'CHAOTIC PERSONAL LIFE' CASTS PALL ON DURENBERGER INTELLIGENCE ROLE

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00552R000202230006-8
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: December 23, 2010
• Sequence Number: 6
• Publication Date: March 13, 1986
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/12/23: CIA-RDP90-00552R000202230006-8
AF%-iCL ,..-`_J
ON FAGZ -d-=A- WASHINGTON TI
13 March 1986
`Chaotic life' cas
personal p
on Durenberger intelligence role
By Bill Gertz
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
There is growing concern in the
intelligence agencies that Sen. Da-
vid Durenberger's tortuous and tan-
gled private life has seriously dam-
aged his ability to effectively lead
the Senate Select Committee on In-
telligence, which is charged with
overseeing the way the American in-
telligence system operates.
Since taking control of the panel
14 months ago, Mr. Durenberger, 51,
Minnesota Republican, has achieved
national attention not only as a high-
profile, activist committee
chairman, but for his chaotic per-
sonal life as well.
Revelations about Mr. Durenber-
ger's marital problems and subse-
quent affair with a former employee
have strengthened the arguments of
critics who complain that Mr.
Durenberger is not the best man to
head the sensitive panel.
Professionally, Mr. Durenberger's
critics say the senator has moved
away from the laissez-faire ap-
proach adopted by his predecessor,
Sen. Barry Goldwater, and has tried
to use the intelligence post to influ-
ence the course of U.S. foreign
policy.
As a result, some observers say
the panel's new aggressive style is
reminiscent of the late 1970s when
Sen. Frank Church headed the com-
mittee and regularly pilloried the in-
telligence community in public
hearings.
"He still has the attitude that what
we want to do is restrain things and
have a Church-style approach [to
oversight I," said one committee staff
member who declined to be named.
During his tenure Mr. Durenber-
ger has opposed the Reagan admin-
istration's use of covert action pro-
grams, openly feuded with CIA
Director William Casey, made sev-
eral controversial staff changes,
faced criticism that serious leaks
about U.S. covert action programs
came from Congress, and started a
committee public relations program
that some experts believe is hazard-
ous for intelligence work. Mr. Duren-
berger declined to be interviewed
for this article.
The 15-member committee, first
constituted in 1976, was set up to be
the exclusive Senate body mon-
itoring the CIA.
Always a hotbed of controversy,
the committee has wavered over the
years from operating in relative ob-
scurity to being the focus of national
attention. Its first chairman, Sen.
Daniel Inouye, Hawaii Democrat, is
little remembered, in contrast to the
flamboyant style of former
chairman Church.
Now, the committee's public pro-
file is on an upswing. Mr. Durenber-
ger's direct criticism about how the
administration handles intelligence
issues is raising the hackles of pro-
fessionals in the community and fel-
low senators who believe the best
thing to say publicly about sensitive
intelligence matters is nothing at all.
Mr. Goldwater, who left the com-
mittee in January 1985 to take over
the Senate Armed Services Commit-
tee, has opposed the existence of the
oversight committee since its estab-
lishment.
"When I was chairman, I couldn't
prevent the members from using"
the classified information they came
across, Mr. Goldwater said,
criticizing the use of the committee
as a vehicle to influence the admin-
istration's foreign policy. "But I tried
to point out to them that it was an
abuse of senatorial privilege"
Sen. Malcolm Wallop, Wyoming
Republican, who lost a political ma-
neuver in January 1985 to become
chairman of the panel, remains
critical of the committee's work.
"There is a great need for exper-
tise and continuity" on the commit-
tee, said Mr. Wallop, who spent eight
years on the committee - the maxi-
mum allowed under law "There are
too many people, too many leaks, too
much involvement, too much turn-
over on the staff, and no real ap-
praisal of what it is that we seek to
achieve in oversight."
For the last year, Mr. Durenberger
has lived at the Cedars, an evangeli-
cal Christian fellowship house in
Arlington after splitting up with his
wife of 14 years. He is also undergo-
ing psychological counseling in Bos-
ton.
Several experts interviewed
about the general problem - with-
out specific reference to Mr. Duren-
berger - gave mixed answers about
the potential security problems
posed by the mental health traumas
he faces.
Federal guidelines, which apply
only to executive branch employees,
but not to members of Congress or
their staffs, normally would disqual-
ify an individual from working in a
security-sensitive area if they are
believed to be mentally unstable, ac-
cording to George Woloshyn, an as-
sociate director of the Office of Per-
sonnel Management who is
responsible for overseeing federal
background investigations.
"Basically a person who is psy-
chologically unbalanced ... is not
fully in control of his faculties," Mr.
Woloshyn said. "Where there is sus-
picion that an individual may not
have a sufficient sense of personal
responsibility to safeguard informa-
tion ... there's no doubt in my mind
that that person ought not gain
access to sensitive information"
A senior administration intelli-
gence expert said CIA guidelines
outlining conditions under which a
Sensitive Compartmented Informa-
tion clearance - the highest level
security clearance - can be with-
drawn include such personal prob-
lems as separation or divorce, extra-
marital affairs, psychiatic care or
unorthodox social behavior, accord-
ing to an adminstration security ex-
pert.
While Mr. Durenberger, as a
member of Congress, is not required
to have a security clearance he is
granted access - as a committee
member - to Sensitive Compart-
mented Information.
"Durenberger's case easily meets
the standards for which a security
clearance would be revoked, at least
until his problems are resolved,"
said the official who declined to be
identified.
Psychiatrist Fredric Solomon -
who has studied ways to prevent dis-
turbed persons from attacking pub-
lic officials for the U.S. Secret Serv-
ice - said the fact that a person is
seeking either psychological or psy-
chiatric counseling does not consti-
tute a danger to secret intelligence
work.
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/12/23: CIA-RDP90-00552R000202230006-8