BUSH SAYS CIA VITAL TO FREEDOM

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP88-01315R000300080028-4
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 16, 2016
• Document Release Date: September 15, 2004
• Sequence Number: 28
• Publication Date: March 15, 1976
• Content Type: NSPR

STAT
Approved For Release 20O$/10/13': ClAADP88-01315R00
BY HARVEY HARRIS
Daily News star Writer but it is also necessary for the public to - Richard Welch's son displayed a loyal-
George W.. Bush, director of the Cen- Put "Some degree" of trust in the na- -ty and pride after his CIA agent father's
:ral Intelligence Agency (CIA), said Sun- tion's intelligence-gathering organiza- .identity was disclosed in Greece, where
Jay that the CIA is "vital to freedom" i ti0ns' the elder Welch was gunned down, "that,
oecause it provides the information The crowd applauded loud and long tells nulch about the fiber of our country
needed to avoid warfare, political up when Bush said the CIA won't abandon to 1976," said flush.
heavals and major calamities around the its secrecy. "You can't conduct an intel-
world ligence operation in the open," he add- The CIh director said his organiza-
Bush became CI director six we ks ed. There was more applause when he don's agents have impressed him with
ago and said his speech at Guilford said "the American people don't want a their competence and dedication. lie
Courthouse National Military Park here
gave him his first oppo:~unity to defend reckless exposure" of the identities of noted that more than 900 CIA agents
CIA agents and what they are doing. earned Ph.D. degrees which would
.
the CIA against outspoken critics who. Acknowledging public anger and enable them to earn much more money
recently called attention to some of the doubts about CIA involvement in recer, and live more comfortably.
-- -
agency's abuses and blunders. controversies, Bush said, "When the fe But the agents are displaying patriot-
patriot-
ror is over, the vast majority of Ameri isin and service "much like the spirit of
The CIA director was keynote speaker cans will support the need for secrecy' those who fought so unselfishly for our
-for colorful ceremonies on the eve of the in the agency's work. freedom 195 years ago on this battle
195th anniversary of the Battle of Guil-The CM continues unshaken b all the field," he added.
ford Courthouse. He said intelligence- controversy and is unshaken by e
gatherers similar to those in the CIA providing "valid in Bush was introduced by U.S. Rep.
formation" so the nation's policy-makers Richardson Preyer, D-N.C., who de-
were active in the Revolutionary Wart ? can react wisely when foreign. intrigue, scribed the battleground here, as "the
and today's agents are demonstrating - buildups of arsenals and missile installa- .-very soil on which the Revolutionary
the-same kind of unselfish loyalty on show the n !
dons and other dangemus happenings War was won" and added that this na-
by soldiers so many years ago r.
threaten the security of the free world, battlefield here. -1he added. ? tion "wouldn't be entering our third cen-
The CIA is being reorganized and an tury of freedom without what took place
lie said the CIA has been highly suc- here 195 years ago."
"oversight board" will assure that its
agents Will never again be involved in cessful in its struggle against. hijackings, ' Prever, Bush and other platform per-
such abuses as planned assassinations of the international drug traffic, efforts of sonalities were escorted by a colonial- -
foreign leaders, Bush added. He said he "some nations to raise prices in such a garbed color guard shouldering muskets
doesn't condone abuses but the CIA put ~ way as to endanger the world's economy and marching to fanfare from the Allen
and to spread communism, terrorism Jay Hi h'School Band. Pa. ici ants in-
an end to these abuses bef ore President Jay g art p r
and
Gerald Ford handed down an executive disruptions around the globe.
order against them. The nation's "intelligence -gathering
"The CIA and the entire intelligence community" has been badly harmed
community is under control," said Bush.': during the past year by the haves tiga-
lfe added that all of his employes will, tins and disclosures of the identity of
some agents, said Bush. But the CIA's
follow the guidelines laid down by Ford. successes come when it "aborts crises, ~iri7l,'tl~t t
Bush said be made a pledge to the . and you don't hear about them," he add-!
President, congress and senate that he ed.
would end CIA abuses and maintain the ? !
CIA as the best possible intelligence- Bush said the CIA is conducting intel-
gathering organization. ? ligence-gathering operations "not to
He said some oversight, such as tha weaken, but to strengthen our country."
planned by the congress, t~+P,r