THEODORE SORENSEN

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-01089R000100070001-5
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 11
• Document Creation Date: December 19, 2016
• Document Release Date: September 27, 2005
• Sequence Number: 1
• Publication Date: February 2, 1977
• Content Type: OPEN

2050 1NGRESSION'AI, RECORD -- SENA TE
?Ni'muid be "anApprdie githlittil21105/1142,43.414APP9PALIOMPPPP
. .
and. ;Kcurate yecords be kept of purchases,
4retnsportation, storage, 'weighing, and
octsl inspections- and official weighings.
ern.- These are record e that elevators generally
.ir'e keep in the normal course of business Also,
h the Administrator of the FICUS could pre-.;
scribe the keeping of other records concern--
lug :the. processing of grain,- as required to
'facilitate the administration of the Act. '
-'-'-?However, the Secretary of ',Agriculture
would be required to complete a study with--
in six months after enactment of this Bill,
that addresses - the various record-keeping
..-reqpiremente of the Commodity Credit Cote.
poration, the; United- States Wareho Act,;
and the- Grain Standards Act use : The Seeretary:
tirOuld be.required to develop a single record-
keeping-system for use by grain elevators,
?that would be applicable to all three pro-
n grams. Also, the system would be adaptable
t to individual elevators, based on their size,
complexitynand business porposes. '
ni7.0,:.ne',:aeteeee ,?
Seetioarl.providea for- the eatabli.hment
'of 's,temporary advisory. committee. to pro-
.4 vide consultation and advice to the Adminis-
tratier- of the Federal Grain Inspection Serv-.
-:Oce With respect to the implementation a
the -United tneetee ?rah! Standards of
e-19711,-, in: order to 4ssirre thet oil:lei-1y and
.timely movement of graIn from the fanner
to the-, consumer i faellitatcd t, tl:Cuaw
A reouirements a this Ant, ,
The Committee would be 'Composed of `1.:
:4nembees rerereeentina vrain producers, con-,
ee Burners,. and all seer:lents of. the vain incluse
try. inclurllne vro.lio inspection and welshing.
asfencies, The Secretary Inroad Ire, reouired to:
appoint the exmanittos, within 30 daye after.,
.:?the effective date of this Ao,.. _
. .
amended to rem3ire--
(1) '-the ms. teriaucc ccr: rozords on pur-
chases, sales, trensportatit etorege, weign-
lug, and official inspection P.'ts, official weign-
ing of inalre and
? (2) such other grain pro..essing records as
. the Administrator may prescribe as necessary-
. to facilitate the administration of the Act. '
election 4(b) of the bill would require the.
Secretary: of Agriculture to review the ree-
ord-keeping requirements -for grain elevator
operators, :,:ander the United States WarD
house Act, the rulee of the Commodity Credit
Corporation., and the United States Ware-
e, house. Act. Based on his review, the Seeretary
would be required to develop a singe record--
keeping-system that meets the requirements
of the Commodity Credit Corporation and
Lliv:e Acts, and which taker, iI-dto account -Ole
squAng sizes, complexity, s-ad business
poses of grain elevators,
RIDDING FOR INSPECTION AND I,PADING Or
.C4.112MODITIES
- ? 11 a 'alio/al
-4.11TRATiDN'il taP .1.1-114 ADVISOAT
.COMMITTCR '
?
Section 2 Provides that the Committee shall IS: and Pfivete.'
generally operate under the provisions of !'''''Im5?
the Federal -Advisory Committee Act. Note: Abe cosi of Warehouse Adrninistiatran Act 53P,500,00U
The Secretary of Aeritralturc would pro a"'"17' 4/"Priation? ?
vide tilts Committee with necessary clerical Source; USDA AP/IS and NIS, '
assistance, stair personnel, and quarters -? "??
-Members of the Committee would not re.L.
This
ebruailf-
ioqingoolA
c generally t is a factual
? account of what actually hi ped,
what various members of the committee
did or said relating to this particular
nomination, ?
? ?r- believe it goes a long way toward set-
? ting the record. straight as far as thin
situation Is concerned. T believe it
in im-
portant that the misconceptions and the ;
inaccuracies that had-been presented to
the American people following the with-
drawal of Mr. Sorensen's 13ame_s. f;
nominee for Director of Central Tntelli-
fience should be ? corrected.- ,
think it is important that the Senate
itself understand what most members of
the ,select committee- fell, was their .re
sponsibility in this matter, -
Mr. President, I. ask Unanimous con7.
sent.that the story that appeared today,---
In the-New.York Times .be printed in the
- troll
TFOR5":' appropri-
fees atiees
totioo.
"fobaccri.,
I Peroroct ..?
Feb aod vegetables_ ......
Pau% . '
.
Grao.
? 's'efeded fiscal yearrifilli.:::. 40
Nora
,,-.-ceive any Compensation for then work on
,TITEODORE SCriftENSEN ?
- the Committee, than travel expenseen-
oe..)' The ComMittee would cease- to exist at , Mr:1-TUDDLESTON. Mr, President, OKI
,.,?-trie expiration of two yearsproceeding anuary 17, the President":: designee for
appointment. ,,
, '-
' --' ', ? '-????:;'27:': the position of Director of Central, Intel-,
,.. ,.?.
"srerlw'r 3-VISPECII?N tjeE11VISInil -t''Ine'S-'::-licence,Mr..Theodore .Sorensen rir New
-..Section.3-would repeal paragraph (2) of yor%., willuleew his name Irons consider-
- 'section...7M, and paragraph.- 12) of section atioti. Withdrawal came at the beginning
' 7A(.1)., of the United States Grain Standards of
. the. hearings scheduled by the Select
f---Act, ?which require tleat designatedfficial o
inspection and weigbing agencies and State Co.nunittee of the Senate on Intelligent*:
agencres;to-f;Iee authority has beer, dole- ''.w -t-- responsibility or considerirt I h a I
,
, gated- for theperforinance cf Inspection and noinitiation. , . 'cr,:--;e ???',: .? ,
.2:. :weighing at export port locations, pay fees ? Following that rather p-,- i;mati,,2 and
l' to support the cost t r direct Federal super-. unexpected turn of ovei ,I.? , there wan
-vision of tiler activities, - '.''^- ,?...7'''` - -????!- naturally ft id. 5? Of pr'e-sS IIITant,.. at
_.,,,4; This section would also firrairtld section 21 tempting to doscribc no f :11 Clark:sr -3 floc; :
'of. the United State Swain Standards Act-
, and ..the actions and nwtives of gorm.
-wlaicia provides for appropriations The au:),
.;thortzation' for appropriations ,to Cover- ad-.:, menibers a the .i;ornnrittee that led. to
ininirtrative and supervisory costs would be ? -
Mr. Sorensen withdrawal. .
expanded, in conjunction; with the changes Virtually -all of those press reports
"7 Made, in ,the Federal fee structures, to in., Vastly' overstated the conditions that
,-. crude all Federal administrative and surier!," actually-- existed, , Some bondereff - on
vleerY-eeete., ' ,..s.'':- hysteria,;': . -' . " .::"-- -.;---'?, ,'-!?-?':- i---' ----
., ..-,-.-.= fpidi,..:f,- ,--fil....r-fgfi,4473-, --,
--,,,,. SECTION 4?ACCORDS
t, , -.....;; - -;.".;? 4,7..,:..,,,,.Today in the New York Times there
f,3ection 4(a) of this billewould'amenasee- .:appeared .a 'story of some length pre-
-, ' tion:12 (d) 'of the United States Grain Stand, pared and written by a number of sere-
- arcIrr Act, which requires commercial grain s,rate- journalists which attempted, to gel,
co elevator .operators and grain merchandleame the facts and tell the story alit actually
. 'who- use inspection or weighing services un-. happened.:- ,li .7 '...%..- !.. :,' -....,..,..,' r' '. '''' 2 .'
r der the Act to -keep, certain types of records .,,,
'; enumerated in the law, and gives the Secre- ,. . X laVO read the Story ad te, Mcrobor of
". ,
'. tary, of Agriculture and the Administrator the select committee.: 1. have talked to
of the Federal Grain Inspection Service ac, other members of the Select Committee
, cess to such records and the elevator facility.' en,Intelligence who Contributed .4") ithis
,
,. ; Tile :requirement forl?the,?maintenance,9f , steg 01(? are recorded in It..,,,.,,,
.,
, ?
There being no -objection, the artiGiC
was ordered to be printed in the RECORn, -
as follows:, ? " '
? REJACT,ION 05 SORENZI:1 - D.11A1W-.
?-
. HUMAN FAILING
WmAuNwioN, February -1-netIrlent Car-
ter's effort ter install Theodore C. Sorensen a
the Director of Central Intellige?enwas not
blocked. It collapsed. "-tee
After hie dramatic ? wit)) dia -,;an. 7
at the siert of televised eonfirmetion pro-.
eeedings-- -Me: Sorensen sugeested and the
conspiracy- conscious capital embraced tbe
?otion that militarists, -spies,. right- Wier.; PC-
tivists and partisan politicians bad combiner'
to prevent: a liberal, pacifist exilic of Coyel.i.
Ii ecu undertakthi; institin
tio?al redeem. 1 ? ? -..
- nin a ICCOnStrOCUOTrOT CVCIAF; that led
to the collapse of the ?omioatione -a rare de
feet for an theoming Prer:id cot.--- shows as
it. was instead a drama of narrower Mimeo
din-AIM:Acme.
izryitan.sofe ON GAR'0:1;
TiVOlvcd -were Mr. Sorense?e, ow), rceoe.
nee to become the. chief of tne intelligence
mmunity, perSonality conflicts, timidity
ong Senate liberals and Dernoeretc, and,
a ye an misjudgments and an apparent
? of nerve by the new Adirelnistratio?. -
-those -involved in it, the episode said
at eel. as much about. the style and motives
of the -new President se It told ebout tent ?
nomination ), o sou tti ed. ,
Mr, Carter promised, to erdeet a Can;ii '
carefully arid to consult extensively with the
Democratic Co?grcss. But be evidently se-
leeted Mr. SorCIISCJI without a thorough In-
quify -Into his background. Mr. Carier oever
epolte to the chairman of 'ate Senate te eei. ?
committee on Intelligence, Senator Jeanne 3.
'inouye of hawaIi, until the nomination -was
in trouble. Surprised by the extent of dissent
the ;nomination generated among Senate
Democrats, Mr: Carter never asked the-Sens;
tors to put aside their cloyMte erid support.
his nominee. Mr. Carter -backed away from -
Liu! nomination without consulting_ the Sen.
8.-te Democratic leader, Robert G. Byrd of West
Virginia, about either the chances or deehe
ability of a fight to confirm Mr. Sorensen.
Five days- before be took office, the Presi-
dent told Mr. Sorensen It was "up to you"
whether the embattled nominee should fight
for confirmation.
But, then the new President; anxious.- to '
avert a narrow, partisan_ victory or an out-
right defeat' by Congress at the starteof bin -
Administration, guided Me Sorensen to e
decision to, abandon the contest. When the '
nominee's deliberations hinged on an Sc'
curate count-of support among Senate Demo-
SECTION. 2-
?
'nen ? :nee lee yet* ales
60C1160 7
, ?
roved FabRoditisssR9945/itl inCORIERDPANNTE9 R000100070001-5
February 2, 197PP S2051
prats Mr. Carter gave Mr. Sorensen a tally
that was incomplete and misleading. And
he urged Mr. Sorensen to consult a confidant
who, Mr. Carter knew, would likely counsel
withdrawal.
Still nursing his wounded pride in the Vir-
gin Islands until today, Theodore Chaiken
Sorensen, 48-year-old former aide to Presi-
dents Kennedy and Johnson, was described
,as being puzzled even now over what had
happened to his nomination. What follows,
based on interviews with more than 40 per-
sons who were involved, including several
who reconstructed key conversations but
insisted on anonymity, is the account.
THE SELECTION
On Dec. 22, Senator Robert B. Morgan of
North Carolina, a Democrat on the senate
Intelligence Committee, read a speculative
account in The Washington Star that Mr.
Sorensen would be named to direct the Cen-
tral Intelligence Agency. When Frank Moore,
Mr. Carter's assistant for congressional liai-
son, telephoned on another matter, Senator
Morgan told the aide: "Lord, I'm glad you
called. Don't appoint him to the C.I.A. job."
The Senator based his objection on a belief
that Mr. Sorensen had not been candid with
the intelligence committee when he testified
that President Kennedy had been unaware
of C.I.A. plots to assassinate Fidel Castro,
the Cuban Prime Minister. The Senator said
as much to Mr. Sorensen, who could not dis-
suade Mr. Morgan.
The Carter aide reassured Senator Morgan;
"he's not going to be appointed," Mr. Moore
told him.
That same day, Kenneth P. O'Donnell, a
Boston business consultant who had been
President Kennedy's appointments secretary,
spoke by telephone to Greg Schneiders, a
Carter assistant working at the transition
offices in Americus. Ga.
Mr. Sorensen protested his old colleague
from the Kennedy White House, was a con-
scientious objector during the Korean ikvar
and would be in an untenable position deal-
ing with military officers in the intelligence
agencies. "They're not going to stand for it,"
Mr. O'Donnel said. "I don't want to see Car-
ter get hurt by this."
ADVICE RELAYED TO CARTER
The conversation was interrupted by a call
to Mr. Schneiders from Mr. Carter in nearby
Plains. Coming back on the line with Mr.
O'Donnell, Mr. Schneiders said he had passed
the advice on to the President-elect.
The next day, Dec. 23, Mr. Carter announced
the Sorensen nomination.
Most of the eight Democrats and seven
Republicans on the Intelligence Committee,
whose consent to the nomination was es-
sential, were mystified. Mr. Carter's aides
called the selection "unexpected." As re-
cently as last week, few participants in the
episode of 'the ill-fated nomination under-
stood how and why Mr. Sorensen was chosen.
As an assistant to President Kennedy, he
had been known as a brilliant speech writer
and "chief of staff for ideas." As a New York
City lawyer, he was a sometime adviser to
political candidates, had raised campaign
funds for Mr. Carter and had contributed
ideas for speeches and the Presidential cam-
paign debates. But he had a limited foreign
policy background and no experience man-
aging large institutions.
The explanation for the choice lay in the
contact Mr. Carter and his senior advisers
had with Mr. Sorensen's keen intellect, in
the new President's search for a gifted out-
sider to control the intelligence agencies?
and in an accidental conversation.
SORENSEN'S COUNSEL SOUGHT
Jack H. Watson Jr., who planned Mr. Car-
ter's transition and is now th,e President's
Cabinet secretary, elicited Mr. Sorensen's ad-
vice in choosing Cabinet nominees. Among
others Mr. Watson consulted was Richard H.
Neustadt, the Harvard professor of govern-
ment who had advised President Kennedy on
Cabinet selection.
Mr. Watson's method was to determine the
likely challenges confronting Cabinet-rank
officials, decide what characteristics were ap-
propriate to the task and, to illustrate the
concept in a memorandum to Mr. Carter,
name an individual familiar to the President-
elect who would meet the criteria.
In his C.I.A. memo, he recommended that
Mr. Carter choose an individual with intelli-
gence of a "sharp, high level" who had "pro-
found" personal and intellectual integrity,
healthy skepticism and a perspective that
would be fresh in the intelligence field. Mr.
Watson discussed the characteristics one day
with Mr. Neustadt.
"You know who's perfect?" The professor
said. "Ted Sorensen."
To Mr. Watson the suggestion was so logi-
cal that he was surprised not to have thought
of it. He used Mr. Sorensen's name as the
illustration in the memo and turned it in to
Mr. Carter shortly after the election.
DOUBTS ON SUITABILITY
Mr. Neustadt and others began contacting
Mr. SorenSen to say they, too, had recom-
mended him for the post. Mr. Sorensen, who
had recommended David E. Bell of the Ford
Foundation, told Mr. Nebstadt the job was
"full of snares and headaches," told Mr. Wat-
son, "No, that's not the job for me," and
told Senator Edward M. Kennedy he had
grave doubts about his suitability,
On Dec. 15, confronted with a speculative
newspaper account that he had been chosen,
Mr. Sorensen telephoned Mr. Carter to say
he would be willing to discuss the matter.
Three days later Mr. Sorenson stopped in
Plains for the discussion. Mr. Carter asked if
Mr. Sorenson would have any investments
that would pose conflicts of interest and Mr.
Sorenson said no. The conversation drifted
to other areas, then suddenly. the President-
elect returned to the C.I.A. job,
, "Well, I want you to do it," Mr. Carter said.
Mr. Sorenson was startled, having pre-
sumed that the Carter stuff would take time
to check his background And suitability for
the sensitive position. But he made what he
later described as a "lightning" calculation.
Even though he had three times denied in-
terest in the job to others, he told Mr. Car-
ter: "Yes."
Mr. Sorenson returned to New York where,
the following day, he was said to be surprised
by an indication that his background had
not been plumbed. Hamilton Jordan, one of
Mr. Carter's senior assistants, telephoned to
ask whether it was true that Mr. Sorenson
had been a conscientious objector. For the
first of many times the nominee explained
that he had sought and received classifica-
tion as a noncombatant but had never tried
to avoid military service. Mr. Sorenson offered
to suggest other matters in his personal his-
tory that could give rise to Senate concerns,
but Mr. Jordan told him that was not neces-
sary.
THE REACTION
To be sure, the Sorenson nomination was
greteed icily on the political right. Senator
Barry Goldwater, Republican of Arizona, re-
fused to grant even the customary courtesy
call by the nominee. Human Events, a con-
servative publication produced a negative
answer to its rhetorical question, "Should a
Conscientious Objector Be the New C.I.A.
Chief?"
Senator Robert J. Dole, who was Presi-
dent Ford's running mate last fall, sampled
sentiment among Republicans and urged on
Jan. 13 that the nomination be withdrawn.
Representative Lawrence P. McDonald, a
Georgia Democrat, organized a Jan. 10 meet-
ing of conservative opponents. Some former
and retired intelligence officers, spread word
in friendly Senate quarters that, as one of
them stated it, Mr. Sorenson would be "about
as well-received at Langley," the C.I.A. head-
quarters, "as Sherman was in Atlanta."
Human Events would ultimately credit
"diligent" conservative groups and Republi-
can senators with having stirred the mo-
mentum that thwarted the nomination. Yet
Frank McNamara of the American Conserva-
tive Union was pessimistic a we'ek before the
scheduled confirmation hearings that the op-
ponents could muster more than five of the
15 Senators.
All that week the antagonists searched
for a copy of an affidavit Mr. Sorenson had
given ,the defense in the trial of Dr. Daniel
Ellsberg and Anthony J. Rus,o Jr., who were
accused of disclosing classified 'informa-
tion?the so-called "Pentagon papers"?on
United States involvement in Vietnam. The
opponents thought it could be a rock setting
off ripples in a pool. It was. But the docu-
ment was found first by a Sorenson sup-
porter, Senator Joseph it Eiden Jr., Demo-
crat of Delaware.
Looking back on it, what astounded Mr.
Carter's staff was that the opposition to Mr.
Sorensen was not confined to the right. The
discovery reflected the new Administration's
naivete in assuming that Mr. Sorensen, as
an articulate, intellectual, charter member
in the Kennedy coterrie, would be welcomed
back into power.
' If Mr. Carter's victory suggested the coun-
try had changed since the Democrats last
reigned, Mr. Sorensen's reception among Sen-
ate liberals and Democrats demonstrated
that Congress had changed too.
Senator Kennedy, eager to champion the
cause of his late brother's ally was reduced
to a circumspect role. Visible activity on
behalf of Mr. Sorensen, the latter's strategists
decided, would have drawn attention to the
nominee's presence as an adviser to Mr. Ken-
nedy at Chappaquiddick, after a young wom-
an drowned when the Senator's car ran off
a bridge on that island near Edgartown,
Mass.
There were other, seemingly less conse-
quential objections raised in quarters where
the Carter camp had expected praise. Jody
Powell, the White House press secretary,
said later that he had, been dumbfounded
by "personal, catty, sniping stuff" from
liberals who had been expected to rally to
Mr. Sorensen's defense.
Two early advocates, Senator Gary Hart
of Colorado and Senator Walter Huddleston
of Kentucky, detected the qualms among
their colleagues. Mr. Huddleston thought
the mood made Mr. Sorensen a "marginal"
prospect for confirmation. Mr. Hart warned
Vice President-elect Mondale early in Jan-
uary of growing "resentment" over Mr.
Sorensen.
Senator Inouye, who lost his right arm in
World War II and once said he would give
the left if necessary to fight Communists,
told Colleagues he was particularly troubled
by Mr Sorensen's renunciation of personal
violence, which the Senator found incom-
patible with a job in which violence might
one day have to be abetted.
All the early jitters were magnified with
sudden vengeance when Senator Biden found
the Pentagon Papers affidavit.
THE HEY ISSUE
The opponents were already complaining
of Mr. Sorensen's support of Dr. Ellsberg and
the committee's minority staff had obtained
a Justice Department transcript of the
nominee's March 15, 1973 testimony in the
Pentagon papers trial. The transcript showed
Mr. Sorensen had made an affidavit MX
months earlier that was not admitted as
evidence.
Uncertain of what the document contained
but wary that the opposition would use it,
Senator Biden's aids scoured Washington un-
til they found a copy on Jan. 13.
Approved For Release 2005/11/28: CIA-RDP90-01089R000100070001-5
S 2052 Approved For %MAMA: it,h5039-9=mompo 00070Quabswary 2, 1977
Describing the preparation of his book,
"Kennedy," in 1965, Mr. Sorensen said in
the 1972 affidavit that he took 67 boxes of
documents, letters and other material from
the White House when he left in 1964 and
that they included seven boxes of "classi-
fied" information.
Mr. Biden found that statement "very
disturbing." He took the affidavit to Senator
Inouye, the committee chairman, that Thurs-
day?four clays before the start of the con-
firmation hearings?and urged that Mr.
Carter be notified immediately.
The implications were clear. Mr. Sorensen,
whose prospects had already been described
as "marginal" by a supporter, would now have
to defend his use of classified information
when being considered for a post in which
confidentiality was regarded as the first prin-
ciple of conduct. It would make little differ-
ence that Mr. Sorensen's actions had not,
technically, broken any law. The affidavit
would become a reason for opposition on
plausible ground.
I WANT TO FIGHT
Mr. Sorensen happened, at that moment,
to be with the President-elect at a meeting
with the Joint Chiefs of Staff in Blair House.
As the meeting adjourned, Mr. Mondale drew
Mr. Sorensen into an unoccupied room and
said that Senator Inouye had just telephoned
him to report the development and recom-
mend that the nomination be withdrawn.'
Mr. Carter and Zbigniew Brzezinski, the
national security adviser, entered the room,
and Mr. Mondale outlined the problem to
Mr. Carter. Mr. Sorensen noted that the affi-
davit was a public record, was defensible and
created a clear choice. He could withdraw or
fight. "I want to fight," he said. "I agree,"
Mr. Carter replied.
They telephoned Senator Inouye and asked
to have a copy of the affidavit delivered to
Mr. Carter, and the Senator requested that
Mr. Sorensen come to his office five hours
later, at 10:30 P.M.
When Mr. Sorensen got to the Senator's
office Mr. Inouye was talking on the tele-
phone with Mr. Carter, who told the Sena-
tor he had found nothing objectionable in
the affidavit and wanted to proceed with the
confirmation process. A few minutes later Mr.
Carter repeated the encouragement in a tele-
phone call to Mr. Sorensen.
Mr. Inouye, who earlier had counseled
withdrawal, said he thought a concerted ef-
fort could produce a 10-to-5 vote for con-
firmation and "even 9-to-6 wouldn't be so
bad." He urged that Mr. Sorensen meet the
next day with as many committee members
as might be in the city.
Encouraged, Mr. Sorensen went to the
C.I.A. headquarters and, until 5:30 A.M. that
Friday, drafted an opening statement for the
confirmation hearing. He would never read
it.
With one hour's sleep, Mr, Sorensen went
from the home of his in-laws in suburban
Maryland to Senator Kennedy's home in sub-
urban Virginia. They had coffee with Stephen
E. Smith, Mr. Kennedy's brother-in-law. Mr.
Sorensen was tired but in good spirits. The
Senator promised to spend part of the day
contacting members of the committee.
Mr. Sorensen roved blithely across Capitol
Hill much of the day, looking for committee
members to shore up his support. It would
take an emotional encounter late in the day
to demonstrate to him that the support in-
stead was crumbling.
Mr. Mondale, still working in the Senate
office he would vacate in a week?it was
across the hall from Senators Inouye and
Biden?telephoned Senator Hart, who had
gone home to Colorado. Mr. Hart had been
an enthusiastic supporter of the nomination.
Now he was troubled, not by the contents of
the affidavit but by Mr. Sorensen's failure to
have apprised the President-elect that it
existed. Mr. Hart's sentiments were under-
standable. In 1972, he had been manager of
Senator George McGovern's Presidential
candidacy when Senator Thomas E. Eagleton
of Missouri neglected to mention he had
undergone hospital treatment for depression,
a matter that surfaced after Mr. Eagle ion was
the Vice-Presidential nominee.
Senator Hart nonetheless recommended a
strong, positive defense be made for Mr.
Sorensen's conduct.
MEETING OF SENATORS
Across the hall, however, Senator Inouye
was again coming to the conclusion the
nomination was doomed. Closeted at noon
with Senator Adlai E. Stevenson of Illinois,
and Senators Morgan and Huddleston, they
talked of the withdrawal option again. Of the
four, only Mr. Huddleston had been en-
thusiastic about Mr. Sorensen and now his
judgment was crucial.
Mr. Huddleston had respected and shared
Mr. Sorensen's plans to reform the intelli-
gence community, but the affidavit made
him conclude that Mr. Sorensen would not be
able to develop the confidence of its officers
or of intelligence officials in allied nations.
Senator Stevenson expressed similar but
stronger misgivings. If confirmed, Mr. Ste-
venson said, Mr. Sorensen might be "isolated"
by his subordinates, denied knowledge out of
mistrust, and rendered incapable of prevent-
ing abuses in the name of intelligence.
A central consideration among the four
was the committee's own credibility with the
intelligence agencies. Mr. Stevenson said the
panel had managed to establish confidence
that it could be trusted with intimate knowl-
edge of clandestine activities, and that "the
credibility we had established would be chs-
established" if Mr_ Sorensen were confirmed.
After a while, they invited Mr. Mondale, to
join the discussion. Mr. Morgan left in the
meantime, but the three other Senators re-
cited their 'misgivings and counseled with-
drawal. Mr. Mondale promised to advise Mr.
Carter.
Not long after the meeting, Mr. Sorensen
stopped to see Mr. Stevenson. The Senator
was brutally candid, telling him that Mr.
Carter should have known of the affidavit
and adding: "If you didn't tell him, it reflects
badly on your judgment and if he didn't ask
you it makes me wonder about his
judgment."
' The Senator told associates Mr. Sorensen
was surprised and disbelieving, at times
defiant, as if Mr. Stevenson had been the
first to give him a true assessment of his
prospects.
"You don't know me very well if you think
I would withdraw from a fight," Mr. Soren-
sen told the Senator.
THE VOTE COUNT
Mr. Sorensen continued his rounds, wind-
ing up at 5 P.M. that Friday at Mr. Mondale's
office. The Vice President-elect was alarmed
at the state of affairs. He called Senator
Inouye over and the Senator, who had ,been
consulting with colleagues all afternoon, told
Mr. Sorensen, "At most we can get you one or
two members of the committee."
When Senator Inouye left, Mr. Sorensen
said he could not believe the appraisal was
accurate. If so, he had lost seven or eight
votes overnight. He and Mr. Mondale agreed
they needed an accurate head count of com-
mittee members.
In one of several conversations with Mr.
Carter that evening, Mr. Sorensen asked him
to begin calling committee members on Sat-
urday. Mr. Carter agreed, but said he doubted
that the Senators would tell him anything
more "determinative" than that they would
delay a judgment until after the hearings.
On Saturday morning, Mr. Sorensen had
breakfast at the C.I.A. headquarters with
Clark Clifford, the former Secretary, of De-
fense. The meeting, planned as one of a
,?
series with elder statesmen whose advice Mr.
Sorensen felt would be useful to him, turned
instead into a strategy session.
Mr. Clifford agreed that an accurate read-
ing of the Democratic committee members'
attitudes was essential anti-that Mr. Carter
also should sound out leading Senate Demo-
crats who were not on the Intelligence Corn-
- mittee. As they conceived it, the President-
elect should also bring his weight to bear.
They decided to ask Mr. Carter to make the
conversations three-pronged; He should first
say he considered the growing objections to
Mr. Sorensen to be unfair and wanted the
nomination confirmed, then ask for assist-
ance and, finally, ask-for an appraisal of the
situation.
It was early afternoon before Mr. Sorenson
could get through to Mr. Carter, who was in
Plains. The President-elect was not enthusi-
astic about the strategy because he was busy,
but he offered to call as many Democrats on,
the committee as possible.
CALLS TO FOUR SENATORS
During the day, Mr. Carter reached four
of the eight Democrats: Senators Inouye,
Eiden, Stevenson and Birch Bayh of Indiana.
Of the suggested three elements of the con-
versation Mr. Carter employed only the third,
a request for an assessment.
Senator Biden, reached in Wilmington,
Del., told Mr. Carter, "I think we're ill
trouble. I think it is going to be tough," and
asked what Mr. Carter intended to do.
"I'm leaving it up to Ted to do whatever
he wants," said the President-elect. "I forced
the job on him in the first place. He did not
really want that job."
Mr. Carter found Senator Stevenson in
Washington. The Senator said he had no
tally but was not at all sure Mr. Sorenson
could make it, called it a "no-win" situation
Slid recommended withdrawal of the nomi-
nation. Mr. Carter thanked Mr. Stevenson
for his candor.
Senator Bayh, the strongest Sorenson ally
on the committee, had been traveling across
Indiana since Thursday, virtually out of
touch with the rapidly deteriorating situa-
tion in Washington. When Mr. Carter. located
Mr. Bayh Saturday evening, at St. John Bap-
tist Church in- Gary, the Senator told him:
"There are questions that have to be
answered. I assume they will be."
Mr. Carter and his aides never reached
Senator Hart, Senator Morgan or Senator
Huddleston. Senator Hathaway, who was at
funeral services for a relative in Canada,
could not be reached on Saturday, but tele-
phoned Mr. Carter when he returned to the
capital Sunday night.
At about 9 p.m. that Saturday, Mr. Carter
te:ephoned Mr. Sorensen. As Mr. Sorensen's
associates remembered the conversation, the
President-elect -said he had called Six of the
eight Democrats and only one vote wak se-
cure. "It's up to you," Mr. Carter told him,
adding that he would support the decision if
Mr. Sorensen chose to fight.
Mr. Sorensen said he would "have to think
about it."
The President-elect said he had just
spoken to Clark Clifford. "Call Clark if you
want some advice bn this," Mr. Carter sUg-
gested. "He's sitting by the phone."
Mr. Sorensen telephoned, and Mr. Clifford
did not try to dissuade Mr. Sorensen from
abandoning the effort.
A CALL TO HIS WIFE
About midnight Mr. Sorensen called his
wife, Gilian, and said he would withdraw at
a news conference Sunday afternoon.
While Mr. Sorensen drafted a withdrawal
announcement, two of his New York law
partners, Arthur Liman and Mark Aloott,
prepared a brief responding to the questions
raised about the use of classified data 13
years earlier.
For the second morning in succession, the
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newspapers were loaded with leaked versions
of the fateful' affidavit, speculation that the
nomination was in jeopardy and anonymous
complaints from the Senate about Mr. Soren-
sen. The nominee got angrier and angrier,
convinced Ile had been judged without a
hearing.
He went to Langley and told his lawyers he
would answer the critics at the hearing Mon-
day morning and withdraw there, with a na-
tional television audience to hear his side of
the story, rather than at a news conference.
Mr. Sorensen telephoned Mr. Carter once
more in Plains and described his intentions.
Mr. Carter asked him to meet with Mr. Mon-
dale and Hamilton Jordan about the plans.
Early Sunday afternoon, Mr. Mondale met
with the two men at Mr. Mondale's home in
the District of Columbia.
THE VOTES AREN'T THERE
"I recognize that Jimmy Carter has tried
and the votes aren't there," Mr. Sorensen
said. "Therefore, it's a losing battle." But he
said he was determined not to withdraw
without a hearing. Mr. Mondale and Mr. Jor-
dan concurred.
Arthur Liman, aware that some 30 hours
had passed without a statement of support
for Mr. Sorensen from the President-elect
and that Mr. Carter had avoided reporters
outside the Plains Baptist Church that
morning, called Mr. Carter's conduct "un-
fortunate."
Later that afternoon, Mr. Carter did issue
a statement defending Mr. Sorensen's han-
dling of classified documents and saying it
would be "most unfortunate" if frank ac-
knowledgement of common practice should
"deprive the administration and the country
of his talents and services."
The next morning, Monday, Jan. 17, Mr.
Sorensen was en route to the hearing in a
C.I.A. limousine. Eventually, Jody Powell
would say the new President had abandoned
the fight on Saturday. Another White Howie
official would explain the capitulation by
saying Mr. Carter had limited political coin-
age in the Congress and "nobody wanted to
spend it yet."
As the limousine moved across the capital,
the Langley command post notified the
driver by radio that Mr. Carter wanted Mr.
Sorensen to telephone him right away. The
vehicle pulled up to the Old Senate Office
Building, and Mr. Sorensen ducked into a
phone booth in the building. He told the
President-elect he was about to withdraw.
Mr. Carter said he was terribly sorry about
the way it had turned out.
Mr. CRANSTON. Mr. President, I
suggest the absence of a quorum.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk
will call the roll.
The second assistant legislative clerk
proceeded to call the roll.
Mr. CRANSTON. Mr. President, I ask
unanimous consent that the order for
the quorum call be rescinded.
The PRESIDING OtoriCER. Without
objection, it is so ordered.
bia, to be Secretary of the Army, which
was referred to the Committee on Armed
Services.
MESSAGES FROM THE HOUSE
At 5:21 p.m., a message from the House
of Representatives delivered by Mr.
Berry, one of its clerks, announced that
the House has agreed to the report of the
committee of conference on the disagree-
ing votes of the two Houses on the
amendment of the House to the bill
S. 474, to authorize the President of the
United States to order emergency de-
liveries and transportation of natural gas
to deal with existing or imminent short-
ages by providing assistance in meeting
requirements for high-priority uses; to
provide authority for short term emer-
gency purchases of natural gas; and for
other purposes.
ENROLLED BILL SIGNED
At 5:46 p.m., a message from the House
of Representatives delivered by Mr. Berry
announced that the Speaker has signed
the enrolled bill (S. 474) , supra.
The enrolled bill was subsequently
signed by the President pro tempore.
ENROLLED BILL PRESENTED
The Secretary of the Senate reported
that today, February 2, 1977, he pre-
sented to the President of the United
States the following enrolled bill:
S. 474. An act to authorize the President of
the United States to order emergency de-
liveries and transportation of natural gas to
deal with existing or imminent shortages by
providing assistance in meeting requirements
for high-priority uses; to provide authority
for short-term emergency purchases of natu-
ral gas; and for other purposes.
REPORTS OF COMMITTEES
The following reports of committees
were submitted:
By Mr. EASTLAND, from the Committee
on the Judiciary:
S. Res. 65. A resolution authorizing addi-
tional expenditures by the Committee on the
Judiciary for routine purposes. Referred to
the Committee on Rules and Administration.
EXECUTIVE REPORTS OF
COMMITTEES
As in executive session, the following
eports of committees were submitted:
John F. O'Leary, of New Mexico, to be Ad-
inistrator of the Federal Energy Adminis-
ration.
(The above nomination was reported
with the recommendation that it be con-
firmed, subject to the nominee's com-
mitment to respond to requests to ap-
pear and testify before any duly con-
stituted committee of the Senate.)
MESSAGES FROM THE PRESIDENT
Messages from the President of the
United States were communicated to the
Senate by Mr. Marks, one of his secre-
taries.
EXECUTIVE MESSAGE REFERRED
As in executive session, the Presiding
Officer laid before the Senate a message
from the President of the United States
submitting the nomination of Clifford L.
Alexander, Jr., of the District of Colum-
INTRODUCTION OF BILLS AND
JOINT RESOLUTIONS
The following bills and joint resolu-
tions were introduced, read the first time
and, by unanimous consent, the second
time, and referred as indicated.
Hy Mr. MATSUNAGA (-for himself, Mr.
RANDOLPH, and Mr. HATFIELD) :
S. 572. A bill to promote the peaceful res-
olution of international conflict, and for
other purposes; to the Committee on Gov-
ernment Operations.
By Mr. MATSUNAGA:
S. 573. A bill to amend the Federal Avia-
tion AM, of 1958 to authorize reduced rate
transportation for certain additional persons
on a space-available basis; to the Committee
on Commerce.
By Mr. BAKER (for himself, Mr.
TOWER, Mr. BENTSEN, and Mr. Sas-
SER):
S. 574. A bill for the relief of Doctor
Lawrence Chin Bong Chan; to the Commit-
tee on the Judiciary.
By Mr. PEARSON;
S. 576. A bill to amend section 236 of the
National Housing Act, to require the pay-
ment of operating subsidies for projects sub-
ject to mortgages insured under such sec-
tion, and for other purposes; to the Com-
mittee on Banking, Housing and Urban Af-
fairs.
By Mr. MAGNUSON:
S. 578. A bill for the relief of Anacleto
Aboyabor Dotollo and Turtosa Acompanado
Dotollo; to the Committee on the Judiciary.
S. 571. A bill for the relief of Neam Vone
Sae-Karin (Paul Kuan) ; to the Committee
on the Judiciary.
S. 576. A bill for the relief of Joaquin T.
Quijencio; to the Committee on the Judici-
ary.
S. 579. A bill for the relief of Imelda C.
Jayag Potter; to the Committee on the Ju-
diciary.
S. 580. A bill for the relief of Sang Ii Tong;
to the Committee on the Judiciary.
S. 581. A bill for the relief of Judith Karen
Bliss Halvorson of Edmonds, Washington; to
the Committee on the judiciary.
By Mr. JACKSON (for himself, Mr.
MAGNUSON, Mr. CHURCH, Mr. MET-
CALF, Mr. MELCHER, Mr. HATFIELD,
Mr. PACKWOOD, and Mr. McCranez) :
S. 5821. A bill to amend the Colorado River
Basin Project Act to extend the period dur-
ing which the Secretary of the Interior shall
not undertake reconnaissance studies of any
plan for the importation of water into the
Colorado River Basin; to the Committee on
Interior and Insular Affairs.
By Mr. THURMOND:
S. 583. A bill to amend the corporate name
of AMVETS (American Veterans of World
War II), and for other purposes; to the Com-
mittee on the Judiciary.
By Mr. HEINZ: ?
S. 5E19:. A bill for the relief of Inas Tsakalis;
to the Committee on the Judiciary.
By Mr. BROOKE:
S. 586. A bill to amend. title II of the Social
Security Act to increase the amount a recip-
ient may earn before deductions are made
from benefits due to excess earnings; to the
Committee on Finance.
S. 586. A bill to amend title II of the Social
Security Act to shorten the marriage dura-
tion requirements for eligibility for benefits
for a divorced wife; to the Committee on
Finance.
By Mr. STEVENS:
S. 587. A bill to amend section 170 of the
Internal Revenue Code of 1954 with respect
to certain charitable contributions by mem-
bers of the Civil Air Patrol; to the Committee
on Finance.
By Mr. STEVENS (for himself, Mr.
BARTLETT, Mr, GOLDWATER, Mr.
MELCHER, Mr. RIEGLE, Mr. THUR-
MOND, and Mr. YOUNG) :
S. 588. A bill to amend title II of the Social
Security Act to increase to $5,100 the annual
amount which individuals may earn without
suffering deductions from benefits on
account of excess earnings; to the Committee
on Finance,
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ebruary 2, 1977
By Mr. McINTYRE:
S. 589. A bill for the relief of Ioannis
Tsironis; to the Committee on the Judiciary.
By Mr. THURMOND (for himself and
Mr. MATCH):
S. 590. A bill to amend title 38, United
States Code, to make the Veterans' Admin-
istration an executive department, and for
other purposes; to the Committee on Vet-
erans' Affairs.
By Mr. PERCY :
S. 691. A bill to reorganize the executive
branch of the Federal Government to
restructure Federal energy agencies, to estab-
lish an Energy Policy Council and a Depart-
ment of Energy Supply and Natural Re-
sources, to enhance energy conservation pro-
grams throughout the executive branch, to
study energy regulatory policies, and for other
purposes; to the Committee on Government
Operations.
By Mr. DOLE (for himself, Mr. CLARK,
Mr. TALMADGE, Mr. YOUNG, Mr. MC-
GOVERN, Mr. CURTIS, Mr. HUMPHREY,
Mr. PEARSON, Mr. EAGLETON, Mr.
HUDDLESTON, Mr. DANFORTH, and Mr.
TowER) :
S. 592. A bill to establish an advisory com-
mittee to provide consultation and advice to
the Administrator of the Federal Grain In-
spection Service and to amend the U.S. Grain
Standards Act with respect to supervision
fees and recorclkeeping requirements; to the
Committee on Agriculture and Forestry.
By Mr. HUDDLESTON:
S. 693. A bill to amend the U.S. Grain
Standards Act with respect to recordkeeping
requirements, and to establish an advisory
committee to provide consultation and ad-
vice to the Administrator of the Federal
Grain Inspection Service; to the Committee
on Agriculture and Forestry.
STATEMENTS ON INTRODUCED
BILLS AND JOINT RESOLUTIONS
By Mr. MATSUNAGA:
S. 573. A bill to amend the Federal
Aviation Act of 1958 to authorize reduced
rate transportation for certain addi-
tional persons on a space-available
basis; to the Committee on Commerce.
Mr. MATSUNAGA. Mr. President, I am
introducing today a bill which would
amend the Federal Aviation Act of 1958
to authorize reduced fare transportation
.on a space-available basis for the elder-
ly?age 60 and over?and the handicap-
ped.
There are several existing Federal pro-
grams which attempt to make transpor-
tation for the elderly and handicapped
more readily available and acce,ssible.
There are, however, no special programs
for these individuals in air transporta-
- tion. Furthermore, at the present time
the Civil Aeronautics Board has only
limited authority to permit discount fare
transportation for deserving groups, such
as the elderly. My bill would -make air
transportation more widely available to
the public.
Every citizen needs the mobility
which air transportation affords. Unfor-
tunately, for many consumers, inflation
has placed air transportation far beyond
their reach. The problem is especially
acute for the elderly and the handicap-
ped, many of whom tend to have below-
average incomes and often rely upon
public transportation.
Fares presently charged for air trans-
portation tend to exclude both the elder-
ly and the handicapped. A survey by
United Airlines, for instance, indicated
that only 5 percent of its passengers were
65 years of age and older.
Yet, persons in this age bracket ac-
count for 10 percent of the total popu-
lation. Such disparity is largely attribu-
table to the low income levels of many
of the elderly.
The merits and appeal of this proposal
are obvious. It would enable those re-
tired persons who generally have the
time and desire to travel, but all too often
lack the money, to do so. It would enable
more of our elderly and handicapped
citizens to visit their relatives and close
friends living in widely scattered and
far-distant areas of the country. Such a
program would be of great importance to
my own State of Hawaii. One can well
imagine the numerous difficulties a large
percentage of the senior citizens on
neighbor islands encounter in traveling
to vital medical facilities on .the other
major islands.
Well-designed reduced airfare pro-
grams for the elderly can be highly suc-
cessful and beneficial to both the travel-
er and the airlines. To illustrate, for
7 years?between 1967 and 1973?
Hawaiian Airlines offered reduced stand-
by fares for the elderly. During this
period when such fares were effective,
the senior citizens traffic aboard the car-
riers grew by 340 percent, while the over-
all traffic grew by only 80 percent.
My bill would not only remove a bar-
rier to mobility by the elderly and the
handicapped, but would enable airlines
to decrease their operating losses by
filling otherwise vacant seats. This legis-
lation envisions no expenditure of Fed-
eral funds. It would work very much to
the advantage not only of senior citizens
and handicapped but of the transporta-
tion industry, as well.
Mr. President, I ask unanimous con-
sent that the text of this bill be printed
in the RECORD.
There being no objection, the bill was
ordered to be printed in the RECORD, as
follows:
S.573
Be it enacted by the Senate and Rouse
of Representatives of the United States of
America in Congress assembled, That (a)
the last sentence of section 403(b) of the
Federal Aviation Act of 1958 (49 U.S.C.
1373(b) ) is amended by inserting "elderly
persons and handicapped persons" immedi-
ately after "ministers of religion".
(b) Such section 403(b) is further
amended by adding at the end thereof the
following new sentence: "As used in the pre-
ceding sentence, the term 'elderly persons'
means individuals aged sixty and older; the
term 'handicapped persons' means individ-
uals who have severely impaired vision or
hearing, and any other physically or men-
tally handicapped persons as defined by the
Board".
By Mr. PEARSON:
S. 575. A bill to amend section 236 of
the National Housing Act, to require the
payment of operating subsidies for proj-
ects subject to mortgages insured under
such section, and for other purposes; to
the Committee on Banking, Housing and
Urban Affairs.
Mr. PEARSON. Mr. President, in 1974
the Congress amended the National
Housing Act with the intention of secur-
ing the long term housing needs of
families and elderly in lower-income
brackets'. A substantial expression of that
intention was contained in amendments
providing that operating subsidies for
section 236 housing projects be made for
rent increases resulting from rising util-
ity and tax rates. It is now 1977, and op-
erating subsidies have yet to be paid.
And so, Mr. President, I am today of-
fering an amendment that simply seeks
to assure that express congressional in-
tention in this area is no longer thwarted.
Mr. President, the Banking, Housing
and Urban Affairs Committee was con-
cerned, during consideration of the 1974
amendments, that rapidly rising utility
and tax costs might endanger the success
of Federal housing projects. The commit-
tee rightly feared that after an initial
operating expense level was established
and rent subsidies set, that there would
be no mechanism to adjust the subsidies
to meet these rising costs.
The increases would become an ever-
growing burden for the tenants, who
would then be required, in direct con-
tradiction of the program's goals, to pay
much more than 25 percent of their in-
comes for rent. To avoid this problem,
the committee proposed, and Congress
passed, a provision that authorized the
Secretary of the Department of Housing
and Urban Development to pay subsidies
for those rent increases justified by in-
creased utility and tax rates. But the De-
partment has not authorized such pay-
ments except in those instances when
tenants have resorted to the courts.
As section 236 tenants have suffered
the blows of repeated rent increases, thcy
have been forced from the projects or
have brought suit under the 1974 amend-
ment. Those who have litigated the is-
sue have been successful without excep-
tion. Every action regarding operating
subsidies has been resolved with the same
result?the court finds HUD must fulfill
its congressional mandate. In a typical
decision, the District Court for the Dis-
trict of Utah found:
The Court is convinced that the primary
purpose of the 1974 amendments is to aid
Section 236 Low-Income Housing Projects.
The funds are to go directly to the project
owner, but the real purpose of the legislation
13 to aid the low-income tenants. If the
rental payments from tenants in existing
projects are allowed to increase too much,
many tenants may be forced to leave and
the success of the individual project may
be jeopardized. It is incumbent upon the
Secretary to respond to the Congressional
emphasis on fulfilling the purpose of exist-
ing projects. . . . re is clear that the wording
of the Act gives some discretion to the Sec -
rotary. It seems certain to the Court, how-
ever, that the Secretary cannot refuse to
exercise her discretion at all by completely
refusing to implement the operating Subsidy
program.
Mr. President, I am confident that Eti:
action on behalf of all section 236 ten-
ants will be heard and that the courts
will eventually require HUD to fulfill its
intended role nationwide. But I see no
reason to further clog our court dockets,
no reason to force expensive litigation.
Mr. President, the bill I have just intro-
duced will avoid these problems and
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r
Srnokebornbs and Sorensen
The first thing to be said about Theodore Sorensen's
withdrawal yesterday from , designation as Director of
Central Intelligence is that he deserves full personal
vindication against a subterranean stream of accusations
made against him. For the most part, they were unjust
or irrelevant and, as one Senator observed, smacked of
conviction without a trial.
Consider, for example, the matter of leaks. Members
of the Senate Intelligence Committee, which was to pass
on his nomination, are much concerned to demonstrate
their capacity to keep secrets. They are said to have been
shocked when they learned that Mr. Sorensen acknowl-
edged, in two court affidavits, that he gave classified
information to reporters during his years in the Kennedy
White House. This is not a subject on which we are dis-
interested; indeed, one of the affidavits was made in the
,iuit brought against this newspaper concerning the Pen-
tagon Papers. But we do know something about the way
government works; about how common?and proper?
this practice has been for officials up to and including
Presidents; and how few former officials would muster
the simple courage Mr. Sorensen did to say so.
Then there is the question of personal use of Govern-
ment papers, including classified papers, by outgoing
Government officials. Mr. Sorensen freely concedes hav-
ing done so. We are not sure, in the abstract that this is
a salutary practice. But there is no doubt that frii?a
proper one, validated by the conduct of Presidents,
aides, and other high officials for years. Suddenly to
single out and assail Mr. Sorensen seems unfair, even
captious.
The suggestion of captiousness, even of an ide +logical
campaign, against Mr. Sorensen is heightened oy the
TB' *OW ????^ ? rm.
circulation of a variety of other rumors or irrelevant
reasons for opposing him. These include the fact that
he has been married three times, which, one would think,
would be especially awkward grist in a Senate recently
characterized as undergoing an epidemic of divorce.
What is equally regrettable is that these smokebombs
of objection prevented his nomination from being consid-
ered on the merits. We were encouraged by his nomina-
tion last month and believe he would have performed
creditably. Still, his nomination presented other, fairer
questions. It was bruited about that he sought to avoid
military service as a pacifist. The darker implicatii on-riere
is grossly unfair to him. But the inherent philo ,phical
question would have been legitimate: Can someo ,ie with
deep nonviolent views fully act on the need?awful, rare
but conceivable?to be cold-blooded? ,
)
,
Still more important is the principle of accountability
to Congress and to the public for which Mr. So ensen's
nomination seemed to stand. He has long urged the
Congress to greater vigilance over the C.I.A. ("The word
'oversight' has two meanings," he once wrote, "and they
chose the wrong one.") In his withdrawal statement
today, he stated a worthy principle: "I believe in the
application of moral and legal standards to national
security decisions, including the limitation ol covert
operations to extraordinary circumstances invari
vital---nainterests of our country, wit!.
review by the appiat-e-Congressional conunitees and
written authorization by the President and his
Cabinet officials."
js a worthy standard, one by which both President-
elect Carter and the Senate should be judged as they
now decide not only who should head the C.I.A., but how.
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WASHING TON STAR DATE
Critics
On
Critics
On Hill Set to
Mount Attack
By Henry S. Bradsher
Washington Star Staff Writer
President-elect Jimmy Carter's
nomination of Theodore C. Sorensen
to head the U.S. intelligence com-
munity and direct the CIA has run
into strong opposition. He will face
hostile questioning before the Senate
Select Committee on Intelligence
beginning tomorrow.
Both the Democratic and Republi-
can leaders in the Senate, Robert C.
Byrd and Howard H. Baker Jr., have
predicted difficulty in getting Soren-
sen's nomination approved.
' The opposition focuses on several
charges:
? Sorensen took secret government
documents with him when he left the
White House inN 1963 and used them to
write a book about President John F.
Kennedy, whose top aide he was.
? He defended the leaking of the
Pentagon Papers to the press.
See SORENSEN, A-12
CnRFNSFN
NbAnner if 1 1 11 err ori
untinued From Ai
? He waS involved in policy-making during the
early 1960s, when the CIA was plotting to assassi-
nate foreign leaders-.
? His gov-ernmental experience is only in domestic
affairs, and he lacks qualifications in foreign af-
fairs Or intelligence.
? He waq a conscientious objector in the Korean
War. ?
SOME 'OF THESE charges have come out of an
intensive:scrutiny of Sorensen's record by the Sen-
ate corn r4ittee. Its staff members expect Sorensen
to be on the witness stand all day tomorrow answer-
ing questions and possibly into the second day of a
scheduled three-day inquiry.
Witnesses who want to testify in support of Soren-
sen include former senior government official W
Averell flarriman; Clark M. Clifford, a former
secretaryt of defense, and two former senior Penta-
gon officers, Adm. Elmo R. Zumwalt Jr. and Gen.
James M!Gavin-
? -
a e
Critics inctude at least one committee Member,
Robert B. Morgan, D-N.C. Those listed to testify
against Sorensen include Reg., Lawrence P.
McDonald. D-Ga and spokesmen for several pri-
vate organizations, including Francis J.
McNamara of the American Conservative Union.
Sorensen, 48, joined Kennedy's staff when he be-
came a senator in 1953 and soon was his closest
adviser. Since leaving WashingtoW:after Kennedy
was assassinated, he has been iitaCticirig law in
New York. Long before Carter's pr.esidentiel quest
looked promising, Sorensen became a supporter of
and adviser to the former Georgia governor.
CARTER REPORTEDLY selected him for the
dual job of running all government intelligence
operations and heading the CIA because his keen
mind and-analytical ability were considered more
pertinent qualifications for dealing with a troubled
and controversial area of government than prior
experience in intelligence and foreign policy.
Byrd, the Senate majority leader, said yesterday
he considered Sorensen's nomination to be "in con-
siderable difficulty. His chances are, at this point,
questionable' The 40?4410kerl said he.
thought 'there would be 'Sign cant. oppbsitiOn to
Sorensen'.
The newspaper Newsday reported yesterday that
?lirke;,; committee had circulated to its members
iies of an affidavit Sorensen presented to the 1972
Pentagon Papers tri6.1 of Daniel Ellsberg. Sorensen
reportedly said he took seven cartons of secret ma-
terial from the White House for use in his book
Thereport also said Sorensen repeatedly leaked
secret information to the news media. But Wash-
ington` observers noted that many White House
aides do that.
Sorensen yesterday called "totally false? the
newspaper report that he took secret documents for
the book and leaked classified material to report-
ers.
Sorensen, in a statement read by his law partner
Mark Alcott, said he talked yesterday with Carter,
who "reaffirmed his strong determination that I
serve as director of central intelligence and I ex-
pect to do so."
MeNAMARA, a staff director of the late House
Un-American Activities Committee, is scheduled to
testify that Sorensen submitted an affidavit in the
case involving The New York Times' publication of
the Pentagon Papers. The American Conservative
Union quoted Sorensen as saying in the affidavit:
"I believe the national security interests of the
'JP SORENSEN
" In trouble?
Sunday, January 16, 1977 The Washington Star
United States will be irreparably injured if tli0
documents are suppresseu from puulie and con-
gressional view."
Morgan sa S)fer,sr, wil face oppcsian
over his role in the Kennedy administration " Or-
ing .the period in which the CIA hatched plotVto
assassinate foreign leaders." In announcing Son-
se/1's appointment Dec. 23, Carter had emphasd
that he attended meetings of the National Secu
Council under Kennedy and knew "at first hand
inner workings of the decision-making process
Within the White House."
Sorensen told a Senate investigation of the CIA in
1975 he was certain Kennedy knew nothing of asses.
sination plots.
CONTRARY TO THE picture of Sorensen as
knowing everything that went on during the
Kennedy era is a criticism that he has no experi-
ence in intelligence or foreign affairs. This point
will be made by McNamara and several other wit-
nesses.
Both Morgan and Sen. Robert Dole, R-Kan., have
questioned publicly whether Sorensen's "pacifist
background" makes him fit to run the CIA. The
American Conservative Union contended that it
poses a potential threat to the agency's morale.
THE wAspftwoyer.f\iFilrdliztlease 2005/11/28 : Ck4IRDE90-014089M0010017/710c9cA-,-
- -74
orensen
Nommatim
In Trouble
Senators Cite
His Affidavits on
Classified Data List
By Spencer Rich
Washington Post Staff Writer -
The nomination of Theodore C
Sorensen as Central Intelligencr
Agency director -appeared in gra'
danger 'yesterday, amid repo
that several members of the Ser
Intelligence Committee, have askto.
President-elect Jimmy Carter to
withdraw Sorensen's name or face
the possibility, he will not be con-
firmed. ?
The Intelligence Committee begins
hearings Monday on Sorensen. His
problems result from sworn affidavits,
which he submitted in the 1971 Penta-
gon papers case .and the 1972 trial of
Daniel Ellsberg, that he had taken
classified materials from the White
House when he left it in 1964 after be-
ing a top 'aide to the late President
Kennedy.
Sorensen, who was at the CIA head-
quarters in Langley, Va., yesterday, is-
sued a statement last night saying
Carter "has reaffirmed his strong de-
termination that I serve as director of
central intelligence and I expect to do
so."
Mark Alcott, a law partner of Sor-
ensen who was acting as his spokes-
man, said the reaffirmation came dur-
ing a telephone conversation between
Carter and Sorensen yesterday.
Sorensen said in his statement that
Carter had read the affidavits which
have been on the public record for
five years, and "is familiar with all
the facts."
He said, "Any charge that I have
acted improperly with respect to clas-
sified information or White House pa-
pers is totally false."
Members of the Senate Intelligence
Committee, who received copies of
the Sorensen affidavits Friday, said
they ?show that he, used some of the
materials in his 19(5 book, "Kennedy,"
and reOlved a tax pirOvetbfatitiRelease 2005/11/28
those and otIler Papers to the govern-
ment.
The affidavits also state. members
said, that he leaked classified materi:
als while in the White House for polit-
ical and other purposes. The affidavits
were called to the committee's atten-
tion by Sen. Joe Biden Jr. (D-Del.), a
member.
Yesterday, three members of the In-
telligence Committee, who asked not
to be identified, said they had been
told that Committee Chairman Daniel:
K. Inouye (D-Hawaii) and Senate Mi-
nority Leader Howard H. Baker (R.
Tenn.), as well as several others, had.
advised Carter that he should con-
sider withdrawing Sorensen's name,
because he lacked judgment and re-
spect for the classification process.
Spokesmen for both Inouye and
Baker declined to confirm or deny the
report. A spokesman said Baker, an ex
officio member of the committee and
its former senior Republican, had
talked with Carter about Sorensen.
Baker told reporters on Jan. 7 that
there was "significant opposition" to
Sorensen.
Senate Majority Leader Robert C.-
Byrd (D-W.Va.), meanwhile, told re-
porters yesterday that the Sorensen
nomination "is in considerable diffi-
culty" and he "wouldn't be willing to
say" at the moment that he will sup-
port Sorensen. He said Sorensen's
"chances, at this point, are questiona-
ble."
See SORENSEN, A7, Col. 2
: CIA-RDP90-01089R000100070001-5
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`0,16, 'Ur -111?'
Sorensen Nomination to CIA in Trouble
THEODORE C. SORENSEN
... "charge ... is totally false"
SORENSEN, From Al
A Carter spokesman in Washington
said that the President-elect "is going
to stand by this nomination fully." In
Plains, Ga., Carter's deputy press sec-
retary Rex Granum said Carter is
"aware of the problem."
Sen. Jake Garn (R-Utah), a member
of the 15-man Intelligence Committee,
said he opposes Sorensen, and he be-
lieves Sens. Strom Thurmond (R-S.C.),
Barry Goldwater (R-Ariz.) and Robert
Morgan (D-N.C.) have also decided to
oppose Sorensen.
"First of all, I don't think he has
any experience at all," Garn said.
"Secondly, I'm very concerned about
someone who would leak classified
documents out of the White House."
One committee Democrat, who
asked not to be identified, said that
both Sorensen and Carter "are being
urged to withdraw the nomination? in
a most emphatic way?by senators on
the committee and by others. They're
not all Republicans. It's coming from
both sides.
"I think a majority of the commit-
tee would vote against him now. It
was marginal to begin with. He wasn't
qualified. It never made any sense.
The job requires a man of authority, a
civilian who can control the entire in-
telligence community?a Jim Schle-
singer, not a Sorensen. Tope director
of the largest intelligence service
The world is a leakert It undermines
the whole intelligence effort. It raises
questions about his judgment.
"He didn't tell Carter. This was nip
and tuck before. Now it's impossible."
First reports of Sorensen's difficul-
ties appeared yesterday in the Los
Angeles Times and Newsday.
The Pentagon papers case arose in
1971 when the government attempted
to prevent The New York Times,
Washington Post and other publica-
tions from publishing Pentagon docu-
ments, which had been obtained from
a then unknown source or sources,
giving the history of secret govern
ment deliberations involving the Viet-
namese wgr.
Later, Ellsberg Was accused of leak-
ing the secret documents,, which he
had obtained wh n working for the
Rand Corp., a government contractor,
by duplicating a copy of the papers in
Rand's possession.
Ellsberg was tried in 1972 on a 15-
count indictment alleging national se-
curity violations, but the charges were
dismissed after 89 days of trial in 1973
because of the "plumbers" break-in of
his psychiatrist's office.
Sorensen filed the affidavits on be-
half of Ellsberg and a codefendant in
an effort to show that it was not un-
common for high government officials
to take documents with them when
they left the government and that
leaking secret information was done
often.
In his affidavits, according to sev-
eral members of the Intelligence Com-
mittee, Sorensen admitted that when
he left the White House in 1964, he
took with him 67 boxes of material ac-
cumulated during his years as Presi-
dent Kennedy's top White House staff
aide, including seven boxes of classi-
fied documents, such as copies of Ken-
nedy-Khrushchev materials, materials
on the Congo, Bay of Pigs, Laos and
Berlin crises, and a transcript of the
Kennedy-Khrushchev meetings in Vi-
enna.
The affiaavits also indicate he do-
nated some of the material to the Na-
tional Archives and received a tax
break.
Senate aides said the hearings arc
scheduled to go on Monday unless
Sorensen's name is withdrawn and
that Sorensen is preparing a spirited
defense before the committee in the
hope of saving his nomination.
Staff writer Helen Dewar contributed
to this article.
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NEW YORK. TIMES PAGE
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SORENSEN APPROVAL
BY SENATE IN DOUBT
Use of Classified Material for
His Book on Kennedy at Issue
By WENDELL RAWLS Jr.
Special to The New Yoric Times
WASHINGTON, Jan. 15 ? President-
elect Carter's selection of Theodore C.
Sorensen to be Director of Central Intelli-
gence ran into unexpected difficulty in
the Senate today, with a growing possibil-
ity that the nomination might be with-
drawn.
Robert C. Byrd, the Senate majority
leader, told reporters that there could be
"considerable difficulty" in gaining Sen-
ate approval for the nomination of Mr.
Sorensen, formerly an aide to President
Kennedy, to the top intelligence post.
One apparent difficulty surrounding the
nomination was an objection in Senate
dircles that Mr. Sorensen, on leaving the
White Housestaff in 1964, took with him
certain 'classified information to help in
writing a book on the Kennedy Adminis-
tration.
Sources close to the Senate Select
Committee on Intelligence, which has
scheduled a hearing for Monday morning
on the nomination, said that the opposi-
tion also stemmed from his inexperience
in foreign intelligence; his role in help-
ing Senator Edward M. Kennedy, Demo-
crat of Massachusetts, explain the Chap-
paquiddick incident; his status of con-
scientious objector in avoiding military
service; and the role of his law firm,
the New York firm of Paul, Weiss, Rif-
kind, Wharton & Garrison, which repre-
sents several multinational corporations
and such foreign Governments as Zaire,
Sierra Leone and Iran, where the CIA.
has influence.
Baker and Goldwater Consulted
In advance of the scheduled hearing,
several senior members of the committee
were consulting today among themselves
and with Carter aides as to how to pro-
ceed with the nomination.
It was not immediately known whether
Senator Daniel K Inouye, Democrat of
Hawaii, had advised Mr. Carter, either
directly or indirectly through Vice Presi-
dent-elect Mondale, a former member of
the committee, tO withdraw the nomina.-
ton.
Several members of the committee,
however, made clear in separate inter-
views that the committee's questions and
concern over Mr. Sorensen had been con-
veyed to M. Carter in Plains, Ga.
Senator. Howard It Baker Jr. of Ten-
nessee, the ranking Republican member
on the committee, said "I know there
has been a great deal of concern" about
the Sorensen nomination.
Senator Baker said there were "rumors"
on the Senate floor yesterday that Mr.
Carter had been asked to withdraw the
nomination, but he said he did not have
any first-hand knowledge of a specific
move by committee members to prevail
upon Mr. Carter to cancel it.
The? key as to what action might be
Continued on Page 16, Column 1
16
SORENSEN APPROVAL
BY SENATE IN DOUBT
Continued From Page 1
taken by the committee rested with Sena-
tor Inouye, who could not be reached
for comment. It was learned, however,
that Mr. Inouye in the past two days
had discussed ' the nomination, and its
possible withdrawal, with Senator Baker
and Senator Barry Goldwater of Arizona,
another senior Republican member of the
committee.
Rex Granum, Mr. Carter's deputy press
secretary, said in Plains that the Presi-
dent-elect "is certainly aware that there
is a problem" with the Sorensen nomina-
tion.
Asked whether the nomination would
be withdrawn, Mr,. Granum said, "Well,
we all know that there has been an ex-
pression of a problem."
Mr. Granum said Mr. Carter had been
informed either directly by Senatoi
Inouye or indirectly through Mr. Mondale
ol tne 'problem concerning the nomina-
tion.
The problem apparently first developed
(
se.'" ?
The New York Times
Theodore C. Sorensen
on Thursday, when, according to one
member of the intelligence committee, the
group was presented with information
"about the performance of Mr. Sorensen
in relation to classified information." '
The committee was shown an affidavit
Mr. Sorensen gave for the trial of Daniel
Ellsberg, who was involved in the unau-
thotlized release of the Pentagon papers,
in which Mr. Sorensen said he had used
classfied White House material in writ-
ing his book on the Kennedy Administra-
tion, thes took a tax deduction when he
returned the material to the Government.
Mr. Sorensen did not break any laws in
the action because what he did was then
legal.
Efforts by The New York Times to
reach Mr. Sorensen yesterday and today
have been unsuccessful. '
The effect of the presentation of the
affidavit to the committee, according to
one member, was to "raise increased
reservations" about Mr. Sorensen in the
top intelligence post.
According to one RepubPican member
of the committee who declined to be
quoted, Mr.Sorensen's statement about
his use of classified information "can be
interpreted in several ways," and "as he
explained it to me, it was not sinister."
Even before the Sorensen affidavit was
shown to the committee, the nomination
had encountered some reservations in
conservative circles of the Senate.
Senators Robert J. Dole, Republican of
Kansas, and Robert B. Morgan, Democrat
of North Carolina, had expressed misgiv-
ings because of what they called Mr.
Sorensen's "pacifist background."
Senator Morgan, who served on the
special Senate committee that investigat-
ed allegations of Nvrongdoings by the Cen-
tral Intelligence A,gncy, said Mr. Sorensen
also would face opposition because of his
role in the Kennedy Administration "dur-
ing the period in which the C.I.A. hatched
Oats to assassinate foreign leaders."
The Sorensen nomination was the first
of Mr. Carter's prospective appointments
to rim into serious difficulty in the Sen-
ate, The rest seem likely to be approved
speedily after Mr. Carter, is inaugurated
as President on Jan. 20.
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Mr.A, ?era-wen/16)m
? On any scale of relevance to the Central Intel-
ligence Agency and its future, the issues that
figured in the torpedoing of Theodore Soren-
sen's candidacy as its director would rank well
down.
The charges that suddenly surfaced last week
are not trivial, yet they are hardly serious dis-
? qualifications.
? Mr. Sorensen's former draft classification, for
instance, strikes us as a sideshow of the sleazi-
est sort. When Mr. Sorensen registered for the
, -draft in 1946 he sought and obtained classifica-
tion 1A0 ? a designation given to those
agreeable to hazardous duty as non-combatants.
", 'Mr. Sorensen's conscientious objections were
- ?
' known, and publicly noted, 16 years ago. And in
' any case the CIA is not an army ? indeed, its
, involvement in secret para-military operations
.? is among the practices that need searching re-
examination. Must a prospective CIA director
? -come before the Senate accoutered like a dra-
.
? goon, brandishing his saber?
Similarly, in the affidavits he filed in the New
York Times and Ellsberg cases, Mr. Sorensen
? ;was only one of more than a dozen reporters and
-, former officials who sought to establish perspec-
tive on the uses and abuses of government
secrecy. That perspective was needed then, and
;is no less needed today. The hypocrisy, the gap
between law and custom, pretense and practice,
is nowhere else so great.
- There are two workable approaches to official
secrecy. Ideally, government should use the
privilege of secrecy, as the Prayer Book once
-"advised people to marry, "soberly, advisedly,
-. discreetly" and above all sparingly ? and ex-
pect officials and reporters to respect secrets on
pain of severe legal penalty. But that is the
ideal. The other system, the system in use, is to
wield the "secret" and "classified" stamps with
? abandon, relying on curiosity and self-interest
? to force exceptions.
Mr. Ellsberg's handling of the Pentagon
Papers was only an especially spectacular
? example of the working system described
, above. Yet it was honestly feared, both in gov-
? ernment and the press, that the Pentagon
Papers episode signalled a departure from the
'unwritten rules. Officialdom, or much of it, con-
sidered that Daniel Ellsberg had overstepped;
?
:the press, or much of it, viewed the Justice De-
partment's invocation of prior restraint against
the Washington Post and the New York Times?
- and its subsequent prosecution of Mr. Ellsberg
? as equally aggressive. Did these legal steps
herald a new literalism in the enforcement of
,laws and rules that had previously been ob-
served most casually, and flouted when the
r ? -mutual interest of press and government could
' be served thereby?
d100070001-5 _
Pentagon Papers, and only in it, that Mr. Soren-
sen's true confessions about his use of classified
papers were offered. He was not boasting; he
was attempting to school the courts in an
"anomalous" practice.
Max Frankel, then Washington Bureau Chief
of the the Times, deposed in another of the same
group of affidavits that "without the use of 'se-
crets,' there could be no adequate diplomatic,
military, and political reporting of the kind our
people take for granted. . . and there could be
no mature system of communication between
the government and the people." The Navy, Mr.
Frankel continued, used secrets to "run down"
Air Force weaponry, and the Army to suggest
its "superiority" over the Marines. President
Kennedy had divulged his "secret" conversa-
tions with Mr. Gromyko about Berlin, while
President Johnson later relayed (to Mr. Frankel
personally) the skinny on his "secret" conver-
sations at Glassboro, N. J., with Premier Kosy-
gin.
Mr. Sorensen in his statement to the Intelli-
gence Committee conceded that he used
classified papers in his book, Kennedy, but pro-
tested most persuasively that he did not depart
from accepted practice as understood (and ac-
cepted by the General Services Administration
and goverment archivists) in the mid-1960s. His
critics made effective use of hindsight and ex
post facto rules.
By the tests implicit in the hostility of some
members of the Senate Intelligence Committee,
few if any people with extensive experience in
government and few Washington reporters (in-
cluding some of Mr. Sorensen's severest critics)
could qualify for presidential appointments.
Many have handled secrets without authoriza-
tion.
The feeling can't be avoided that the stir over
these matters ? Mr. Sorensen's draft status, his
use of classified documents ? was a smoke-
screen for unstated personal and political objec-
tions. Mr. Sorensen could not be described as an
ingratiating or popular man, and his aspiration
to play reformer to the CIA had been adver-
tised. If the other issues hadn't queered his
chances, something of equal irrelevance might
have served the same purpose.
The trouble with this is not that Mr. Sorensen
was an obvious and natural choice for the post
of CIA director; in some ways the appointment
was puzzling. The trouble is that Mr. Sorensen
has been smoothly axed for reasons which, as
stated, have little to do with his qualifications
for the job, and less to do with the future direc-
tion of the agency. We hope Mr. Carter, un-
daunted by this setback, will not desist from his
attempt to bring a fresh approach and new per- i
spectives to a department of government that
It was in the context of the battle over the needs both.
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