'COMPANY BUSINESS': A REAL-LIFE SPY CHILLER

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00806R000100070002-1
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: September 13, 2010
• Sequence Number: 2
• Publication Date: November 2, 1982
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

STAT Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/09/13: CIA-RDP90-00806R000100070002-1
r ' ; - --? THE FAIRFAX JOURNAL
(;S 2 November 1982
On Company Business
(not rated)
A Real-Life Spy Chiller:
Company Business's
EASTMAN
By PEGGYOUnr
uv.o+rdn^J
"On Company Business" is a grim-
ly factual documentary on how the
U.S. Central Intelligence Agency
(CIA) penetrated, manipulated or
insinuated its way into foreign gov-
ernments and the press. The story is
an indictment not of the CIA itself
but of American presidents who, it is
reported, know exactly what the
agency is doing and look the other
wa .
This is the two-year-old film
Washingtonians could not see in its
entirety before because the Public
Broadcasting System is said to have
yielded to CIA pressure and did not
run the third part when the film was
shown in segments on the PBS affili-
ate WETA in May, 1980. Director
Allan Francovich has in his files a
letter of apology sent to CIA officials
by TV executive Ward Chamberlain.
Francovich believes it's obvious that
WETA feared a government funding
cutback in retaliation for showing
the film in its full-length three-hour
format
As a film, "On Company Busi-
ness" suffers from some of the dra-
matic pitfalls inherent. in making a
documentary. 'The first part, during
which former agents speak candidly
about the agency and old newsreel
clips are shown, serves as back.
ground for parts one and two, which
are far more dramatic and chilling.
The first part tends to move slowly,
while Francovich efficiently and
thoroughly presents the rationale for
the agency's founding in 1947 and
gives historical figures' views of its
importance in the cold war years.
But the film picks up in part two,
during which former CIA operatives,
former New York Times newsman
A.J. Langguth and CIA victims talk
about interroation and torture
sanctioned aril practiced in other
countries by CIA agents. Langguth
recounts how wires that deliver high-
voltage shocks were placed in torture
victims' mouths and on their
genitals.
__..g ..
for ternational drty tricks than the We.
Comer j er (A Ausines officials who a fact have tnot not tergate dirty tricks that lost Richard turned against the agency dig their Nixon the presidency, the documen-
own graves on camera. Suave, slip. tar), repots. For example, former
e
heery David Atlee Phillips allows as toCIA ld to keep no books and ~equently
people ow you !gents
d gents want to would spend be the time on a last traveled with briefcases full of
desert island with, but after all some- money.
one has to do this devious dirty work. - Philip Agee, the former CIA oper-
Former CIA head (1973-75) William ative whose expose on the CIA ("Ip-
side the Compan forced him to
Colby comes off as a jut-jawed, leave the United ') States and got hiiFn
mechanistic robot devoid of empa- -+deported.from EngLndr served as~a
thy or remorse. consultant on this film and is ane pf
It is'a matter of record that the the principals in it. Yet this is not.a
CIA infiltrated Cuba, planned an as- sour grapes story told by a former
ssssination attempt on Fidel Castro, employee; it is a comprehensive
tried bard to keep the late Salvador agency self-indictment. This is the.
Allende from becoming top man in agency that hired the likes of David-
Chile, wanted the Belgium Congo's Bin, a mercenary in Angola who
Lumumba destroyed and mounted a much Preferred dirty tricks to carry-
terrorist initiative in Angola with ing a lunch pail and working from.9
paid mercenaries. Lm well known is to -5 with a 10-minute coffee break In
the extent to which the CIA has co- between. "It just isn't my style," e
opted trade unions around the world, said of the lunch-pail life.
a fact made blatantley obvious in It would have been essierfot?Allin
Francovich's film. Prancovich to do a fictional mov c an
The American Institute for Free the CIA, but it would have bein
Labor Development in Front Royal, more expensive (this Mm cost sbopt
Va. is nothing more than a front for $300,000) and undoubtedly woWd
training labor organizers who are not have been such a strong indi*.
used by the CIA to kill off foreign ment-
bor movements and depose legiti- c.,,o?yN,r,s.t o.w.wi~;,,~
mately elected leaders, Francovich C.r*s-?tb??aL
~wtl. N wale Y..e w. w ~. an .uwy Ir~.L..L.
contends er..rv. a w.sW.be per.. ~ .
In essence, this film is a brutal in-
dictment of a U.S. system that sanc-
tions presidents who not only con-
done torture, oppression and the
suffering of innocent people, but or-
der such treatment in high-level
staterooms through "non-directives"
they never write down and would
deny vehemently if caught. In a real
sense, CIA operatives are plumbers
going about far more destructive in-
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/09/13: CIA-RDP90-00806R000100070002-1