HELMS AT CENTER OF CONTROVERSY ON DISCLOSURES

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00552R000302620033-4
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: July 20, 2010
• Sequence Number: 33
• Publication Date: May 17, 1984
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/07/20: CIA-RDP90-00552R000302620033-4
ARTICLE APPEARED NEW YORK TIMES
ON PAGE 4 ' -~ 17 May 1984
'Helms a t Center name of the station, however. But com-
mittee members, angered by the reve-
lations, said the speech was the first
Of Controversy tdisclosure that the agency had a role in
the Salvadoran elections.
? Mr. Helms said he agreed with Mr.
On Drs closures Goldwater and Mr. Moynihan that any-
one wh Al 1
d
i
i
f
By MARTIN TOLCHIN
Special to The New York 71mea
e
o sc os comm
ttee
n
orms.
tion "ought to be rebuked." He added
that the disclosure of an "eyes only"
letter rebuking him was an unauthor-
ized leak, and he suggested that the
leakers be subjected to disciplinary ac-
to approve what has transpired."
Committee members said that this
speech was the first public disclosure
of the agency's role in the elections, but
Mr. Helms said this was the informa-
tion that came from a Salvadoran radio
station.
Helms Calls Others Guilty
The Senator said that other senators
routinely violated the Senate rule
against disclosure of classified infor.
mation. "Time and time again I have
come out of code-level briefings of the
Foreign Relations Committee and seen
other senators at the microphones,
WASiilivcs r-VN, may 16 - Senator i tion by the Senate.
.Jesse Helms found himself in the can-, In their letter, Mr. Goldwater and
ter of a controversy among his Senate Mr. Moynihan asked the Senate leaders
colleagues today as be vehemently
denied that he had disclosed iz1forma-
1; Lion from the Senate intelligence coln-
lmittee. ..
The North Carolina Republican, a
leading Senate conservative and an ad-
vocate of strong military forces, was
jointly rebuked by Senator Barry Gold-
water of Arizona, the founder of the
modern conservative movement in the
Republican Party, and by Senator Dan-
iel Patrick Moynihan of New York, a
Democrat with extensive experience in
foreign affairs and intelligence mat-
ters.
They accused Mr. Helms of disclos-
ing committee Information about cov-
ert election aid the Central Intelligence
Agency gave to Jose Napoleon Duart
e,
the President-elect of El Salvador.
Rebukers Are Challenged
Mr. Helms challenged Senators
Goldwater, chairman of the intelli-
gence committee, and Moynihan, the
vice chairman, to substantiate their
charges that he had violated the Senate
rules by disclosing information ob-
tained from the committee. The
charges were made in a letter of re-
buke, hand-delivered to the Senate ma-
jority and minority leaders. Mr. Helms
said no one had spoken to him about the
charges. -
"It is a falsehood to suggest that I got
one scintilla of information from the
Senate intelligence .committee," Mr.
Helms said. "I got It from El Salva-
dor."
"I have never leaked anything and I
never will," he added.
He declined, however, to cite the spe-
cific source of the information because,
he said, "I don't want anyone to get
shot down there."
The Senator said his disclosure on
the Senate floor last week of an agency
briefing of the committee, concerning
the C.I.A. role in the Salvadoran elec-
tion, was based on information broad-
cast by a San Salvador radio station.
Mfr. Helms said he did not know the
to remind their colleagues that disclo- talking to the press," Mr. Helms said.
sure of confidential information via "I always walk on by."
lated Senate rules and was punishable Ina related development, a House-enate by reprimand, censure or even expel- tion of a Senate-approved aopd coposal t-
Sion. The letter, shown to the two lead- tion d 7 miin military proposal t-
ers, is in the committee's safe. It was provide $61.7 million in military aid to
described by two senators as refl' El Salvador and $21 million in covert
the unanimous view of c1 aid to Nicaraguan rebels. The House,
members that thew Senate rules committee t had which had provided money for neither,
was widely regarded as ready to yield
broken that Mr. Helms.
been
Mr. Helms said disclosure of the re- on El Salvador but remain firm on
buke damaged his campaign for re- Ni"The House has a.
election against Gov. James B. Hunt voted twice stop
Jr., a Democrat, in military-conscious the war in n Nicaragua, ' Reprasen tatiivye
North Carolina. He said articles about Edward P. Boland, Democrat of M>#s
-
the disclosure were displayed on the genre sachusetts and chairman of the intelli-
ence committee, told the conferees.
front pages of the ma joi? newspapers of "This is not negotiable."
the state, adding, "This set Hunt afire
in North Carolina." Senator Ted Stevens' Republican of
Several Refuse to Comment
Both Mr. Goldwater and Mr. Moyni-
Alaska and the majority whip, told the
conferees: "There are still people out
in the field right now, and the money is
their aides. Similarly, Senator Howard Mr
I -nd~~~--~_ed: "There are suffi-
they
H. Baker Jr., Republican of Tennessee, went now w to to wind it t down, i , if they
the majority leader, told reporters, "I to funds ne
really prefer not to comment on this." was. it. They have reduced whateduced the cap
But another member of the intelli. ; . They c c oulld h spend-
But But they didn't want to do it that
gence committee noted that, in addi- way.,,
' tion, Mr. Helms referred to a commit-
tee briefing in his Senate floor speech
last week. In his speech, he charged
that the agency had provided "compre-
hensive across-the-board services," in-
cluding money for precinct organizers,
radio and television advertisements
and computer voter registration.
. Mr. Helms also said in the speech:
"It is my understanding that not even
the Senate Select Committee on Intelli-
gence was informed of the funding of
Duarte until last Thursday - the day '
after particulars I revealed in a speech
on the Senate floor wei made public. I
do not know what went on at that meet-
ing, but I have been given to under-
stand that senators who heard the news
declined to go to El Salvador as elect
tion observers because they did not
want to be in the msition of anoearins
STAT
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/07/20: CIA-RDP90-00552R000302620033-4