. . . EXIT RICHARD HELMS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80-01601R001300300001-7
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 3
• Document Creation Date: December 9, 2016
• Document Release Date: November 3, 2000
• Sequence Number: 1
• Publication Date: December 6, 1972
• Content Type: NSPR

WASHINGTON STAR
Approved For Release 2001 /03O rC1 ?RDP80-01601 R00130
It isn't official yet, but our usually
jmpeccable official sources tell us that
-Richard M. Helms will soon be stepping
down after six years as director of the
Central Intelligence Agency, presumably
o take on a new and important assign-
iiient in the Nixon administration.
Whatever his future job may be he will
lae sorely missed in the one which lie is
leaving.
Of the men who have headed the CIA
since its inception in 1947, Helms stands
out as the one truly professional intelli-
gence.. expert. His career in the spy busi-
ness covers a span of 29 years, beginning
with a four-year stint with the Office of
Strategic Services In World War II. After
transferring to the nevily-formed CIA,
/ lie served as deputy director for plans
under -General Walter 13edell Smith and
John A. McCone, previous CIA heads.
As director, Helms brought a coolness
of judgment and great administrative
talent to one of the most sensitive and
difficult jobs in the federal government.
Under his leadership, the performance
of the agency, in contrast to past years,
has been highly discreet andiTo the ex-
tent that such things can' be judged,
effective. It is suggested that his depar-
ture from the CIA. may have resulted in
part from a dispute within the intelli-
gence community regarding the deploy-
ment of Russian nuclear, missiles. Yet
from all the available evidence, his as-
sessment of the world situation -- and
particularly in Indochina, where the CIA
has borne heavy. responsibilities - has
been remarkably accurate.
The highly essential business of in-
telligence-gathering, being necessarily
secret and to some minds distasteful,
requires the kind of public confidence
that Helms has been able to provide. As
President Johnson remarked at his
swearing-hi ceremony: "Although he
has spent more than 20 years in public
life attempting to avoid publicity, he has
never been able to conceal the fact that
he is one of. the most trusted anc?, most
able and most dedicated professional ca-
reer men in this Capital." As director of
the CIA, Richard Helms has fully justi-
fied that assessment.
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STATOTHR
 r7/
I 41, A _1 It 1 !'1
c? =P i 9ll
Approved For Release 2001/03104 SI: CIA-RDP80-01601 R00
SIR: In the recent debate in the United States
Senate over the future and status of Radio Free _Putope
Senator Fulbri g'ht expressed the view that the United
States should close clown this radio and expand cultural
exchanges instead.
These two activities an ultimately servh.'g; the same
goal in entirely different Ways; they should never be
contrasted,
I.tvas Lead of the Department of Cultural Exchanges
in the Polish Foreign Mice from PX3O to 19fd. From the
other side of the negotiating table I could see how ]lard
and often without success the American -diplomats bred
to fight for each award of a scholarship (including
scholarships under Fu]briglrt.'s bill) or. permission for an
American ensemble to visit Poland. It must.be rc]neln-
bered that, of necessity, cultural e changes may em-
brace only a limited number of people and are. sub;eei to,
control, consent and restrictions of the respective gov-
ernment which may discontinue thni at. will v.?hcn they
cease to serve its own interests. Foreign broadcasts are
the only line of direct colnnlunieatioil with millions of
people in the Soviet bloc countries which 'is entirely
independent of censorship and influence of the authori-
ties.
STATOTHR
As member of the collective leadership in the Polish
Foreign Office and a close associate of the late Adam
R?r.,)aeki, minister of foreign affairs and a Politburo
member, I? had an opportunity to observe frr,n inside
the impact of Radio I'roe Eurepo on the ruling elite. I
can state that literally everybody in this iuner circle of
power, includinq Comulka himself, was assiduously fol-
lott^ingg Radio l'ac'e Europe broadcasts. Ministers used to
start their tvorl:isg day by reading li;anitoring bulletins
of ItFE broadcasts. My own habit became so deeply
rooted that when I became an exile in 1903, I sold some
M my few remaining vale .blcs to buy a good radio net
in order to listen in on Radio Free Europe. Even abroad
only from this radio station could I learn what wlus Going
on in my country.
Few people in the West realize ]low anxious the
rulers in the totalitarian system are to learn'the aul..hen-
tic views of the opposition whose freedom of expression
they themselves have suppressed. To some extent ).radio
Free Europe has become the voice of the silent opposi-
tion. It plays this role in a responsible, sometimes even
overcautious, manner. RTE'' news and commentaries
are topics of daily discussions at all levels including the
nleirbers of Central Conuirittee of the Communist Party
and the governmental offices. Con:ntunist leaders who
have become prisoners of their own monopoly of infor-
mation need this radio for their ovnt private enligYhten-
ment, but at the swine lima; fear its impact on others.
It is this deep concern over the growing influence of
Radio Free Europe, rot merely on the population but
above all or the Communist Party itself, that has finally.
prevailed. A few months before Rapacki and I left the
foreign office, decisions were taken at the top level in
Warsaw to use all. available diplomatic as well as secret
channels to bring about the clwur? of Radio Free
Europe. Considerable resources were earmarked for this
purpose and plans for this operation were already made'
Circe years ago with Wasi]Ington and Bonn as the Ina111
targets of the diplomatic pressure.
The day v, hen this goal will have been achieved will
be a dark one for all these m.enll-ers of the Communist
establishment who, like myself, have never lo; Lope
ba the sy~l'`%R001300300001-7
Approved For e,ase, 0 ;r ey s, r tt 11,1Y.
Ilenryk ilirecl;i.
Antony, Prance.
 Approved For Release jtQa 4 xqA-RDP8O-01601 R
3 0 MAR 1972
eaters to t e dfi~r
SIR, The gratuitous criticism in your March. 25
editorial; with respect to my position on Northern Ire-
land ignores an obvious fact. The new peace initiative
announced last week by Prime Minister Heath coin-
cides almost precisely with two of the most important
Fast in the resolution I introduced in Congress.
last October with Senator Abe Ribicoff and Congress-
man Hugh Carey-the promised phase-out of intern-
ment, and the institution of direct rule of Ulster from
Westminster.-
My only real regret is that the initiative was so long
delayed in coming, and that so many innocent lives.
'were lost before Britain decided to act. All of us hope
and pray that the new policy will be successful in halting
the killing and violence. Simple humanity requires us to
continue to speak out to insure the earliest possible end
to the tragedy.
One other point should be made about your editorial.
Anyone familiar with Ulster history must wince at the.
obvious blunder in your use of the famous expression
'Playing the Orange Card" to describe Prime Minister
Heath's initiative. Lord Randolph Churchill coined the
phrase in the 1&;0s and played the card in opposition to
Glaistone's Home Rule Bill. As Churchill wrote to Lord
Justice Fitzgibbon in 1886:
"I decided some time ago that if the GOM (Grand
Old Man, Gladstone) went for Home Rule, the Orange
Card would be the one to play. Please God, it may turn
out the ace of trumps and not the.two."
Ever since, the phrase has been used to denote
Ettempts to stir up the Orange Order in Ulster and other
Protestant opposition to British policy. The phrase can
lardly be used to describe a progressive British initia-
five. For nearly a hundred years, British policy toward
Ireland has been paralyzed by fear of the abominable
Orange Card. Now, Prime Minister Heath has faced the
challenge, and for that he deserves great credit.
Edward M. Kennedy,
U.S. Senator.
1.' Radio Free Europe
SIR: Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty are very
important means of communication with the captive
nations in Eastern Europe. People behind the Iron
Curtain deserve hearing news and information from the
'ree World. Any dollar we spend for this cause is worth
it from the humanitarian point of view. If present
.conditions are such that we cannot help them otherwise,
the least we can do is to extend them unbiased informa-
tion.. .
11 1 oppose Sen. J.W. Fulbright's attempt to discontin-
ue funds for Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty.
Closing of these broadcasts would be a service to the
International communism.
I 'The
Orange Card'
~. t : _ Wasl}ington.,.,
John B. Genys,
President, Lithuanian-American Community of Greater
STATOTHR
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