(UNTITLED)

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80-01601R000100060001-7
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 3
• Document Creation Date: December 12, 2016
• Document Release Date: November 6, 2000
• Sequence Number: 1
• Content Type: MAGAZINE

AUG J I, VV
Approved For Release 2001/y,/27 ? CIA-R 0 y~01R0001000
A fetter From the Chief
One mystery about the now-famous letter that
got CIA chief Richard Helms in such trouble
with the Senate has been solved-and replaced
with another. Helms said an aide had written
the letter (praising a St. Louis Globe Democrat
editorial that blasted Sen. J. William Fulbright)
and that he had signed it without reading it. The
aide was Col. Stanley Grogan, an old CIA hand
and the "silent service's" spokesman. The new
mystery is how Grogan could have committed
such an obvious public-relations gaffe.
Approved For Release 2001/07/27: CIA-RDP80-01601 R000100060001-7
 Approved For Release 2001/07/27 : CIA-RDP80-01601 R000100060001-7
The Washington Star
1 August 1966
Co.mes i n r~theC~I
By MARY McGRORY
Star Staff Writer
Everybody likes the Central
Intelligence Agency a little
better now.
People who thought it should
never -exist and hate what
they think it is doing look at it
today with something like,
open affection.
Chairman J. William Ful-
bright of the Areign Relations
Committee, its severest critic,
is awash in clandestine grati-
tude and mirth. Whatever it
did at the Bay of Pigs, the
CIA has done a'lot for him.
Sen. Eugene J. McCarthy,
D-Minn., who recently and in
vain tried to bring it to heel,
is all secret smiles at having
caught. its master. spy writing
in all-too-visible ink.
No Public. Thanks
Nobody can thank CIA
director Richard M. Helms
,. publicly for what he did,
which was to provide the city
with some desperately needed .
comic relief. So for the rec-
ord, everybody has to regard
the perfect little calamity
which delivered him to his
enemies on Capitol Hill as a
frightful lapse in ethics,
deportment and security.
Actually, the Helms letter
to the, editor of the St.. Louis
Globe-Democrat in praise of
an editorial that. was entitled.
"Brickbats for Fulbright" and
called the senator "crafty"
has reassured h hot and tired
city.. There will always be a
bureaucrat to make life.worth
living.
Connoisseurs of the rather
meager literature of catastro-
phic letters have decided the
Helms entry ranks with Ezra
Taft Benson's celebrated
mishap of 10 years ago. Over
the signature of the Secretary
of Agriculture went a letter
saying "It is excellent" of an
article in Harper's Magazine
which referred to the farmers
of America as "pampered
tyrants."
Cries for Benson's. resigna-
tion ran through the Senate
until it was discovered the
missive was the work of a
sub-secretary who was merely
carrying out a department
directive to reply to all criti-
cal communications "as
politely as possible."
Neither Wrote Nor Read
What gives the Helms'
epistolary disaster its special
flavor is that while he did not
write it - or even, he admit-
ted in a special senatorial
session called to savor the
affair, read it - it sounds as
though he had written it
himself.
It had the ring of sincere
expression, as a good letter
should. It was, in fact, rather
admirable in its terseness and
cordiality and shows that the
silent service, whatever its
failures, is making progress
against federal prose.
But senators, who employ
scribes themselves, are blind
to the style at such moments.
They found the letter "offen-
sive" and, in regard to
Fulbright, "inaccurate." They
professedthemselves, with
straight faces, to be
"shocked" and "disappointed-
ed." Men who, may privately
agree with both the editorial-
writer and the letter-writer
rushed to the defense of their
beleaguered colleague. . Ful-
bright's foes on the Armed
fought what one had called his
.attempt "to muscle in" on the
surveillance of the CIA,
praised his patriotism, his
intellect and his heart.
This was, of course, not
what Helms' still anonymous
scribe had in mind. Tie:-was
reapanding to_.a new directive
in the CIA,_whicl -is to make
the agency_ seem -more lova-
ble, less secretive.
Like Anybody Else
and other men, wishes to
participate openly in the life
of its times. Its response to
harsh criticism has been an
attempt to prove that it is
really like anybody else, not
exactly, mind you, but more
than most people think. -
Maybe 007 would have liked
to join the local men's club
and be a member of the
bowling team. Such an im-
pulse is obviously stirring in
the shrouded CIA. When other
people see editorials crowing
over the defeat of :their ene-
mies, they rush to the writing
table and dash off a spirited
"well done." "Why -can't
we?" the CIA asked itself.
Well, it has its answer now
as a result of its monitored
correspondence. Nobody has a
clearer idea of what it is
actually doing; but at least
people know what it is trying
to do. The fact that it can
commit a boner right out in
the open just like anybody
else has brought it a lot closer
to a lot of people.
Approved For Releate 2001/07/27 : CIA-RDP80-01601 R000100060001-7
POINT OF VIEW
 -_ V17 aS ueen trLlc, fot' bile most
warrmited in light of the admiral',, ganization's successes. These sue- - - -?
1'B5iQ"ilation ats the 111tion'S to}) Spy. , . CC e i, or ohvo11s reason , al'e' TheU. S. fyo?,,el.i,ment lia3 ne'.1Ci'
j"Fecil eager to broadcast either he
Rumors have cropped up fre- not to the skies. As for fail-
11-fl1?ce agency a year ago. T h6
only,the CIA and a few Consress' ^llce, 7ss omt beln t, if kr,c ; f,:
+ T n - } a._E11i'v lta (''itri rair'1,hr. T
lope ell. fait[] i ,.
1l closed thr CTA's~?iiil` ~ ,'.
aborn to )lead the Celttlal justified. The reason in d=-
r - F -+-w ----- -P 6 'A. ia>. LJuu- ~VIle17 :1(11]li1?al 1, ibol'11 took, !)-i C' .
.old Texas friend Admiral William lie can 0111 1 41,
.search scholars in a.-friendly coull-
itry, were exposed as knowing p r-
ticipallts in 7-py acf icities, thcn l;:i
academic work being
by Americans in (IoEef$. of hlst:e-
not countries na^n be pIacc 1 1,
,
A few eyebrows were raised ' of the cloak-and-dagger operation54ropardy.
tVl, ^'?, Pt?ncirloni- .7nhrcm5 onr, n;v, earl .,F ~-2, .. ..,.._. ___~_cv- . . _
`I tallL;t'C" 01' RCi:eu5C
gl3
1clit y dissension in the tires
aU , they rise lo the surface i "he
Causin ^1. r.r,..~ lJVe11 the illalley appl'opriated for.
CIA ranks. '.i::lecomplaints ran ed Variety of \Vays
,
from underlings' unhappiness with ! of embarrassment,
the CIA is_vn-appecl in o]]'i11117Li`
Raboin's "old salt" approach to, When the celebrated i1)vaSJrlli of measures, carefu'tl}r calllouf]u c;: .
C
i. destine v" - , L' 11 ow, 1101-1.
Services Unit, he went with the government operations in is to get oil with the nece: sr.,
Central Intelligence Group which Sout]l Viet 'Na:rn? The university business of spying. Mr. Help 1s
was, formed in 1947. I officials patched up some of the should bring a fresh impetus to a
Helms believes -- and' no doubt damage by confessing that they ? government agency that for good
acted as a trout unwittingly for
his colleagues share his view reason or not hasn't been happy
that a lot of :tile criticism aimed certain guerrilla. operations b u t `.with things at "control." Age11i'.s
at the CIA has been unfair, that that once the facts were known, , and the spy hierarchy shouldn't
on the whole the agency has done 1 severed all ccnnections with then ; have any trouble 'in communic:at-.
a good job over the years. Because The position of the Michigan peo- ` ing with . the new boss. He i0- ol]('
meat was the Universit of i~Iichi- "
World War II. After serving wit[].: Y anon3 molls.
gan's brief involvement with clan- f-'-~Wli ilia ini 7 ~^
the War Deparulnent'^ Strafe 7
_,uelnablo17a1 reporter, a Phi beta , COME: irom columnists who have
Kappa, and has served in intelli- the U. S. government, and the ~ luable- colit~icts ill tlsey Le;
cence since he joined the Navy in academic world acute embarrass-. nd' even they will -?'-
is P. former United Press more recent example aL Ula- not. Any iliside' report will likely
I,taut exposure that caused the CIA
praise the President's c h o i c e.. 1 if Office.We 'assume that he will
.leagues of Hellas were quick to `tiol]s arose about its efficiency 'r`'bG1'11 'tells all
about ilia-_tenare
happy one all-around. Indeed, col- its Muni}is then, and serious goes- It will be interesting to see if
, 1 emelll-
x
UP.
to replace Raborn sIi o u 1 d be a. her the 13ay of Pigs. The CIA took'---
in. this context the appointment join them and throw off the beard-` CJ Lis silent or cryptic as . ;flo. -
of CIA career man Richard Helms ` ed tyrant Castro vv. 711 sible in the face of either ever:-
a treat deal about. them. ' rank-and-file Cubans \vould rise t American imperialist designs? The
] teas nlposSIbl' to deal with -intelli nee operatives at that' e aotl. liaeS11 s
foreign countries unless you lclii;w time assured the invaders that the y``11kee - modelling show cIea".i -
running the super - secret spy ship Cuba failed during the IIenredy Lhlb.:ppy con-ressm n, the pre, ;,
a lgl'}'.. overnment..~'ffici::Is it
to his ignorance of world affairs. _ Administration, the CIA shared or
One anonymous lieutenant told a,' scapegoat privileges with atllai iorei n countries ha e been tl]
1] e';; s m an not long ago that., Stevenson and' other Presidential?`/`Tin sources of CIA Tic,-o ienin .
??,>,,_,1d1 ? I tile, first - two - illstauces t WWe
Rw
didn't know an oligarchy advisers who backed away from t ion a benevolent despot.-- that U. air support of the operation; true Lion has been: why did tIli
happen? In th I
1. , 16 r.96,