FORMER DCI RICHARD HELMS AWARDED OSS DONOVAN MEDAL
Document Type:
Collection:
Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST):
CIA-RDP91-00901R000500150023-5
Release Decision:
RIPPUB
Original Classification:
K
Document Page Count:
8
Document Creation Date:
December 19, 2016
Document Release Date:
December 20, 2005
Sequence Number:
23
Case Number:
Publication Date:
January 1, 1983
Content Type:
REPORT
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CIA-RDP91-00901R000500150023-5.pdf | 1.1 MB |
Body:
STAT
d For Rglease 2006/01/12: CIA-RDP912O J 5 0150023-5
N E W S L E T T E R
Volume VIII No. 3
Summer 1983
Editor-Paul A. Borel
o
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Ambassador Helms accept I~KQ rEQ~iYh~elte{~ }etGi$ OMoRSigryol RD
eD[t William Casey,
Geoffrey )ones, General William Quinn, Vice President Bush, Mrs. David Bruce, John Bross, James Withrow, Rev. Edward Elson
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~~'-7 The Vice President congratulates Helms
_J he Veterans of OSS awarded its William ). Donovan
medal to Richard Helms "for brilliantly exemplifying
qualities which characterized General Donovan's career
and for the outstanding contribution Ambassador Helms
has made to the development of the American intelligence
effort, reflecting a lifetime commitment of concern for
world and American security. "
The medal was presented on May 24, at a gala affair at-
tended by over 500 enthusiastic supporters of Intelligence.
The guest speaker, Vice President of The United States
George Bush, was introduced by DCI William Casey.
Dick Helm's remarks on accepting the award follow:
I am touched and honored to receive the William J.
Donovan Award. My reasons can be no mystery to any of
you. So I want to thank Bill Casey, )ohn Shaheen, )eff
)ones, and the others who participated in my selection for
their perspicacity in ferretting me out and in persuading
me with incomparable eloquence to appear here this
evening. Most particularly I want to thank the Vice Presi-
dent for honoring us all with his presence. Soon after tak-
ing over at the Agency, Bill Casey commented that "out
there at Langley they think that guy-meaning you, Mr.
Vice President-walrtro~WdrFbM>ej2Ctq&&gE2
you don't, but there is no doubt of the respect and affec-
tion in which you are held by intelligence officers
everywhere.
General Donovan's life is so well known that it requires
no description tonight. For me and many of my friends his
most important contribution was to found, defend, and
operate the first integrated intelligence organization in
U.S. history. He was truly the father of American in-
telligence. Before him our efforts were trivial. My first personal encounter with General Donovan
came in 1944 when Col. Passy, whose real name was An-
dre' de Wavrin, had been under fire in London fort what
were known as the Duke Street murders. Frenchmen
under interrogation had allegedly died in the basement of
the Free French intelligence headquarters.
A few days before Col. Passy's scheduled arrival Col.
Atherton Richards, a senior OSS officer, phoned me put of
the blue, verified that I had been a newspapermah and
could speak French, informed me that I was to join him
and two other officers as an escort group to take Col.
Passy and two French subordinates on a tour cf the
United States. My assignment was to insure that the t was
no press coverage.
At the airport to greet the French visitors I approached
General Donovan with considerable trepidation and the
following exchange took place: "Genera' Donovan,' what
about publicity in connection with this visit?"
"We don't want any."
"I know, but what if some newspaperman asks me
whether it is true that Col. Passy is in this country."
"That's what you're here for, Lieutenant."
And the General walked away. There was no press
coverage.
My introduction to OSS was to be rushed off to a train-
ing camp in the Maryland countryside known as Area E.
There we were warned to use only first names, to try to
spy out the backgrounds of our classmates, and to learn
how to handle ourselves in life or death situations.', Col.
Fairbairn, once of the Shanghai police, later trainer of the
famed British commandos, taught us the deadly arts,
mostly in hand-to-hand combat. Within fifteen seconds l
came to realize that my private parts were in constant
jeopardy. I will not describe the unpleasant techniiques
taught, except to point out that Fairbairn's method of
dealing with a hysterical woman was to grab her lower lip,
then give her a resounding slap on the face. If the fear of
being disfigured by move 41 did not sober her up, move
02 might. In short, the good Colonel's theory was that
gentlemanly combatants tended to end up dead, and he
persuaded us that this was the proper attitude in the area
CIA-RORMflqK
ARQg80a?OPa,Aght a tough outlook into
CIA a few years later, it is hardly surprising.
Many who had servAc'5 ' F0 1@a u2dO6tOrlOl2 : CIA-G 3t1r39 OOI)gdR(10006'h5602ZAbassy in Iran and the
the operational or clandestine section of the new CIA political infighting which brought on the taking of the
when its doors opened in September 1947. We had been hostages were surprises born of an inadequate grasp of
trained to work against the Nazis, the Japanese, the Ayatollah Khomeini's bigotry and zealotry. To this day the
Italians, and we had done so. Now we were to confront varied patterns of Islamic thought are mysterious to our
the Eastern Bloc, adversaries little understood but certain- American minds. I could go on and on, but you have my
iy tough, at least in the intelligence field. Then came the point. As a country we must develop a far deeper
Peoples' Republic of China. For some years we used the knowledge of other peoples' culture, religion, politics
same methods, learned from the British in World War II, than we possess today. Believe or not, we are still essen-
that had been tried and proven. But the Soviet Bloc in tially a provincial nation.
peacetime, particularly the Russians themselves-sus- I recognize that my formulation here is in extreme short-
picious, disciplined, possessed of a formidable security hand, but there can be no denying that the underlying
police-proved to be a tough nut to crack. Then in the late concept is sound and important.
fifties technology came to the rescue. First the U-2 But back to the interplay between humans and gadgets.
brought photographs with a mind-boggling volume of Let me now use as examples events involving Cuba and
detail on Soviet arms and weapons systems. Close behind the United States in the early sixties.
came the first photographic satellites. And the intelligence What is today known as the Cuban Missile Crisis occur-
explosion of the century was onr:-a relentless stream of red in October 1962. As you will recall, Mr. Khrushchev
detailed data which turned analytical work on these so- attempted to sneak intermediate range ballistic missilesi in-
called "denied areas" from famine to feast. Our best Rus- to Cuba which could easily reach the heartland of
sian agents, Popov and Penkovsky, suddenly seemed pale America. This action jolted President Kennedy who had
and inadequate. been assured by his Russian experts (diplomatic, military,
But with the passage of time a distortion threatened to intelligence) that the Soviets would never make such a
change the character of our work. The collectors with rash move. Agents had reported seeing missiles on the
technical gadgets began to disparage the efforts of the island as had refugees fleeing to Florida. But it was not un-
human collectors. The new cry from the gadgeteers was, til a reluctant government resumed U-2 flights over Cuba
"Give us the money and leave it to us." And indeed, why that the photographs showed unquestionably that misfile
take risks running spies when gadgets would tell you what sites were being built and that missiles had indeed arrived
you wanted to know? But therein lay a fallacy. And the on the island. The so-called "hard evidence" was at hand.
debate over the elements of that fallacy is with us today President Kennedy's success in getting the Russians to
and will inevitably crop up from time to time in the future. withdraw the missiles and the bombers is public history.
Why? Because gadgets cannot divine man's intentions. But it took the combined efforts of human and technical
Even if computers can be programmed to think, they will resources to make the case convincingly to a skeptical
not necessarily come to the same conclusion as Mr. An. world. -
dropov. And if they should, how would we know? There is
no substitute for old-fashioned analysis performed by old-
fashioned brain power any more than there is a substitute
for sound judgment based on adequate facts.
There is no substitute for old-fashioned analysis perform-
Another reason why we cannot rely exclusively on spies ed by old-fashioned brain power any more than there is a
in the sky but also must have some on the ground is the substitute for sound judgment based on adequate facts.
extent to which the Soviets have closed the technology
gap. We can no longer rely on our superiority across the
board to protect us from the surprises of a devastating
technological breakthrough. Since it takes 7 to 12 years to
develop a new weapons system to the point of testing, On a later occasion I asked Attorney General Kenney,
satellite surveillance of a new weapons test could come who was the President's honcho on matters Cuban, why
too late. More than ever we need agents in place to give the White House was not making more of an issue of
us advance warning of what is on the drawing boards. Cuban weapons support to dissidents and opposition
If there is a weakness in our intelligence apparatus, it is - elements in other Latin American countries. He replied,
in our ability to figure out what the leaders of a foreign " "The President needs hard evidence that this is going on."
power are going to do in any given situation. For example, Again that term "hard evidence." Did it have to be a
it is open knowledge in our government that we do not photograph? Perhaps not. That time the human collectors
know how the Saudi royal family arrives at its decisions. came to the rescue. On a finca in Venezuela a large arms
The same applies to the Russian leadership. In that case cache was discovered, the purpose of which was to arm a
we may not even divine for some time that a decision was group intent on mounting a coup in Caracas_ in this cache
made, let alone the nature of it. Arkady Shevchenko, the were sub-machine guns of Belgian manufacture with
Russian defector from the United Nations, recently wrote holes the size of a 50 cent piece braised on the stock. Skill-
that American followers of Kremlin politics have a regret- ed Agency technicians were able to recover for a few
table lack of understaop~ t vpRL4? i2b&lefn2 : CIA5 dll6ogaliR'0'?U5bCyt5 n braised away, long
think, how they act behind the scenes and how they make enough to photograph it. The official seal of Castro's Cuba
emerged. T riumphaAt prap l Fpi-eF Asea2Dt il61 2
to the AC's office, gun in a brief case, A half hour later we
were ushered into the Oval Office, Bob Kennedy having
made the appointment for me to present the "hard
evidence." I apologized to President Kennedy for bring-
ing such a mean-looking weapon into his presence. He
laconically replied, "Yes, it gives me a feeling of con-
fidence." Three days later he was dead.
The estimating process did much better on what
became known as the June War of 1967, but there the
analysts had military statistics and known weapons
systems to deal with. As war clouds gathered in the Mid-
dle East during May, the Israeli government finally sent an
estimate to Washington designed to demonstrate that
Israel might well be defeated by the Arabs without U.S.
assistance. Within five or six hours of receiving this
estimate, the Agency produced a written estimate of its
own contending that Israel could'.defeat within two weeks
any combination of Arab armies which could be thrown
against it no matter who began the hostilities. When Dean
Rusk read this commentary, he asked me if I agreed with
it. I replied that I did. Then with a wry grin he com-
mented, "Well, in the words of Fiorello LaGaurdia, if this
is a mistake, it's a beaut!" Later at the request of President
Johnson the estimate was reworked or to use his words
"scrubbed down." The new version had the Israelis win-
ning in one week. In fact, they took six days.
In conclusion, I want to pay heartfelt tribute to the
friends and colleagues with whom I shared the long road
which started in OSS and ended ten years ago at CIA. My
son, Dennis, had an intern job at the Agency one summer
while he was in college. He said to me one evening,
"Dad, you are very lucky to be working at CIA." "Why,"
I inquired. His answer I've never forgotten: "Because the
people there are so civilized." That was my experience in
OSS as well. With few exceptions these men and women
stood up to the stern challenge of anonymity, security,
and discipline. Admiral Rufus Taylor, my deputy at one
point, recognized these traits when he wrote to President
Johnson on his retirement saying that he had never in his
life been exposed to a more disciplined group of people,
and that included the U.S. Navy. We all did our work
because we believed in it, and we understood the need to
obey a code of integrity with each other despite the lies
and crafty tricks we might be required to use on our
adversaries.
That "long road" to which I just referred was sometimes
bumpy, unseen potholes punctuated the way. We
sometimes wondered whether our compatriots were for
us or against us. But in the end few would have traded for
any other career. General Donovan would have approv-
ed. He was not one to walk away from adversity. Neither
was Frank Wisner who inspired and guided me for many
years starting in OSS. The other day Bob Ames fell in
Beirut, the victim of an incomprehensible trick of fate.
Twenty years my junior, I knew him for the star he was.
Other names like Allen Dulles, Tom Karamessines spin
through my head. BApproVed. For Release 2006/01/12
To all of you and to all of them, thank you.
CIA-RDP91 n r7.6 auR000500150023-5
L ' V Lc
C4 r. Vice President, Ambassador
distinguished guests, all of you:
Helms, other
I would like to read to you a letter given me to bring to
our Honoree this evening.
Dear Dick,
It was with great pleasure that f learned the Veterans of
OSS are presenting you with their William J. Donovan
Award. I can think of few more deserving recipients, in-
deed few careers in government have been more
distinguished than yours or more excitin?. History seems
to have singled you out for a role in some of the most
critical events of our century. As a journalist you saw the
Third Reich firsthand; as a Navy officer during World War
II you served ably in OSS; as a civil servant you played a
role in the founding and direction of the Central In-
telligence Agency from its earliest days; as a Director of
Central Intelligence you won national regard for your
leadership; as a diplomat you served with distinction as
ambassador to Iran.
All of your countrymen are indebted to you for these
years you have given to America-for your unflinching
patriotism, your high standards of professionalism and
your commitment to the call of conscience.
Today I join the Veterans of the OSS-heroes all of them
-in saluting one of their number. Congratulations, Chick,
on the Donovan Award and many thanks for your 'long
years of service to the cause of human freedom.
Sincerely,
Ronald Reagan
The President's accolade to the Veterans of OS,S as
heroes recalls how, some fifteen years after the liberation
of France, the Amicale Action, the veterans organization
of the French resistance, provided a tour through France
for some twenty of us who had worked to support them
during the war. Everywhere we went there would he a
speech and a toast and I was expected to respond. I
would dust off my college French and start with ",sous
sommes tres eureux etre ici," thinking I was saying "we
CIA-F OdgOgSMf;bQ,0 0?rL5OO bl'd done this a few times
some French scholar, Henry Hyde or Barbara Shaheen, I
forget exactly who WLoy ~#rfeogrf eJS e,gA0K1/aJ;
saying 'nous sommes tous eroes,' which means, 'we are
all heroes.' " Whatever it was I was saying, I had noticed a
look of great skepticism on the faces of our French hosts.
And it is reassuring, even at this late date, to have the
President of the United States confirm that you really are
heroes, even if I was trying to say something else.
But I am certainly very happy to be here with so many
friends and comrades of old wars and escapades and par-
ticularly to join in this splendid tribute to Dick Helms.
Dick and I were present at the creation, worked together
in Washington, shared an apartment in London, and I
have watched him quite closely over the last forty years
always admiring his qualities of character and intellect, his
judgment, his discipline and his professionalism. I once
told Dick how wonderful it was that he, unlike the great
majority of us, had resisted the blandishments of the
private sector and dedicated his career to the creation of a
permanent American intelligence service. He explained
simply that when you sit in the CIA and see the reports
that come in from around the world you can't help but
realize how beleaguered this country really is and you just
have to stick with it.
Certainly our country is no less beleaguered today and
we are very lucky to have a very large number of men and
women who show that same dedication and have
developed a discipline, a know-how and a can-do spirit
which is both a joy to behold and a priceless national
asset. That is a heritage for which all of us owe much to
the leadership and example which Dick Helms provided
for some thirty years and, even in his post-intelligence
career, still does.
.. when you sit in the CIA and see the reports that come
in from around the world you can't help but realize how
beleaguered this country really is and you have to stick
with it.
There came a time in 1974 and 1975 when some of the
Congress and the media indulged in an orgy of allegation
and recrimination against the American intelligence com-
munity, most of it unfounded or wildly exaggerated. It was
bruising experience which scattered painfully won exper-
tise and experience, shattered morale and destroyed con-
fidence. Then in 1976 there came, as DCI, a man who in a
remarkably short period of time restored the confidence,
lifted the spirits and renewed the momentum of the
American intelligence community. For that achievement,
and for the qualities of character and leadership on which
it was based, he has won the admiration and the affection
of all of us. I am honored to present him to you tonight.
Ladies and gentlemen, the Vice President of the United
States. Approved For Release 2006/01/12 : CIA-l 91h9MARgQQA9QJ?QPReW in the past. Dick Helms
CIA-RDPV~~R O~fl~15~>Q2r3 ~2~5 ~Gi#i2~f
1 O'Z 9 4 tlfii
_J hank you, Bill. Good evening. I'm honored to be
here tonight participating in this ceremony, because I
can't think of anyone who deserves the Donovan aw~rd
more than Dick Helms. Having inherited his job at CI -
if only for a short time-I gained a real respect and admira-
tion for the magnitude of Dick's accomplishments over
there.
Not many of you may know that before Dick got into in-
telligence, he was working for the other side-the press.
In the thirties, Dick was a correspondent for UP in London
and later, Berlin, where he observed first hand the
developments in the Nazi government. He was even able
to get a personal interview with Adolph Hitler. I hear tell
that this meeting was mentioned in the so-called Hitler
diaries, although the scholars apparently became
suspicious when the diaries referred to Dick as the future
director of the CIA.
Anyway, Dick joined up early with Wild Bill Donovan's
OSS, organizing intelligence networks from his vantage
point in England and other stations throughout Europe.
Still serving in the OSS after the war he closely obse ed
Soviet methods and intransigence in Germany and Ber'in.
What he learned then made Dick Helms decide to stay on
in Government service. He became convinced that the
United States would face many threats in the post-war
world, and he realized that effective intelligence was vital
if the democratic societies were to be able to defend
themselves against those threats.
It's hard to imagine now, but in 1940 and 41, Bill
Donovan was a one-man CIA for Franklin Roosevelt. the
OSS was brought into being in great part simply through
the force of Donovan's determined personality.
Well, after World War II, it took other forceful per-
sonalities to define the role of our intelligence service in a
very different, but equally threatening world situation.
One might even say that with the introduction of nuclear
weapons into the equation, the situation became e'en
I AgPEAD THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
P! IUL
JT PAP pr ved For Release 20( 011 19M-RDP91-00901R
Dubious Deals
Ashland Oil Criticizes
Its Payments to Libyan
To Get Oman's Crude
But Its Report to SEC Denies
Illegal Acts in Lining Up
Supplies After Shah Fell
How the Chairman Resigned
By RICHARD L. HUDSON
And PAUL INGRASSIA
Staff Reporters of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
When Ashland Oil Inc. convened its an-
nual meeting on Jan. 28, 1982, John R. Hall.
spoke warm words about the man he had re-
cently succeeded as chairman.
"The prospect of following in the foot-
steps of Orin Atkins is a humbling experi-
ence," Mr. Hall said. "I would appreciate
the shareholders' expressing their thanks to
Mr. Atkins with a round of applause."
Mr.' Atkins didn't bask -in the accolade.
The man who for 17 years had headed .Ash-
land, the nation's largest independent oil re-.
finer, wasn't even at the meeting at corpo-
rate headquarters in Ashland, Ky. He had
quit his post four months earlier when con-
fronted with a quiet coup led by the com-
pany's-outside directors and joined by Mr.
Hall himself. -
The board-room-coup came near the end
of a six-month private investigation, com-
missioned by Ashland's directors, into
whether Mr. Atkins had authorized payoffs
to get crude oil from Oman in 1980. Neither
Mr. Atkins nor Ashland violated any U.S.
law, the investigation concluded. But it criti-
cized questionable payments that Ashland
made to a wealthy Libyan with ties to the
Sultan of Oman, as well as other dealings
with a Canadian adventurer who helped the
sultan seize power in 1970.
Some Sizable Losses
At one point, the report states, Ashland
dropped S2.3 million in a doomed venture to
produce sausage casings that it hoped could
be ripped off cooked sausages at processing
plants and used again and again. It also in-
vested $26 million in a Rhodesian chromium
mine later proved to be worthless. Both in-
vestments were brought to Mr. Atkins by
Yehia Omar, a fabulously -wealthy Libyan
businessman who said he could help the
company buy oil in Oman. In December
1980, Ashland paid Mr. Omar a $1,350,000
"commission" for Its Omani oil contract.
but that money was later returned to the
company after outside directors inter-
vened.
Ashland had never explained why Mr. At-
kins suddenly quit in September 1981, at age
57, giving just two weeks' notice. But last
week, the company filed its 500-page inter-
nal investigation report with the Securities
and Exchange Commission, which had just
voted to begin a full-scale inquiry into Ash-
land's dealings. in Oman. '
The report, together with interviews of
current and former. Ashland officials, -de-
picts the company scrambling for oil in the
wake of the 1979 Iranian embargo, some-
times tanning former Central Intelligence
Richard H Ins and other
former CIA officials for advice. What
emerges is a rare g pse of a struggle
within a large U.S. company over the
bounds of ethical conduct in the murky busi-
ness world of the Middle East.
Atkins's Statement -
Ashland's filing of its report prompted
Mr. Atkins to issue a statement yesterday,
saying he .told Ashland's board "in late
1980" that he wanted to retire. At the time,
Mr. Atkins stated, "there were differences
within both management and the board"
over his diversification moves, but the board
asked him to stay "until a successor had
been selected."
Ashland outside directors confirm those
statements, but add that disagreements over
the Omani transactions hastened Mr. At-
kins's departure.
Controversies over ethics aren't new at
Ashland. In 1973, the company and Mr. At-
kins were fined for channeling $100,000 in
corporate money to Richard Nixon's 1972 re-
election campaign. A year later, the com-
pany pleaded guilty and was fined again for
making more illegal political contributions
than it had previously disclosed. And some
things too damn fast," recalls F.H. Ross, a
director and a retired Ashland executive.
But Ashland was getting a seemingly secure
100,000 barrels of oil a day from the shah's
Iran, so Mr. Atkins had his way.
Then, disaster struck. The shah fell from
power, Iranians seized the U.S. Embassy,
and President Carter embargoed oil imports
from Iran. Almost overnight, Ashland lost
one-fourth of its crude-oil supply. It made up
some of the shortfall but remained desper-
ate for crude.
Enter Yehia Omar. "A unique and in-
scrutable figure," says the Ashland investi-
gation report, which was compiled in 1981 at
the behest of Ashland's board by the Pitts-
burgh law firm of Kirkpatrick, Lockhart,
Johnson & Hutchison. Mr. Omar had
amassed great wealth in the 1970s as a mid-
dleman for U.S. and European companies
eager to trade in the Mideast. He's "a 5%
man," says one former U.S. diplomat, refer-
ring to his habit. of claiming 5% of each con-
tract price -as a commission.
Mr. Omar, who hasn't returned phone
calls to comment on his dealings with Ash-
land, had helped Ashland in Libya during
the reign of King Idris. But Mr. Omar fled
Libya on a U.S. Air Force jet, the Ashland
report states, after Col. Muammar Qadhafi
seized power in 1969. With U.S. help, he later
became an "economic adviser" to Sultan
?Qaboos bin Said of Oman. He may have re-
turned the favor by convincing the sultan
not to condemn the 1978 Camp David ac-
cords, the Ashland report says.
In 1979, Mr. Omar introduced Mr. Atkins
and other Ashland officials to Timothy Lan-
don, a Canadian who had become a palace
official in Oman after helping the sultan
seize the throne from his father in 1970. Ac-
cording to the Ashland report, the two men
said Ashland might be able to get X0.000 bar-
rels of Omani crude a. day, with a hitch:
Some of the oil must be bought from them,
rather than from the government, at a
marked-up price. While the company mulled
the offer, it began a series of exotic-and
costly-business ventures with the two
18 months after the second conviction, Ash On the surface, most of the ventures had
land admitted to still more undisclosed ille- little to do with oil. But some Ashland offi-
gal contributions, plus payments to foreign cials suspected that they were simply elabo-
officials as well. At around the same time- ,rate ways to funnel money indirectly to Mr.
July 1975-Ashland disclosed that it had ac- Omar in recompense for any help he might
cept money from the CIA and had acted provide in getting Omani crude. At one
as a cover for covert CIA activities abroad point, Ashland considered selling him a
between i and company jet at $3 million below its market
Diversification Program price "in lieu of commissions" on oil pur-
In 1979, Mr. Atkins launched a major di- chases, the Ashland report says. Company
versification program. He sold most of Ash-
land's fledgling oil-producing operations and
used some of the money to buy an insurance
company and a maker of pollution-control
equipment. "An element of the board
thought we were doing too damn many
documents show that Ashland officials were
uneasy about whether U.S. prosecutors
might view direct commission payments to
the men as bribery.
44
STAT
Approved For Release 2006/01/12 : CIA-RDP91-00901 R000500150023-5
BUFFALO NEWS (Nv)'
Approved For Release 2Q? IO ?I219 fA-RDP91-09 i
CIA Plots.. Hurt Inte
Of U.S.,'E"nthe Long Ru
WAS m CION - A strong
case can be made for the propo-
sition that CIA intervention into
the internal politics of another
Isz Idon works against the long-
term interests of the United
States as well as those of the
sonny involved.
As one who served two -years
under former CIA Director Richard
Eleaas at theU.S. Embassy in Iran,
I long ago reached the conclusion
that the CIA made matters much
worse for both the Unite .States
and Iran when it. engineered a coup
, .that overthrew the legitimate goy.
j e nment of Iran in 19 3.
A Official.of the Organization of
American States recently made the
same claim .in the case of Guatema-
la where the United States inter-
vened. engineered the ouster of the
leg7al government and paved the
a2y tom the entry of a In-o al
right-wing dictatorship that has
killed or expelled thousands of In-
dian peasants.
In an unprecedented action last
weer., the ma)ority Democrats on
the House Intelligence Committee
issr a report contending that cov-
ert L.S. support for guerrillas light-
ing the government of Nicaragua
has strengthened international sup-
pown tar the leftist: Sandinistas and
has tailed in one of its purposes;
stopping the flow of arms to rebels
in sa Salvador.
The Reagan ac minism-ation has
?allowed the spotlight of interns.
tional opprobrium to shift from
Sam tinista attempts to subvert a
neighboring government (in El
Salvador) to a U.S. attempt to sub.
ve: t that of ..Nicaragua," the com-
mittee's nine Democrats concluded
in ' tae report about the on-going
covert CIA operation. The ranking
Democrat is Chairman Edward P.
Boland of Massachusetts. It was
Boland Who authored the amend
meat bearing his .name that enjoin
ed the administration from using:
CIA funds to overthrow the govern..
ment of Nicaragua. Commtttee'
members recently voted to end tbL.
operation when some of them'
claimed that the Reagan adtninis.?
nation was violating the Boland)
amendment.
Approved
President Reagan inadvErstently
focused on the' issue of moral coatu-
sion at his news conference last
week ?when he was asked why his
ad im lion doesn't openly sup-
port the 7,000 guerrillas trying to
destabilize .the Nicaraguan govern-
meat- To laughter among the news-
men and women at - the White
house, bee replied: "Why, because
-we want to keep on obeying the
laws.of on--.country, which we are
-obeying.
- -wamE 'THE cases .of CIA in-
volvement in the internal attains of
Iran, Guatemala and Nicaragua all
are open to grave question, one of
the most auestionabie cases of cov-
ert meddling is the case of C Iile..
It was just 10 years ago that the
CIA engineered a coup against left-
ist President Salvador Allende, pav-
ing the way for the military regime
.of President Augusta Pinochet.
The Pinochet regime is so
unpopular that it has slapped a
classified material stamp on Gallup
Polls.
Gestapo-like predawn raids
eight days ago, submachinegun-
wielding Pinochet troops- seized
some 1.000 .persons and took them
,to sower Stadiums and police sta-
tiouts in apparent retaliation for
widespread protests against the.re-
pressive regime.
Some, 600 uniformed -men in the
early ho= of Saturday may 14,
surrounded two slum areas in San-
tiago and ordered everyone over
the age of 14 to come out. Twelve
-hours later newsmen could see
EARLIER, FIVE oppositi~n
parties ranging tram Socialists to
Conservatives issued a joint state-
j meat calling-for'a return to genuine
le
d
nt
emuxCL-aJons supt
? Inpor -o a
return to an open democrat
R.odolto Seguel, leader" of
copper' mines' union, estimated
70 percent of Chile's 11 million
sons took part in anti-Pia et
demonstrations this month. Tens of
thousands of Chileans registered
toeir -discontent by blowing car
horns, banging pots together inside
dren out of school. Absenteeiszn one
day this month was a leas 70 per-
cent in Some Santiago- schools. j
Pmochet has rejected all the ap_
peals and has cracked down ever
rights comrni on report that the
regime made 1,789 political arrests-
-in 1982. This was almost three times
the number for 1981.
Amnesty International last week
a=Lqed Chileans police of wide..
spread torture of - political prison-
ers. The London-based human
rights organization charged that t~e
police, operating from a clawdesiir e
center in Santiago, used medi
personnel to examine the victiays
before and after torture sessions,
The Organization said that. there
are grounds to believe that one o~
more medical professionals '`active-
ly participated In torture."
Thanks in part to the CIA, Chile
now has a hated dictator. But this
sort of underhanded activity not
only hurts the united States in the
short-run, it has the longrte.
potential of undermining the very
principles upon which this nation
For Release 8000500150023-5
agents to check their identity
cards.
Approve ,,*85 (ease 2006/01/12 :CIA-RDP91-00901R00050
ARTICL: H
ON C, -1 WASHINGTON POST
20 MAY 1983
Letting Luce
With Clare Boothe
ious starring roles whit words about
Drawing a Self -Portrait With Wit -& Words
By S iral Booth'Conroy
Clare Boothe Luce has not so
much lived her life -as written if, as
?: an epigram. -She 4as,b6rn -with the
gift of intelligence and the curse of 1
seeing the world.as ludicrous
"Without a :tragic view of life? you , ,
`can't find it. as -:funny as I. do,"' she
-.said last right. --"The, difference be-
-tween a pessimist and an?optimist is
--that the, pessimist is better in-.
: formed."
Last night, five-weeks after her..
80th birthday, the wit and the beau-
-ty were holding -up .well at .-a verbal
-Self-Portrait ?at 'the--, National Por-
trait Gallery." Those of the about
300 guests -who came expecting a
drawing room dialogue from the fa--
mous playwright of "The Women"
were not disappointed. - ,
Neither were those. who came to
hear the Republican politician and
diplomat who was a member of Con-
gress from Connecticut and an am-
bassador to Rome. Today she is a
consultant.to the National Security
Council, a member of the Foreign I
Intelligence Advisory Board, and an
' amazing combination of a grande
dame and an enfant -terrible.
Paying tribute to her past and her
present was an appreciative group
that included three CIA directors, two
past-and one present-William Colby,
..Richard Helms and William Casey--
the Librarian-of Congress Daniel Boor-
stin, the - Architect of the- Capitol ;
George White, former Nixon secretary
Rosemary Woods and Luce biographer
Sylvia Morris. - .
In fine form, shimmering with se
_-guins, wearing enough pearls to dec-'
imate a bed of oysters, Luce ranged
with Marc Pachter,- the National Por-
trait Gallery's historian, over,~her var-
-the costars and the bit players in the
'road- company of her life.'-She spoke
much about the cheers and a-bit about
the .boos
-:-She neatly dug a gravefor the long-
standing rumor that George Kaufman
had written parts of "The Women,"
her biggest hit. "He used to say, `Do
you think that if I'd written a play
that.made $3 million, I would've put
her name on it?' " . . -
When she was in Co ngress, she said,-
"someone was always saying that my
husband [Henry Luce, owner of Time-
Life] had _ his staffers write my
-speeches for me. But it .all balanced
out, sometimes ..people said I wrote his-
editorials foi hind!
Listening to her last night, it is
doubtful that anyone would dare write
anything for her. Looking at Secretary
of Defense Caspar Weinberger-, sitting
on a front seat at the discussion, she
gave a mild example of the sort of
thing that made many enemies in her
career. She chastised Weinberger for
popularizing the phrase "build-down.."_
"The secretary is a great patriot,"
she said, "but ..he would certainly do
the country a favor if he would get rid
of `build-down.' "
She said she learned at a party re-
cently that. former senator J. William
Fulbright had never forgiven her for -
the time she-corrected his use of imply
and infer. And she told about the con-
gressman who told one of her verbal
victims not to mind her because "her
real vocation is writing. She . attaches
meaning to the use of words."
Luce told of a time she met her
match. "When `The Women' was a
success in London, I was brave enough
to ask Sylvia Astor to introduce me to
George Bernard Shaw. I wrote out in
my mind what I was going to say."
STAT
But whence' was -shown into
Shaw's study, he ignored her for so
long she .forgot her speech. "I just
blurted out; `Mr. Shaw, if it weren't for
you, I wouldn't be here ...` He looked
at me and. said, `And what is your
mother's name?',"
Pachter asked Luce which of her
many roles she preferred. She said the
most wonderful was to be mother to
her daughter, who was killed in a car
accident at 19..Luce.said she mourned
the grandchildren she might have had..
And in a characteristic shift, from
.dark to light,-she went on to say she
was proudest of learning scuba diving
after she was 50.
"I took a certain pride in that Pres-
ident Eisenhower gave me 14 missions
to accomplish as ambassador to Italy.
And I accomplished 15--I persuaded
Italy and Yugoslavia to settle their
territorial dispute. I believe it is the
only border disagreement since World
War II solved short of war."
Luce admitted that her first ambi-
tion was to be a playwright despite her
subsequent diplomatic career. In con-
versation after the formal dialogue, she
said she has a play "gestating. But you
know the kind of life -we lead often
acts as an abortion to the creative im-
pulse." _
It is said no woman can be too thin
or too rich. Last night, it seemed that
Luce, who is neither fat nor poor,
could have ruled the world-if she had
not also been too beautiful and - too .
witty.
Approved For Release 2006/01/12 : CIA-RDP91-00901 R000500150023-5