HELMS DEFENDS THE C.I.A. AS VITAL TO A FREE SOCIETY

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP84-00161R000400210103-3
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 23, 2016
• Document Release Date: February 21, 2014
• Sequence Number: 103
• Publication Date: April 15, 1971
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Declassified and Approved For Release @50-Yr 2014/02/21 : CIA-RDP84-00161R000400210103-3
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Helms Defends the C.I.A.
As Vital to a Free Society
Associated Press
Richard Helms addresses
editors in Washington.
Rare Speech Discloses
Some Russians Aided
? V.S. in Cuban Crisis
Excerpts front Helms address
will be found on Page 30.
By RICHARD HALLORAN
Special to The New York Times
WASHINGTON, April 14 ?
The Director of Central Intelli-
gence, Richard Helms, vigorous-
ly defended Hs agency today
as necessary to the survival
of a democratic society and
asked the nation to "take it on
faith that we too are honorable
men devoted to her service."
Mr. Helms asserted, in his
first public address since be-
coming head of the Central In-
telligence Agency in 1966, that
"we propose to adapt intelli-
gence work to American so-
ciety, not vice versa."
lie spoke with the specific
approval of President Nixon
before a luncheon meeting .of
the American Society of News-
paper Editors.
In a footnote to history, Mr.
Helms revealed that American
intelligence in the 1962 Cuban
missile crisis was aided by "a
Continued on Page 30, Column 1
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HELMS DESCRIBES
THE C.I.A. AS VITAt
Continued From Page I, Col. 3
number of well-placed and
courageous Russians."
He told reporters later that
he was alluding not only to Col.
Oleg V. Penkovsky, who was
identified previously, but also
? to others who provided in-
formation on Soviet missile sys-
tems. When asked for their
names, Mr. Helms laughed.
?: Colonel Penkovsky was a So-
viet intelligence officer secretly
working for the Americans in
1961. and 1962. He was detect-
ed in October, 1962, and ex-
ecuted in May, 1963. The pub-
lication of his alleged memoirs
in the West in 1965 aroused
considerable controversy over
their authenticity.
Mr. Helms asserted :today
that United States ?intelligence
would have "a major and vital
role in any international agree-
ment to limit strategic arms:"
Noting that the Soviet Union
had rejected proposals for in-
spections within its territory:
'Mr. Helms said the United
States could undertake an
agreement to limit such arms
? "only if it has adequate in-
telligence to assure itself that
the Soviets are living up to
their part."
? China Held Police State
, At a time when the visit of
an American table tennis team
to mainland China has gener-
ated official hopes for better
relations with Peking, Mr.
Helms told his audience that
"some, of our most important
intelligence targets lie in totali-
tarian countries where collec-
tion is impeded by the security
defenses of a police state?for
example, Communist China."
Mr. Helms's rare public ap-
pearance today was initiated by
Newbold Noyes, editor of The
Washington Star and president
of the society of editors. When
Mr. Helms said he could speak
only with the approval of the
While House, Mr. Noyes wrote
to Herbert G. Klein. the Presi-
dent's director of communica-
tions.
Mr. Klein said today .that
President Nixon had readily ap-
proved Mr. Helms's appearance.
He said the Administration
thought it a good time for the
American public to have Mr.
Helms explain the role of the
C.I.A., since the agency was
? not under the kind of fire that
had been directed toward it in
the past. '
Mr. Helnis noted in his ad-
dress that in Britain and other
European democracies, "it
would be unheard of for the
? head of intelligence services to
talk to a nongovernmental
group as I am talking to you
today."
Dulles Talks Recalled
A spokesman for the C.I.A..
in response to an inquiry, said
later that Allen Dulles. the Di-
rector of Central Intelligence
front 1953 to 1961, spoke pub-
licly about twice a year. But
lie could not recall an instance
In which Mr. Dulles's succes-
sors. John A. McCone and Adm.
William R. Raborn, delivered
public addresses. Thus, Mr.
Helms's speech was probably
the first from an intelligence
director in 10 years.
Mr. Helms, who 'has a rep-
utation as a skilled adminis-
trator, said, "There is a per-
sistent and growing body of
criticism which questions the
need and the propriety for a
democratic society to have a
Central Intelligence Agency.
"It is difficult for me to
agree with this view," he said,
"but I respect it. It is quite
another matter when some of
our critics, taking advantage of
the traditional silence of those
engaged in intelligence, say
things that are either vicious
or just plain silly."
No Domestic Functions
Mr. Helms emphasized that
the agency had no domestic se-
curity functions and had never
sought any.
"In short," he said, "we do
not target on American citi-
zeTnsh.e"
agency was discovered
in 1967 to have financed sev-
eral international activities of
the National Student Associa-
tion and to have given subsid-
? les to unions, foundations and
publications.
More recently, the agency .
was implicated in the Govern-
ment's surveillance ' of political
dissidents in the United States
by the testimony of former mil-
itary intelligence agents giv-
en before a Senate subcommit-
tee.
Mr. Helms asserted that the
agency had no stake in policy
debates.
'Must Not Take Sides'
"We can not and must not
? take sides," he said. "When
there is debate over alternative
policy options in the National
Security Council. to which he
is an adviser, "I do not and
must not fine up with either
If e recommended one solu-
tion to a problem, thrise recom-
mending another would Suspect
"that the intelligence presenta-
tion has been stacked to sun-
port my position, and the credi-
bility of C.I.A. goes out the
window," he said.
Mr. Helms, after asking that
the nation believe that the agen
cy's onerations were compatible
with democratic principles, said
"I can assure you that what? I
have asked you to take on faith,
the elected officials of the Un-
ited States Government watch
over extensively, intensively,
and continuously."
He said the National Security
Council, the:President's Foreign
Intelligence Advisory Board, the
Office of Management and Bud-
get and Sour committees of
Congress regularly reviewed the
agency's operations, plans and
organization.
Reporting Called Lazy
WASHINGTON, April 14 (AP)
?Mr. Noyes, in his State of
the Press address, told the con-
vention that American news-
papers were guilty of lazy and
superficial reporting.
"No doubt the Pentagon
easily makes. suckers of the
press, but no more easily than
the New Left does." lie said.
He encouraged efforts to gain
"a store sophisticated, n ntorc
serious perspective on our jobs."
In another development,
members approved having the
S'ociety "lead a move to secure
a national shield law for news-
men," as a protection for the
anonymity of news sources.
By voice vote, with 'a few
scattered dissents, the conven-
tion went on record "protesting
vigorously the treatment of
C.D.S." by a Congressional sub-
committee that issued a sub-
poena in connection with the
controversy over the network's
documentary on "The Selling of
the Pentagon."
Declassified and Approved For Release @50-Yr 2014/02/21 : CIA-RDP84-00161R000400210103-3