-The bill seeks to protect federal workers;
from "big brother"-nosiness in the form of;
intimate hiring questionnaires and so-calledi
"lie-detector" tests, as well as other prying i
practices resented by employees.
As reported by the Senate Judiciary Com-
mittee, the measure would grant a partial
exemption to the CIA and tithe National'
Security Agency (NSA). It would permit
tests on job applicants when they could'. Ervin chides CIA
make a personal finding that the nation's
security was at stake. During debate on the Ervin bill, Senator
Cotton chided the CIA for having grown
The bill's author,. Sen. Sam J. Ervin Jr.'. "very arrogant ' and very powerful." He
(D) of North Carolina, had resisted this ex- added ominously that "all of the enemies
emption. This in itself reveals a measure of of our country are not necessarily foreign
While noting the "undoubted service" of
Slao`cdldD40'Yl recalled
the CIA, the New Hampshire Senator
The last Senate showdown on the CIA and; warned of the danger "of the invasion of our
its operations occurred July 14, 1966. Sen. country's liberties when we create within
Eugene J. McCarthy (D) of Minnesota the government any kind of a. Frankenstein
sought to enlarge the Senate's "CIA watch-, monster that enjoys particular privileges of
dog" committee to include members of the secrecy and exercises those privileges to
Foreign Relations Committee, Its member- such degree."
ship has been restricted to senators on the' Sen. John Stennis (D) of Mississippi had
Armed Services and Appropriations Com earlier told members that "many, many
mittees. millions of dollars" are granted each year
The McCarthy motion lost then by a de- to finance the security agencies. Yet mein-
cisive 61-28 margin. But even at the time,; hers of the Appropriations Committee' 1-c-".:
some observers marveled at the size of the main in the dark on the exact amount,
minority vote. More than a quarter of the according to 'Senator Cotton.
members joined in the uprising. ' Those senators, the few who oversee the
When the McCarthy proposition came to CIA, have rescued the CIA in the past. But
the CIA may have to broaden that circle
a vote, conservatives like Senators Ervin, . if it intends to maintain a friendly majority
Roman L. Hruska(Ft rovelei s raF~e~ee Nor-
AP 6~2A000100080004-8
ris CoUon (R) of v Hampshire opposed
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