PLAYING POLITICS WITH FOREIGN INTELLIGENCE

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP88-01315R000300040007-1
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 19, 2016
• Sequence Number: 7
• Content Type: NEWSPAPER CLIPPING

STAT
Approved For Release 2006/06/02 : CIA-R DP88-01315R000300040007-
RICHMOND TIMES-DISPATCH
17 August 1979
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By Col d Meyer
WASHINGTO', - The Republican National ordina,ingi;:successortoapoli;icalappointea.
C
campaig? to m=,;e the Carter administration's
handling o;' foreign intelligence a major issue in
the election. but the scatter shot blast was wide
of the mark.
Lask week, GOP Chairman William Brock
issued the report of h is subcommittee on in=
teiligence. It called for a non-partisan approach
and then lambasted the Democrats for causing
all the ills that have befallen the intelligence
community without mentioning Richard Nix-
on's destructive role in trying to involve the CIA
in Watergate.
The Republican study, however, is essentially
right on two gener al points- in a time of growing
Soviet military strength, the united States is
more dependent on accurate foreign in-
telligence than ever 6--fore. In the face of this
need, it is also true, as the report charges, that
morale at the CIA is dangerously low.
Just how low is revealed by the fact that senior
CIA officials fearamassexodusofcompetentof-
ficers at -ear's end w hen they become e'si ible
forhigher retirement pay. About 2Xar e retiring
this summer, and this loss of viral skills is ex-
pected to become a flood. Resentment against
CIA Director StansfieId Turner's style of
management has reached the point where one
senior officer has ref used to accept the agency's
J igh st decoration from the admiral. Turner's
deputy, Frank Carlucci, had to preside at the
award ceremony.
BUT WHEN IT DEALS with specific in-
stitutional reforms, the GOP report goes off
the track. Downgradin6a the role of she director
of central i .tel':i ',.nee, it propc es the creation
of a chief intell:fence adviser or, the White
House staff. This czar would-defend the in-
tell igence budget before Congress and act as the
president's eyes and ears in controlling the in-
telligence agencies. G
Aide from the fact that the top White Fo,_,:-e
has not been notable in'recenr years for its must inform eic'ht Ci "yews onaI
committees apoliticalObcctivity.thereis the disad-vantage before it can provide discreet assistance to
that such an intelligence czar would be cut off dem+ocraticmadera,estr~?inrytoresisttlieCuban
from day-to--day cotact with the CIA'sar.alvsts offensive. When so many have to be informed
and operators and would lose his grasp of essen- the danger of leaks is so great that Carter of -
tialdetail. finials, withgoodreason,hesitatetotakeactior,
cir al intelligence ad. iser fro:rr, his ccntr of of the beh nd its bade until cc,,-. ssio ;3i 0
,
CIA is like removing the head from the body. A tim:te'd to the Ho se a id Se ate Irate i.,>re
disembodied intelligence adviser cannot corn- Corr nitrees. But that legal change is now un-
pete G,-::i i ? Otr,erC:ct.r'.'Sants for tl':?_ p-rci E:r 's lib-.el . in the brief time ..:c; re.ma.... to ru.tr.
.he
App rpV ~ti or_ 1e~s GD /( 1O2- C1 -RD 8 '1 ? R6 i(3 oc}04o4 }7-1
Onlrnittee has fired the opening gun in a Even less helpful is the republican proposal
fordisr em5eningth:eCIAbyremovintheclan-
destine service, the Operations Directorate,
from theagencyand establishing it as a separate
"Foreign Operations Service." The GOP study
would solve the cover problem by requiring all
government agencies to provide official cover
overseas to the intelligence operators, but
where would their Washington headquarters be
located, if not within t,e CIA? In thewordsof one
congressional staffer, "We would reallybedead
in the water if we went down that road."
THE EFFECT OF this partisan initiative is to
reduce to the vanishing point any chance of
adoption of a new legal charter for the CIA in this
session of Congress. Contrary to the implication i?
jr, the GOP report, long negotiation between the
Carteradrninistration and both Republicansand
Democrats on tie Senate Intelligence Commit- I
tee has led to a much improved version of the ex-
cessively r estrictive legislation introduced last
year.
This CIA charter will be introduced next
month, and the intell genre agencies believe
they can do their work effectively within new
legal limits that protect the rights of private
American citizens.
By politicizing this issue, the Rep?Iiblican
Ratio nalCornmitreel aspostponedieg lreform
until after the election. There would benogreat
damage done by this delay except for the fact
that the world does not stop to wait for American
elections.
In Central America, time is running out. Even
Latin leaders who supported the mor e mo derate
wince of the Sand: nts:asn cw,TsaracovertCuban
takeover of the Nicaraguan revolution and its
spread to El Salvador. In a bitter, recent con-
frontation, the left-leaning Panamanian Ieader,
Omar Torrijos, accused Castro of infiltrating
Under press-ntlaw, the Carter administration