HOOVER, BUGGING AND DENIABILITY

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP81M00980R001200070026-4
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 5
• Document Creation Date: December 15, 2016
• Document Release Date: June 1, 2004
• Sequence Number: 26
• Publication Date: April 17, 1978
• Content Type: NSPR

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THE WASHINGTON POST . V~k
ARTICLE APPEARED 17 April 1978
ON PAGE B-11
J Anderson
Hoover, Bugging and Deniahility
Apparently the old television se- Obviously, this was intended to. triguing internal report was circu-
ries, "Mission Impossible," was all too , persuade future historians that lated after Hoover met with then-
accurate about the practice of gov- Hoover scrupulously obeyed the laws CIA chief Richard M. Helms and
ernment leaders ordering unlawful he was supposed to enforce. Any evi- other intelligence - officials. The
missions and disowning their underl- dence to the contrary naturally memo admitted. that the FBI was
ings if caught. would 'not be left lying around. But conducting "microphone surveil-
There is reason to believe, for ex- this much is known: lance" of 13 extremists, including the
ample, that past presidents knew ? Under pressure from then-presi- home of Black Panther leader Huey
more than the record discloses about dent Richard M. Nixon to disrupt left- Newton. It is virtually impossible to
the dirty doings of the Central Intel- wing extremists, the FBI continued plant a microphone in someone's
ligence,Agency. Now we have ob - its criminal trespassing and eaves- home without trespassing.
tamed secret evidence that the late J.'. dropping until, Hoover's death in - ? After Hoover's death, the Justice
Edgar Hoover played the same game. 1972. Department disclosed to a closed-
Some of his former officials face ? Virtually nothing went on in the door Senate investigation that 14
prosecution for illegal break-ins, close-knit FBI that escaped Hoover's "subversive targets were the subject
"black bag jobs" and buggings that notice. + Even veteran colleagues of at least 2 8 entries" by the FBI
the powerful FBI chief may have se- feared to take any major action with- continuing until April 1968. This
cretly ordered: The evidence indic- out his being informed. Almost every would have been more than a year
ates he carefully covered his own paper clip had to be accounted for. . after Hoover's final disavowal. Our
tracks to avoid personal embarrass- *'The late William C. Sullivan, a sources are emphatic that none of
ment if his agents were caught member of Hoover's inner sanctum, these would have been initiated
On the record, Hoover placed in told a federal grand jury that in 1970 without Hoover's sanction.
the official files memos and orders he relayed instructions from the FBI ? When the Watergate gang came
ostentatiously taking a firm stand director to field agents that they up with a proposal to crack down on
against unlawful tactics. On Jan. 6, should employ "any means neces- Nixon's political enemies by violat-
1967, he notified two of his top aides sary" to bring the extremist groups ing their basic rights, Hoover was
that he would not approve requests to book. He said Hoover cautiously credited with opposing the nefarious
for illegal planting of listening devi- avoided directly mentioning wiretap- campaign. But a memo to then-attor-
ces on private premises. ping, electronic listening and other ney General John N. Mitchell from
"I have previously indicated that I forbidden acts. But Sullivan said, the FBI chief pledged cooperation.
do not intend to approve any such re- within the context of the discussion, "Despite my clearcut and specific op-
quests in the future," he declared, the tacit approval was so clear "it position," Hoover wrote, "the FBI is
''and, consequently, no such recom- needed no interpretation from me." prepared to implement the instruc-
mendation should be submitted for Sullivan resigned in 1972 in a bitter tions of the White House at your di-
approval of such matters. This prac- break with Hoover and died recently rection. Of course, we would con-
t.ce, which includes also surrepti- in a hunting accident tinue to seek your specific authoriza-
tious entrances of any kind, will not ? Although interdepartmental tion, where appropriate. to utilize the
meet with my approval in the fu- documents attest to Hoover's disa- various sensitive investigative tech-
ture." vowal of unlawful practices, an in- niques involved in individual cases."
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INTERNAL' USE ONLY
STAT
STAT
Journal - Office of Legislative Counsel Page 9
Monday - 17 April 1978
LIAISON Betsey Keyes, House
Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence staff, called asking for
copies of the DCI's speeches in Columbus, Ohio, and Detroit, Michigan.
I told her that I would attempt to locate copies and get them to her.
During the remainder of the day there were more calls on the subject
concerning past speeches. It turns out that one of the DCI's February
speeches had not been passed to the Committee, but this is being
rectified and all future speeches will be forwarded to the Committee.
37. LIAISON Accompanied Joe DiGeorgio,
GAO International Division, to a meeting with PCS/Terrorism.
The purpose of this meeting was to enable GAO to obtain hard copies of
intelligence reports that they had already read in the field. The clinker
is that the GAO teams that are traveling in the Latin American, European
and Far East areas are regionally stationed in Panama City, Frankfurt
and Honolulu/ Bangkok respectively. Logically enough they want the
intelligence reports sent to the regional areas. The totality of the GAO
arrangement had not been clarified previously, although there had been
previous meetings with DiGeorgio and the entire program is based upon
a letter (February 9, 1978) from Comptroller General Elmer Staats, GAO,
to Admiral Stansfield Turner, DCI. I Iwill look into the
possibility of providing copies of the intelligence reports to the GAO regional
units for their review.
STAT 38.1 1 LIAISON Talked to Loch Johnson,
on the staff of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence,
about forthcoming DCI appearance before the Subcommittee on Oversight,
chaired by Representative Les Aspin (D., Wis.), on 20 April 1978. He
reiterated the areas set aside for coverage and I promised to send him a copy
of the 13 April letter to the editor (Washington Star) by Russell Warren
Howe setting forth the facts on the I case.
STAT 39. EMPLOYMENT REQUEST Received a call
from Carol Wilhite, in the office of Representative David W. Evans (D., Ind.),
requesting an employment (professional) package for a constituent. OLC
Registry was advised.
-Acting Legislative Counsel
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Journal - Office of Legislative Counsel
Monday - 17 April 1978
Page 5
x'21. LIAISON Received a call from
Jon Holstine, Minority Consultant, House International Relations
Subcommittee on Asian and Pacific Affairs. He noted that he had
seen an article in the New York Times of Sunday, 16 April 1978,
entitled "Soviet Press Agency Says China Has Expansion Policy
in Asia. " Holstine asked whether there was any foreign press
play on this subject. He said perhaps he had missed it in the
Daily Reports he receives. After checking with Lillian,
Liaison, I called Holstine back and told him that there was
a TASS news release of 14 April which would be in the 17 April
Daily Report on the USSR which would be delivered to the
Committee tomorrow. I also provided the page number. He was
appreciative of the information.
22. BRIEFING I spoke with
Ellen Miller, Senate Governmental Affairs Committee staff, concerning
her desire for an unclassified briefing on patron sate support to
terrorism. I explained the problems we had with such an unclassified
briefing 'and suggested alternatives to follow. It was decided that she
will come to the Agency for a meeting with terrorist experts with the
full understanding that we may not be able to provide any information
at all and may only be able to comment on the information she
currently has.
23. LIAISON Called Frank Sullivan,
Staff Director, Senate rme ervices Committee, and called his
attention to an article in the NID concerning Panama. He suggested
that since he is reading the NID on a daily basis that we need not
alert him to articles in the future. He did ask that we stay attuned
to the situation and call to his attention any significant items on an
early warning type basis.
24. LIAISON Called Norvill Jones, Chief of
Staff, Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and discussed the situation
with respect t staff member. I explained that in light of
the allegations against that we feel the need to take some action
with respect too clearances. Jones said that the matter was very
sensitive to some Members of the Committee and that any action based on
the general allegations that he is aware of at this point would cause problems.
We agreed that since is on annual leave and doesn't currently have
access to classified information that there would be no need to take
affirmative action. Jones will advise me when 0 returns to work so
that we can make a determination at that point. I discussed the matter with
DD/Sec,,,who suggested it be raised with the Director.
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NEWSDAY (Garden City, N. Y.)
17 April 1978
?JEEO !A'ruth, Sometimes a Peacetime,
Richard Harris, a most. thoughtful)
reporter, has just published an essay
on Richard Helms. Belatedly, I have
,just read 'The First Casualty" by Phil-
ip Knightley. The conjunction is un-
nerving. -
Knightley's book is a taut account of
war correspondence from the Crimean
War through Vietnam. Its title is tak-
'en from Sen. Hiram Johnson, who said
in 1917: "The first casualty when war
comes is truth." Knightley documents
the proposition again and again and
again. War correspondents' have
historically been hobbled by military
and governmental censorship, their
own patriotism, and ignorance of the
true shape of great events.
Richard Harris's meditation, in The
New Yorker, raises the disturbing pos-
sibility that truth may be the first ca-
sualty in peace as well as in war. _
Last Oct. 31, Helms, the former di-
rector of the Central Intelligence
Agency, appeared before Federal Dis-
trict Judge Barrington D. Baker in
Washington and pleaded nolo conten-
dere to the charge that he had refused
to answer material questions before
the Senate Foreign Relations Commit-
tee in appearances in. February and
March of 1973. This charge was a mis-
demeanor. Four days later, Baker fined
Helms $2,000 (which was soon there-
after raised by C4A,,cplleagues at a par-
ty honoring Helms) and sentenced him
to one year of unsupervised probation.
Helms did not "refuse and fail" to'
furnish information as the criminal in-
formation alleged. He had furnished
misinformation, lying like a trooper,
when he denied that the CIA had fun-I
neled money into Chile to try to keep'
Salvador Allende Gossens, a democrat
ic Marxist, from becoming presiden
and, once he was elected, from govern
ing his country. From 1969 to 1973 the
CIA had invested $8 million in these,
enterprises, as, ,Helms' successor hash
since testified.
President Carter's ';usti:yepLart
Casualty
ment had broken precedent to keep th
press from learning in advance of
Helms' Oct. 31 court appearance. Grif'
fin Bell, -the attorney general, has.
since contradicted Carters claim that
the Helms deal was put together with-
out Carter knowing anything about it. '
-And, as Harris has taken the trouble to .q
'demonstrate, virtually every journalis.? ,
tic organ in the country with anything
approximating a national audience has
agreed that letting Helms cop his plea
was a wise act in the national interest.
There had, of course; never been any.
decision by the American public that
Allende should be overthrown. -There
has never been a true national debate
on the issue. The decision seems to
have been -made by Henry Kissinger-
with the concurrence of Nixon. Almost
about the case is this: "If we have an
inner, secret government that cannot
be controlled, has our political system
been basically altered without our
knowledge or approval'?"
I wish he had spent more time on
this question. It is the key to the situa. .
tion. If Helms had no direct monetary
or other mercenary interest in dump-
ing Allende, he had an ideological in-
terest, and others who concurred in his
decision did have monetary interests.
Harris notesthat,the-milita ..jwita
that succeeded Allende (after he had
died in the takeover) paid $125 milion
to International Telephone and Tele.
graph for a-telephone system that All
lende had seized without compensa-
tion. Dozens of other big corporations
were threatened by Allende and re-
everything the government has said on lieved by his death. The U.S. govern-
the subject since can confidently be ment has since, in effect, reimbursed
dismissed as- lies. I Chile's military govenment with mil-
These lies protect two profoundly im--i lions in military and other aid, and in
portant- decisions, the decision to get! credit.
rid of Allende, the democratically, What, if anything, ITT was owed for
elected chief of a sovereign state, and
the decision to avoid accounting to
Congress for the overthrow. The second
is the more fundamental, for the ex-
ecutive branch and the intelligence
agencies it supervises are accountable
to no one if not to Congress.
If lying on the Helms scale is only a
misdemeanor, deserving of a suspend-
ed sentence and of a modest fine that
Helms' old associates are proud to pay,
then lying to Congress by a high execu-
tive official is a less serious offense
than stealing a filing cabinet.
The Helms case is not like Water-
gate. Helms did not -set about the
overthrow of Allende for reasons of
personal gain or aggrandizement. He {
did not lie to Congress to save his own
skin, for there was originally no issue
of personal culpability or of criminal
prosecution: Getting rid of Allende was
government policy.
He lied to protect the policy, which
was still in effect when he testified.
One of many( questions Harris asks
the telephone system is a perfectly le-
gitimate question. So is what role, if
any, the United States should play in
assisting ITT to obtain compensation.
'But these quesions have hardly arisen
on the national agenda. Instead, the!
U S. government cast its lot with those,
who disliked Allende because of his
politics and with those who had.Yvest-
ments to lose if Allende prevailed.
This decision, despite the vastness of f
its consequences, was never publicly
debated either. The U.S. role was de-
nied even as it was being implemented.
And it is still being denied, by an ad-
ministration elected after explicitly re-
jecting such interference in the affairs
of other nations, Despite his eminence, i
it is possible to we Helms as the fall
guy in the scenario. He was following ,~
orders. But central to his defense, in
-and out of court, is that some govern-
ment officials have a larger obligation
than truth-telling, even to the Con-
gresss, and thus an obligation so large
and unspeakable that lying and the
evasion of accountability are warrant-
ed in its execution. This is a stunning
claim to find favor in a democracy in'
time of peace. It raises unavoidably the
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wby. federal~a~entaBlaced bove t} g law.
 NEV YORK MAGAZINE
RT.ICLE AP ARE.Approved For Releasel70 7YD$-9'1A-RDP81 M00980R001 200070026-4
Don't Call Us, We'll You
Several employment offices
of a rather unusual nature
have opened recently in
New York. They cater to a
distinctly special category of
job seekers: former CIA an-
alysts and agents who have
been axed over the past few
months by Admiral Stans-
field Turner. Saudi Arabian
government representatives
quietly opened a small office
in Manhattan and let it be
known they were looking for
security specialists to train
Saudis in protecting oil, in-
stallations. Meanwhile, over
at the Iranian Consulate, an
office has been set aside for
discreet interviews with for-
mer spooks who might be in-
terested in training troops
and SAVAK agents for the
shah of Iran. Somewhere'
else in the city, certain Rho-
desians have recruited sev-
eral former clandestine agents
for work in paramilitary
units now engaged in the
guerrilla war against African
nationalists. The Rhodesian
recruiters call themselves the
"Crippled Eagles "They are
not listed in the phone book.
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