AN ABSURD WAY TO SPEND MONEY

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Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 
CIA-RDP88-01315R000400070071-6
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RIFPUB
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K
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3
Document Creation Date: 
December 16, 2016
Document Release Date: 
October 27, 2004
Sequence Number: 
71
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Publication Date: 
March 19, 1976
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NSPR
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WASHINGTON STAR (GREEN LINE) Approved For Release 2010%/liW 6NRDPN-01315R000400070141 e (1r1 T. Rowan c_c 'higkiiiikrosetV,? An absurd way to spend monye During 15 years in this deviously wicked city I've. seen a lot of "leaks" -- and some screwball reactions to: those leaks. But never have I seen anything as absurd as the House of Representa- tives blowing S350,000 of taxpayers' money to try to find the source of a leak. I remember Lyndon B. Johnson's peculiar obses- sion with leaks. "You're just a bunch of goddamned puppy dogs, running from one fire hy- drant to the next," he told a startled group of State De- partment officials in 1961. Johnson figured he didn't need to hire a bunch of gumshoes to find the source of a leak. When the New York Herald Tribune re- ported that he soon would tour Southeast Asia at President Kennedy's re- quest, Johnson snarled angrily: "That goddamn Chester Bowles leaked it. I know it. Now you just watch the Herald Trib for a while and you're going to see .a big puff piece on Bowles. They'll pay. him for that leak." ? '- So Johnson watched the Herald Trib, waiting for the first praise of Bowles,' which he would accept as incontrovertible proof of the source of the leak. . , We could save the coun- try S350,000 if CBS would just let. Daniel Schorr go back to work so we could wait for him to do a puff piece on some House mem- ber, thus "identifying" that Congressman as the source of the leak that supposedly has everyone upset. ? I say "supposedly" be- cause if I've learned any- thing in this town it is that everybody screaming about leaks isn't against them. Johnson pitched a (an- trum in Saigon in 1961. "Am I wearing glass pants?" he demanded. "Well, how the hell can that Spence Davis (of AP) write that I've got 550 million in my pocket for President Diem?" Pat Oliphant, whose cartoon usually appears OR this page, is on vacation. His cartoon will resume . Tuesday. About an hour later I stumbled upon a cluster of U.S. newsmen in a frantic .huddle on a Saigon side- walk. I peeked inside and ? there was Lyndon Johnson, reading to them from a "top secret" cable that he had just received from Kenne- Johnson was doing what Kennedy, Richard Nixon, Henry Kissinger and 1,000 other top officials here have done. He was engaged in a self-serving leak. Someone comes along, like Edward R. F. Sheehan, whom Kis- singer believes is going to glorify him and his Middle East diplomacy, and sud- denly that writer has access to bundles of top secret documents. A Walt Rostow wants to convince the pub- lic that the Tet offensive in Vietnam"Was a debacle for the Communists, so he leaks. like a sieve "secret" data he thinks will sell this no- tion. I remember how gum- shoes .once stumbled all over the State Department trying to find out who leaked to Peter Lisagor and the late Marguerite Higgins the content of a Conversa- tion between President Kennedy and Soviet For- eign Minister Andrei Gromyko. I had leaked it on private and specific in- structions from President Kennedy. Now, what's so different about the leak to Schorr of the Pike Committee report? In terms of the damage done to the nation, absolute- ly no difference that I can discover. ? . ? ? ? There is an element of embarrassment to the House, whose .members apparently take seriously criticism that they are "a bunch of flap-jaws" who don't deserve access to se- cret information. But I rather suspect the special problem here is that Schorr leaked his leak to 1-sc the Village Voice, an anti- establishment newspaper. ' This has provoked a here- tofore do-nothing Ethics Committee to prove it3 pa- triotism by blowing 350,000 bucks in search of a leaker. When will they face the reality that leaks are as American as baseball, baby showers and bribes? The day, we go to an absolute dictatorship will be the day we stop leaks. Correction:I wrote a col- umn ("Rip Van Winkle guards the CIA dirty trick- sters," Feb. 25) in which I stated that Leo Cherne had been chairman of an inter- national group to aid refu-- gees that "indirectly got some of its money from the CIA." This report was based on a statement by Frank Weil, president of the Norman Foundation, which was a conduit for CIA funds, that in the mid-1960s he had been asked to pass along about S15,000 in CIA funds to the International Rescue Committee. - _ Weil has said he had erred in saying that the Norman Foundation passed CIA money to the IRC. He said the CIA money went to four other groups and that it was the Norman Founda- tion's own money that it gave to the IRC. I regret having given Wail's error wider circulation and am happy to correct the record. Fierh\J k Approved For Release 2005/01/12 : CIA-RDP88-01315R000400070071-6 ' Approved For Release 2065761W:CCUL15P88-01315R00040-0070671 b 61?j_i Al oe 77 21 FEBRUARY 1916 14..)1" (icat,-0- (?_.) 1,--9 1I-6,,:eli . . e s? c-ct e. -----Ct.Z_ ?Cherkiejlniti.Not-'17ipd- to CJ.A. Fund ? By JOHN M. CREWDSON Special to The N,at York Times WASHINGTON, Feb. 20? Frank Weil, president of the Manhattan-based . Norman Foundation, said today that he erred in his assertion yesterday that 'the Central Intelligence Agency had passed about $15,- 000 through his organization ito the International Rescue rCommittee in the mid-1960's. (Mr. Well said in a telephone linterview that on checking the '20unclation's records, he - had ' 5 diacovered that none of the .S27,000 it gave to the I.R.C. ;from 1961 to 1965 had been r..pec.vicled by the intelligence im.gency. ? f" Ho said that :the $50,000 in ,C.I.A. funds passed through the foundation in that period had gone instead to four other orga- nizations- ?the American So- ciety of African Culture, the , African-American Institute, the an American Foundation an the In terrtationab Development Foundation.: ? . Leo Cherne, one of President Ford's three appointees to a new intelligence 'oversight board siLst up to check for pos- sible abuses of authority by the C.I.A. and other intelligence agencies, is board chairman of the tor.' Mr. Cherne,....,a -.professional _ said-. the work involves assistance to political refugees round the world. The I.R.C. project funded by the Norman Foundation was a- medical-service 'unit set upRoard, created by President in the Belgian Congo to aid Eisenhower in 1956, is a group Angolan refugees and others, of private citizens responsible Mr. Well said today that he for reviewing the functions , of "misrecalled" himself yester- the Federal intelligence corn day in recollecting that "a mys- munity and reporting to the terious gentleman" from the President on the conduct of C.I.A. had approached him in those agencies. 1963 or 1964 with a specific The United States Intelligence request to pass agency money Board was a high-level coordi- to the Congo medical project. mating group within the intel- ' He said he had also erred ligence _community., presided in recalling that the foundation over by the director of Central had agreed to serve as a pass- Intelligence; In the -past it met through for the funds only after as often as each- ,Week to co- deciding that the I.R.C. project ordinate intelligence data avail- would have been worthy of able from all members of the a contribution from its own community. --a related development Freedom House, an organiza- tion with which Mr. Cherne he said in the interview, `-1 has also been closely associated made a mistake. I was,-I.vrong." for many years, asked George Although he soke to Mr. Bush, director of Central Intel- Cherne. last night and again ligence, whether the C.I.A. had this. morning, he said, Mr. ever given it funds "directly Cherne "did not ask me to or- through any other- entity." do anything" with respect to setting the record straight. Ile is amending his earlier state- ments because "harm has been done," he emphasized. ceivecl $3,500 from the 1 M. Mr. cherne was appointed Kaplan Fund between 1962 and In 1973 to sit on the President's 1964. Foreign -Intelligence Advisory The Times article quoted exe- Board, which The New York calves of the Kapran Fund Times reported- erroneously to- as -having said that while they day.was abolished- by Mr. Ford had. passed C.I.A. money to this was the.. United the now-defunct Institute ? for States Intelligence Board that International Labor Research, was abolished by executive or- all the funds paid by- them lder on Wednesday. to Freedom House or to the . The President's Intelligence I.R.C. had been their own. - endowment. Was Wrong' ."Let me make it very clear," The request was in' a letter sent to. Mr. Bush that men- tioned a report, also in today's Times, that Freedom House, re- ce to - 6 1 F- e e-Ap44, CGA (11, 1, 14t1 kis-f-i fore Approved For Release 2005/01/12: CIA-RDP88-01315R000400070071-6 - Approved For Relit44_41p051001;KcipivRogo315R00040007007_14) I. co_ ? rotio CO. 0).7 C.I.A. ,TH_Joard Nominee o .7 1 . r-i , .1. 0 ji c4 it fir, - i Tne Norman YU:Ind.-neon, for-? its sources of financing to make, Mr,oeht:rno is chairman or' '.**i"5''''''''''' -F,, Li?ki (..) A- 7 ..._ __. ?. ..._______ . By JOHN )1. CREV:DSON rner1Y ,-----..0'-'?-n as th-a Aaron E. certain "i_it. the committee had Ir ii Moose's executive', :Norman Fund, was among the .not tinv...Itin;d.;?ta%en any C.I.A. committee, and has been as so- WASHINGTON. Fi..sb- 19 ? A :i.nstitutions irientified publicly nionev?%lr. Cherne repli'ed that ciatcd with the orgailization ' private humanittirian organiza- ill li as tho:3e- tliat bad that was the "siiiiest uuestion since 1945. tion headed: bv Leo Cherne, one .served as "conduits" for C.I..-", I've ever lie,tird." ! An executive or ;he 'Kaplan of pre"titcierA -Ford's appointreS ,..,..,.1._.,,,, 01 . a ninnlyr of do-. It would have been next to Fund said today, hov.-ever. that _fin,: -?'-, tO Et new committee that will .-1,41'.'t,'4..--4:',.''''.19-ln-z.lonss-prine-ipal-; imnossible, ,it' said. to cult the his foundation's co..eieration investigate possitde abusies? of. .iy tne. ;itit,inal Student Asso-: co:;.tribation records of an or with the. intelii,e_nce agency authority by the Central Intel-, icianC1. . ! ganization that raised in the hail been limited to tile uncler-- ligence Awncy, reportedly re-; ' .-11rose dkdosures proninted r.. i)( f f.?-'3 ;Milian eacliewritinit of a single program in ceived some S15,000 of C.I.A.' ,Prosident Johnson to esttibliSh ',..!Etr to examine them for dona- the H1;30's, and that none oi. funds? in the mid-toso,s thlt, .i.m. ,ii-xcEnigating committee. to?-tions that might have initiatecl.the S21,500 given ii-,v it to the; Were channeled -. through, a. ,iVON: i.Eliti. ti1e. af,,ency's it 0" with?the C?1?A. hut reached the:rescue committe.e or the S3.500 New' York City phi!anth;:opic s:liPs with domestic grotins,i cotarnit:ca-"twei or three tintesigiven to l'reedoin House had; organization. t (mat Mr.. Johnson siii):eutientlyi removed." , . ? ? -1b2en stipplied by the intelli-i ?orocred .all Fedora/ agi-mcies to ?7,1.a.?, Chorne,-who sounded dis-!e,e.ice 1.p.,eIicy. -- - !------Frank.....-NVell;e-Pre.sident.:-.-ofi . ? - halt tater .coi.,ert fientMg - I : isuch organizatiOnS. - . Of. tressed at the disclosure. hi The Kaplan Fund, accordingl the. Maiihattan-based Norman: . Keeping Independence . Mr. SVeil, later spoke with GiPto tax. records cornpiled by 4 ? ,/ Fotmciation, said in a teleplione.i interview today that he was! ? Jones, whom be identified rtsGroup Research, an rirganiza-- ? 't approached by "a mysterious, Mr. Cherne, who dc.scriborl th.:-. I.R..C. fund-raise throughlion here that monitors tc.ej gein:enai.n i.unt to C.I.A. in! ;the-committee as. on, 0( his- I.vr!--7.1 tne.1';urula,:t in.on.ray wiiis.activities of privre.e fotinda-1 4, --, " ?-?..-- i??-, li b"-- ? id 1 ? ? ,rece:verl, and n!oortert that Mr. :tions, !_lave the I.R.c. S10,0001 Tc'.e-001 C v T 0 t td t?' 1-1 (.5-ency .1. 1953 or 11(1-1 and asked to pass about S15,01-i0 in Government funds to the International cue Committee, of whiell Mr., Clierne was then- chairman ofi the board?- -- Mn. Wel! recalled. that the . funds had been earmarkcd for a medical services projet in- iwhat was then the EJge ' !Congo that was being stile3nit.: ti! by the rescue committee. But.; he said he was uncer,_ain! whether Mr. Clicrne or anyone: else there had..bcen told that the money v.-as from the C.I.A. and not front the foundation's endowment. - .. . - Mr. Cherne, reached at his New York City office, said that neither he "nor any official of the I.R.C. had the slightest knowledge that any of those funds were C.I.A. funds." He said that the committee, which he has headed since 1951, had "never sought C.I.A; funds" and would not have "welcomed" them if they had 'been offered overtly. On Previous Board President Ford announced on Tuesday ?thrit he was naming Mr. Chortle to the newly estab- lished intelligence , oversight board, set up as part of Mr. Ford's reforms. of intelligence community operations to moni- tor the C.I.A.' s - activities for possible. Illegalities or impro- . .._ oric.'iaes.- ? Mr. Cherne had previously been a member of the Presi- dent's Foreign Intelligence Ad- visory Board, which Mr. Ford abolished yesterday.. . ' '. ? ' -dI 110 '''' '''' 'June.: had not "the foggiest"'in 1903 for assistance to reful diligently over the YeIrs "to' O the indepe;vient sta- Lica thet the or Fotinde-igees fleeing Cz,-ancslovakial .tfacui had not. been the initialiafter the Soviet invasion Iii it tus" of the organ/ ition sly.. sre f mone i,, I A f.',ust. in gthat he believed that its iree o' the y. u freedom from government Is : ..?''-- Cil`'rric' is an r':?nn:!nis'- I The coniniittee received an- sociations was crucial to its or f!nd. c.ieci.i.t,iSt-.e,!vsheir fS,1.0,,09,C;),.fri-,c,,e,%tiLioe 1,zti.ridoliiiii. iivolk abroad. i dea...ctor or the hesearca Iii.,.t-i ..); el t.t543.44.:1_ . x._ .4.4. ,, of tt ne of America, which pub-trait:gees (lisp:a:cu., by toe Pahl- A5!' d whY' in the \Yak- - ''ll.?1-- ----sletter; ;nd advisci.-1.1staid ar, P.-id S1,000 i:1 la:1 10 :hEt 10,;7 disclostires, he .1-Kii. : ..--si Y`i:' f ?-Iii---,;esrimen. - laid r'fr,ii.e. in Sou'i- Vie-nem iot asked the I.R.C. to recheck .1),:11nP-Let-s c- .1- s.. . , was vice chairrnan mi. Weil Is Disputed ,. . I972 of Democrats for Nixoul -Ir. weirs r,,...coli.?..tiort that 1 s been associatedwe-' 1- ?... h , - ,, ie .1.A. money gi Cu. to the ;Committee had beee used to F.,,,.?) c..rganizations :s the Citi- zeos' Committee f'. a r ? reeisunpart the Belai,in C'.,:lgo Cuba, the Council Against Com--!IwAical orogram, v..i...ch offered TrItiliSt . Ar!gression and thcins t;erV;CC'S to ?Au-i-,--lan ro1.11- Citizens' Committee. for Peace.,.,es and ot!lers ,, ,..?, ,,,,,,,,,, witI Freedom in Vietc.am. ac--,,: dis,inted by ."\"nu-r"e?.?, `'if`4.. co:dim; to the records of Grouillina'n, ' also an officer of the Research. 1N0rman Foundation. ?One of the foundations iden-1 Mr. Norman said he recalled tiled in 11)77 Its h ,c1. avi" cn-ohat the agemey monc-v passed operated with the C.I.A. in co-ithrough his fo-undatioit to the w vert financing efforts as theIR.c: had gone to sonort 3. M. Kaplan Fund, also --ro ; :soine effort in Latin America.i Nev.. York, and which over thethe details of which he said years has contrileited not onlyili, couid not remember, andi to the rescue group but alsoithat the amount involved had! to Freedom House, an organi-tbE-en a "nnximum of $15,000."h zation that monitors and re-: i 7__ _ . ports on the degree of freedom, that exists in other countries of the world. .. I () k - /19-1:::: :7 u 714.7A e / :7/ 1::,1-e-: f,-- j , Pt I, k 4-P(41-I Approved For Release 2005/01/12 : CIA-RDP88-01315R000a0M0t71-1? ? Cu