WHY ONE NEWSMAN COOPERATED WITH THE C.I.A.

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP88-01314R000100010065-3
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 16, 2016
• Document Release Date: October 22, 2004
• Sequence Number: 65
• Publication Date: January 17, 1978
• Content Type: NSPR

" .. , j , moved For Release 200,WD/~4 4; %QRI DPI 1314R0001
(J! .PACE 17 January 1978
Why One Newsman Cooperated With the C.Z.A.
To the Editor.
In the Dec. 27 article of Its series
about the C.I.A. and the press The
New York Times spoke of my coopera-
tion with the C.I.A. but unfortunately
failed to include the reason. for that
cooperation.
At the time I had made an overture
tW Wilfred Burchett on behalf of the
C.I.A., I was the Korean bureau chief
of International News Service. I took
seriously my responsibility and loyalty
to my news staff, who were more than
colleagues; we had become close
friends. Moreover, I.N.S. had suffered
four correspondents killed during the
Korean War and two captured. .
One-of the two captives, Donald M.
Dixon, had been 'taken prisoner in
March' 1953 while on a journey from
Hong Kong to Macao in a sailing yacht
owned by Richard M. Applegate, a
Hong Kong-based correspondent for
N.B.C. News, a former war corre-
spondent in Korea for United Press
and also a good friend. The yacht had
been intercepted by a Chinese patrol
boat, and all on board taken into cus-
tody and, as later learned, imprisoned
in Canton.
During the days, weeks and months
following their capture, I unsuccessful-
ly tried to learn about my friends from
Burchett and other newsmen 'covering
the Panmunjom ttuce talks from the
Communist side. 'I also had received
a number of anguished letters from
Dixon's parents, pleading with. me to
continue my efforts to learn if he were
. still alive.
?? I was not "persuaded" by'the C.I.A.
to. cooperate. On the contrary, I saw,
an opportunity to obtain information
about my friends and, in the unlikely
event Burchett. did. defect, get first
crack at 'what would have been a
major story. I had set these conditions
in exchange for my cooperation.
Given a similar set of circumstances
today,' I' again would; cooperate with
the C.I.A. I place a ' high value on
friendship-a' point I emphasized re-
peatedly to'your reporter:
EDWARD HYMOFP
Falls Church,.Va., Dec. 29,
A" News''Agency Responds
-C.I.A. over several other channels
around the world, including the Italian
news agency Ansa,"
This assertion is not supported by
the facts. A careful examination OVr,
the Ansa archives for the 4th of June,
1956, clearly shows: (1) that on that
occasion Ansa did not put out a ver-
sion of its own, but only circulated
to its clients a short summary distrib- l
uted by the French agency -Agence-
France Presse and later a longer sum-
mary distributed by United Press. Both
texts clearly indicated the U.S.. State.'
Department as the source of the docu-
ment; (2) not even one paragraph in'
the A.F.F. and U.F. texts circulated
by Ansa is devoted to "future 'Soviet
foreign policy," which, according to
your paper,- was the subject of the
paragraphs manipulated by the C.I.A.
A photocopy of all relevant material
in, our archives was sent to Mr. Crewel-
son, immediately after the publication
of your. article, .He will thus be able
personally to. check the truth, of the
above-listed facts.
It can only be' regretted that the.
authors of your article failed to check
the facts with us before. publication,
to avoid giving out misinformation
about our agency. SERGIo LEFRr
Executive Editor, Ansa News'Agency
Rome, Jan. 4, 1978
To the Editor.
In the Dec, 25, 1977, issue The New
York Times, referring to the original
publication of the famous Khrushchev
report, in June .'1956i states that
"another text containing precisely 34;
paragraphs of material on future Sovi-
et foreign policy was put. out by, the
Approved For Release 2004/10/28 : CIA-RDP88-01314R000100010065-3