EXPERTS RAP, DEFEND CIA: EVIL EMPIRE, BENEVOLENT FORCE

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00552R000605740012-8
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 25, 2010
• Sequence Number: 12
• Publication Date: February 20, 1984
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/08/25: CIA-RDP90-00552R000605740012-8
STATES ITEM TIMES PICAYUNE (LA~
20 February 1984
Experts tap,-,defend evil empire, benevolent
By JAMES HODGE nary , but that It should be controlled to to 'the ;financial data of hundreds of
A former. CIA chief, an ex-KGB (, avoid abuses. He said Watergate was a - people.
agent, a Watergate burglar and an prime example of how it was used for He would then be in position to take
author on international espionage political purposm advantage of'someone who fell on hard
came in out of the cold Sundaynight to "This is 1984," said Wise, and times and may be willing to help the
talk about.undercover operations.. Americans should beware. . Soviets.
Speaking at a Tulane University He said a Senate report on assassin- Colby said he thinks the difference
Direction '84 program, espionage Irons shows the. CIA also tried to kill` between the two agencies. is that the.
author David Wise characterized CIA Congo (now' Zairq), leader Patrice CIA .has reliable but, few sources of
operations as rather ominous. He I Lumumbabypoisomng his toothbrush !Information about the Soviets, while
elected officials need to control the -Colby admitted. the. CIA hadconsid- the. KGB bas an abundance. of infor-
agency to prevent foreign assassins- , ered "an assassination program" there, . nation about .the United States, but
tions and domestic spying. . but scrapped lh:' a - doesn't know which pieces are correct.
Former CIA Director William Colby !C- Liddy backed Colby In ' downplaying Colby also said he thought Ameri-
said the agency is "not an evil empire." the .CIA's intentions to assassinate cans have "sobered up from the binge"
It was founded to be "more ruthless opposition leaders, asking Wise if be . in the 1970s of being distrustful of the
than its enemies," he said, but the believes ' the CIA gave ."Chairman . CIA.-
agency's abuses "have been few.-and Andropov his bad cold." - Colby confirmed Wise's allegation
far between." Liddy said the CIA is more of a, that the CIA once screened 28 mil-
Colby said the CIA has been too con- benevolent force than the KGB. "The "lion letters of Americans in violation
trolled, that it does not engage in I difference is that' the KGB would throw of federal law, but said the letters
assassinating enemy, leaders, although a little lady. into an oncoming train,, were only those coming from the
admitting that in Fidel Castro's case it and the CIA would push her out of the U-S.S.R.
was not "for lack of trying." way." "They weren't your letters to Aunt
He referred to the CIA attempt to Vladimir Sakharov, a. former.KGB Minny, " be told the audience.
have the Mafia poison the Cuban dicta- turned-CIA . agent, said- the difference Wise then rebutted Colby's conten-
for as one of its more stupid miacalcu-etweect. theroiteli~ence opera= j Ikon that. the CIA has operated within
lations. ..Apps is one of wetiod. A he law in the last 10 years. '
oily - also said he would " lye The CIA is a think tank, be said, "How do we know? Wise said. He
cheerfully carried a bomb into fitter' I.t hereas the KGB spends most 'of .its said President Reagan -has issued an
bunker." mesetting up?communications. executive order allowing covert
Add to Hitler, Lib a's Moammar r domestic operations and has revam
y .r Sakharov, who was at the heart ;of l
Khadafy, said G. Gordon Liddy, con- CGS operations in the Middle East, the declassification system so that doc-
victed Watergate conspirator sad
was largely public vela- uments don't automatically become
his job
former general counsel to Richard public after a certain period of time.
Nixon's Committee to Re-Elect the ;Oons~~ "selling the Soviet point of Wise also said the CIA is involved in
President 00 ew' }wide-spread covert operations around
The-'end sometimes justifies the . The Soviet agents 'try to make the world, most notably in Nicaragua.
means when it comes to breaking the Mends and establish ties, especially in Because it's an election year, Wise
law, Liddy said. This is as true in spy- ird World countries. :said, Reagan has discontinued the use
ing as in the case of the husband who He said the; greatest danger to the of lie detector tests on federal employ-
goes through a red light to get his united States is the computerization of '. ees.
pregnant wife to the hospital quicker, information. If he were 'still a KGB
he said. agent, he said he would open up a car
"Spying is the oldest or at least the yleglerstup that would allow him access
second-oldest profession," he said. The
Bible gives evidence that Moses car-
ried on economic and military spying,
he said.
Man spies to determine the capabili-
ties of his enemies and their inten-
tions, he said. The only way to end the
business would be to "change the
nature of man," he said.
Wise, author of "The Invisible Gov-
ernment," said that spying is neces- -
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/08/25: CIA-RDP90-00552R000605740012-8
 Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/08/25: CIA-RDP90-00552R000605740012-8
staff photo by Noradvn J. Berteaaz Jr.
rK
PY F RUM - Former CIA Bfrect& right, diocm espionage and the price
IM
In Colby,' above, end `yia lr ' of information -at Talane'a Direetba
sei.R.e.r. r at., E+v
Sakharov, former KGB and CIA agent, 8,.
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/08/25: CIA-RDP90-00552R000605740012-8