THE LAYERS OF SECRECY PEELED AWAY

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-01208R000100070076-3
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: February 22, 2011
• Sequence Number: 76
• Publication Date: February 18, 1976
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

STAT
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Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/02/22 : CIA-RDP90-01208R000100070076-3
NEr1SDAY
18 February 1976
By- Ernest Voikman.
Necvsda}' \ationtl Correspondent.' From its founding in 19-17, the Central Intelligence
Agency has worked under a mantle of secrecy that,
ormbined with congressional apathy, presidential pro-
tection and Gold War exigencies, made the agency al q. d
most opaque from outside view.
But in the spring of 1972, the: layers of conceal-'I
rent began to fall away. - ?~
The initial reason -for the revelations did not 'ap-
?ear to have much to do with The CIA, Columnist.
Tack Anderson began publishing: a series of columns
)utliring a relationship b e t w e e n the International'* telephone and Telegraph Co. and the Nixon adminis
r a t i o n , and its. role in quashing an .antitrust suit
tgainst the giant multinational firm:-ln return; 'it %vas
illegcd, the GOP got an offer from ITT to underwrite'
he Republican National Convention in ?1972. ?.. ?
A CIA connection wi th ' ITT surfaced s e v e r a l
ronths later, after the Senate Foreign Relations Com-'
nittee decided tor-investigate certain aspects of ITI'T's
or e?l g n operations, notably the company's political i
ode in Chile A special investigating subcommittee was.
,ctup and Sen. Frank Church (D-Idaho) lhzadcd it.
Church began the? investigation in the spring of.
973, and the subcommittee soon uncovered ITT's in-.-,
~olvcment in Chilca n'politics-?and an ITT link.
The revelations concerned,an offer of.$1 million to :.
he agency by the company that ITT wanted to be .
sed to block the election of Salvador':Alleride, a.:
Jarxist, as president,of C h i 1 e . The company had
arge investments In the country. The CIA said it,
urnod down the offer, but it-was disclosed. that the
gency had secretly aided Allende's nnnnnrnts hrfore.1
is election and later worked covertly to `1destabilizQ
is government. Allende was killed, in a military coup
year after his election. The U.S. has denied any di-. I
ect role in the coup. The significance of the disdo-
Lire was the fact that for' the firsttime in its history, a
overt CIA operation was exposed and the agency was
arced to inublicly defend it.
:At the same, however, another event that Wrould
Ater help shatter the CIA's mantle of secrecy some
lore was unfolding, U.S. intelligence sources say. Un-
nown to Church, then CIA director James Schlesin-
er. had ordered his personnel to report to him any
IA'activities that were outside the scope of its 1.947
barter or were illegal. Schlesinger was stunned when
e received a 300-page report outlining "abuses, most
f them. connected with a secret program to ,-on
J.S. .citizens. The progiam'included electronic caves-:.
ropping, wiretaps, the opening 'of mail? and other
pying activites outside the scope of the agency chart=
r, which re.stricts.it to collection of intelligence over-
~as. Schlesinger,,the 'sources say,' uncertain exactly
that to do with the report; eventually turned it over':
Several months later, the specific abuses outlined
in. the report appeared in a series of articles in the
New York Times, causing widespread demands for.h
full investigation of the agency. A commission. headed
by Vice President Nelson Rockefeller issued ri report
in June,' 1975, confirming the news stories. .
But' even before those revelations,' the, CIA was :Tceling tho glare of i;olit.icnl scandal. The agency had l
become directly involved . in ? the Watergate inve`stiga
tion, with the five burglars who carried out the bur-
, g l 'vyi )n ~~eiY~o~rat3~' hegd,q arlers, pg, c'$S~Il L?..rQr'1(1't
sort of CIA background. Further, it was learned, That, !
under pressure from Nixon, the CIA half-heartedly
had attempted to cover up the Watergate break-in by_
saying that an FBI investigation could affect a evertoperation in Mexico. In addition, the CIA aclrnittcd
once helping one of the Watergate burglars, E. How-
nrd'Hun.t, by providing him with material to aid iho
break-in at the office 'of Daniel Elisberg's psychiatrist;
1
and, at another. time, a red win for a secret. mission
on' behalf' of the Nixon administration to talk With .a
key figure in the ITT scandal.
In 1974, Congress began to move to exert a broad-
er nionitoring.of the CIA. A law was approved requir-
' ing the agency to report covert operations to six dif i
ferent committees. Congress also appointed bipartisan
select committees in both houses to study the agency.
{
' 'Chuurch was picked to head the Senate investigation'
Rep. Otis Pike. (D-Riverhead) to head the House's.
Throughout most of last year, the committees held..
hearings. But the disclosures led to serious confronts-
tiors between Congress and the White House; which'!
argued that the revelations were reducing the effec-
tiveness of U.S. intelligence. agencies. The W h i t o
I-Iouse was especially disturbed over news leaks of se= ;
cret information on intelligence operations-such as
covert financial aid to Italian politicians, aid to two,
factions in Angola, involvement in assassination plots
against foreign leaders and other operations.
P i k e' s committee finished its investigation last
mnonth, but the White House sought to block its pu'ull
cation until it could be censored. The House voted to
support the White hIousc position,.but the publication
of key soctions of the report was leaked 'Inc.] published
last week in the Villagc.Voicet?:,. ;. ...:...:~.:~ .+
3 -c c,irroccnt' fit' fll C,...?. r'..11... .. !. 1
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/02/22 : CIA-RDP90-01208R000100070076-3