VOWING FIDELITY TO THE CONSTITUTION, WEBSTER BECOMES DIRECTOR OF CIA

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000402840001-6
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: January 11, 2012
• Sequence Number: 1
• Publication Date: May 27, 1987
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

STAT
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/11: CIA-RDP90-00965R000402840001-6
ARTICLE APPEAR
PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER
MI PAGE 27 May 1987
ok 11
Vowing fidelity to the Constitution,
Webster becomes director of CIA
By David Hess
inquirer Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON - William H. Web?
ster, who as head of the FBI worked
to restore that agency's tarnished
reputation, yesterday was sworn in
as the 14th director of the Central
Intelligence Agency.
Directed by President Reagan to
maintain the CIA's high standards,
Webster takes over at a time when
the agency is under scrutiny by Con-
gress for its purported role in provid.
ing possibly illegal aid to Nicaraguan
contras.
Webster, in brief remarks after be-
ing sworn in by Supreme Court Jus-
tice Lewis F. Powell, pledged to carry
out the CIA's mission abroad "with
fidelity to the Constitution and to the
laws of our beloved country."
His friends have long praised Web-
ster for his devotion to the rule of
law and have said that his greatest
contribution as director of the FBI
was his constant insistence that it
adhere to strict legal procedures in
investigations and covert operations.
Reagan presided over the open-air
swearing-in ceremony at CIA head.
quarters in Langley, Va., about eight
miles from the White House.
In his new post, Webster succeeds
William J. Casey, a Reagan confidant
who died May 5, four months after
surgery for brain cancer.
Just as he praised Webster for rais-
ing the FBI's standards, Reagan also
praised Casey - a prime player in
the Office of Strategic Services in
World War II - as a person "whose
determination and personal courage
in the clandestine effort against
Adolf Hitler meant the difference
between victory and defeat."
In his remarks, Reagan also de-
fended the CIA against critics who
say it has overstepped its bounds in
carrying on questionable covert op-
erations in distant places.
"The United States cannot survive
in the modern world without a vigor.
ous intelligence agency capable of
acting swiftly in secret," Reagan
said. "So long as I am president, I will
never consent to see our intelligence
capability undermined."
The CIA, the President told several
hundred CIA employees who at-
tended the swearing-in, "is by its
very nature a likely subject of con-
troversy. Yet it is also irreplaceable."
Webster, as CIA director, will not
liberties.
More recently, Webster increased
the bureau's manpower and made
better use of high-technology equip-
ment in crime detection. He also in-
creased emphasis on investigations
of white-collar and drug-related
crimes.
Webster's departure from the FBI
has left a vacuum that the White
House appears to be having trouble
filling.
Webster was first nominated for
the CIA job two months ago. The
White House has been searching
since then for a successor at the FBI.
At least two people - former Penn.
sylvania Gov. Dick Thornburgh and
Supreme Court Justice Byron White
- have turned down the job.
Yesterday at Webster's swearing-in
ceremony, Attorney General Edwin
Meese 3d, who is spearheading the
search for a new FBI director, was
asked by reporters about the timeta.
ble for a choice.
"Soon," he replied. "There's a good
long list. We're whittling it down.
Nobody's been offered it yet."
The Associated Press contributed to
this article.
enjoy cabinet rank, as did Casey, a
close friend of Reagan's who served
as manager of his 1980 presidential
campaign.
"The cabinet status was accorded
Director Casey when he came in be-
cause he had a special relationship
with the President," said White
House spokesman Marlin Fitzwater.
"And that will revert now back to the
status it was before then."
Webster, 63, is noted chiefly for his
experience in law enforcement and
the judiciary, although he has had
some exposure to counterintelli.
gence operations as the FBI chief.
A former United States attorney in
St. Louis, Mo., his home town, and a
federal appeals court judge for the
Eighth Circuit, Webster was ap-
pointed to head the FBI in 1978.
His tenure there, particularly in
the early years, was marked by ef-
forts to undo the damage wrought by
J. Edgar Hoover, whose autocratic
administrative style and zealous
anti-communism led the bureau into
recurrent abuses of citizens' civil
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/11: CIA-RDP90-00965R000402840001-6