FACT SHEET ON NBC-TV'S 'SCIENCE OF SPYING'

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP82R00025R000500260013-9
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 16, 2016
• Document Release Date: January 13, 2005
• Sequence Number: 13
• Publication Date: July 19, 1965
• Content Type: TRANS

Approved For Release 2005/03/24: CIA-RDP82R00025R000500260013-9
19 July 1965
ON - "SCIENCEor SPY/NG"
PRODUCTION' The hour-long program was carried on NBC-TV at 10;00 PJ4,
EMT on 4 May 1965. The producer was Ted Yates and his assistant Robert Rogers.
Zahn Chancellor was the narrator, appearing for 13 minutes. Former DCI Allen
Dulles appeared for 5 minutes, former DD/P Richard Bissell for 9 1/2 minutes,
Senator Eugene MOCarthy for 3 1/2 minutes, former Air Attache in Guatemala
Fred Sherwood for 2 minutes, American "freebooter" in Central America Jerry
Delarm for I minute, U.S. pilots on secret flights in Laos Len Cowper and
Chuck Bade for 2 minutes, former Guatemala President Ydigoras Puente* for 2
minutes, and Guatemala guerrilla leader Marco Antonio YolavSoaa for 9 minutes.
The major sequences of the program dealt with operations Guatemala, the Bay
of Pigs, and the Far East. A
CONTACTS: 0/AL first learned about plans for the show over a year before
it was Shown. No agreement could be reached on terms of reference for
cooperation, however, and the Agency was not consulted nor did it have advance
knowledge of the final content of the program. It is understood that NBC was
also in contact with the Department of State, the Department of Defense, and
the Soviet 16bassy during the production.
LP_ON___...2SORSH: The B.F. Goodrich Co. withdrew its sponsorship of the program
the day before, explaining that "the telecast treats a controversial public
issue in a way which may do harm to the Government of the United States."
ANALYSTS 91 PRESENTATION: No significant new facts about CIA activities
were reveal in the show; the damage lies not in security breaches but in the
editorial slant and misrepresentations. The keynote of the program was the
need for legislative control over CIA* based on the implication that CIA is
involved in unethical and immoral practices. Senator McCarthy was presented
as a kind of arbiter, his views dominating the presentation by giving them key
placement at the end of a sequence, usually rebutting the statements by Messrs.
Dulles and Bissell.
AUDIENCE REACT/OU; Letters sent to the White House, and subsequently
referigETTEETW-AiliEZY? were split in their comment: four asked the President
to investigate CIALahile four censured NBC for a disservice to national security.
The Agency also received eight letters mentioning the program, one protesting
against NBC's policy of producing it and the other seven merely referring to
the program and asking for more information about the Agency's functions.
PRESS REACTION: Editorial comment and. letters to the editor were also split,
rangiTilia773-7?alted columnist David Lawrence's statement that the show"did a
distinct disservice to the Central Intelligence Agency, the principal instru-
mentality of the United States in fighting the cold war" to the WASHINGTON POST's
call for Congress to establish a Joint Committee on Foreign Intelligente.
Approved For Release 2005/03/24: CIA-RDP82R00025R000500260013-9
Approved For Release 2005/03/24: CIA-RDP82R00025R000500260013-9
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Approved For Release 2005/03/24: CIA-RDP82R00025R000500260013-9