$2,000 HELMS FINE PAID BY CIA EX-EMPLOYEES

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP88-01315R000200140001-0
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 16, 2016
• Document Release Date: September 8, 2004
• Sequence Number: 1
• Publication Date: November 6, 1977
• Content Type: NSPR

Approved For Release 2004/10/13: CIA-RDP88-01315R00020014 00?-0/-/
WASHINGTON POST
.r 6 November 1977
Associated press got a two-year suspended sentence af-
i Former 'CIA 'Director Richard ter pleading no contest to two counts
Helms, fined $2,000 for' not being of failing to fully answer questions
truthful with .a Senate committee, will put to him during 1973 Senate hear-
be. able to"pay,the debt with money;' ings.
collected from retired Central Intelli= . The Justice: Department and Helms
gene Agency employees. said government secrets would have'.
More than 400 retired CIA workers, come out and national security would
meeting after Helms was sentencedhave been jeopardized if Helms had
Friday, put two wastebaskets atop a - gone to trial on the charges.
-piano and tossed in checks and money- :He said his oath of secrecy to the
:to pay the former-- spy chiefs fine.- 'CIA prid hisd?ahim 'from making" a
When Helms appeared at their sehed- full disclosure to Congress about spy
uled meeting at Kenwood Country activities that led to the downfall of
Club in-Bethesda, he got, a standing Chile's elected socialist government
ovation. :- -~__ - and the death of President Salvador
It wasn't known how much money _ `Allende in a Sept. 11, 1973, military
was collected, but one member said: ' enun: . -
"The baskets were filling up fast
:when I left. I think it is safe to say
there was more than enough contrib-
uted to pay the $2,000 fine." '
Other CIA and retired CIA employ-'
ees said they contributed for weeks to
a defense fund to help defray. Helms'
. costs.
In addition to the fine, Helms also
"You can pickup any book on West-
ern civilization and find this same de-
fense," U.S. District Court Judge Bar-
rington D. Parker, who sentenced
Helms, said in an interview yesterday.
"At the Nuremberg trials, we had
that thread running through there,
and more recently in the Watergate
trials," the judge said. At war crime
trials In Nuremberg, Germany, after
World War II, Nazis frequently
claimed they were only doing their
duty.
Parker, who criticized the plea bar-
gaining between the government and
Helms, said he did not accept Helms'
argument that his CIA secrecy oath
kept him from honoring his obligation
to tell the truth to the Senate commit-
tee, and said other govermnent offi-
cials must not use national security
interests as an. excuse to escape from
testifying.
"Their obligation isn't to an agency
or to sweep something under a rug
that they think shouldn't be dis-
closed," Parker said. "Their obligation
is to the Consjitution."
Parker said he was 'certain the
United States had not seen the last ef-
-fort of a government official to con-
done his actions by saying he was
working in the" interests of national
security.
Approved For Release 2004/10/13 : CIA-RDP88-01315R000200140001-0