NEW FILES REVEAL BUSH-FORD RIFT OVER CIA PROBE

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP99-01448R000401580032-6
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: May 24, 2012
• Sequence Number: 32
• Publication Date: September 30, 1988
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

ST Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/05/25: CIA-RDP99-01448R000401580032-6
ILLEGIB
New files reveal
Bush-Ford rift
over CIA probe
Los Angeles Times
ANN ARBOR, Mich. - While he
was director of the CIA, George Bush
secretly battled with the Justice De-
partment and White House officials
in an effort to restrict a federal crimi-
nal investigation of senior CIA offi-
cials, according to newly released
files in the Gerald R. Ford presiden-
tial library.
The new materials show that in
October 1976, citing the need to pro-
tect intelligence sources, Mr. Bush
repeatedly sought to prevent some
documents from being declassified
and CIA witnesses from being called
before a federal grand jury. The
grand jury was investigating charges
that officials working for or with the
CIA, including former Director Rich-
ard Helms, had lied under oath to
Congress, about CIA operations in
Chile.
When White House officials re-
minded Mr. Bush that President
Ford had already given a public
pledge that his administration would
not use the classification process or
take any other action to prevent the
exposure of illegal activities, Mr.
Bush still balked, saying he had not
personally received any written di-
rective from the president spelling
out this policy.
"An impasse exists between the
Justice Department and Director
George Bush of the CIA," White
House counsel Philip W. Buchen
wrote to Mr. Ford. Mr. Buchen told
the president that if the Justice De-
partment failed to obtain the infor-
mation in dispute, it "would abort
the pending investigation and lead to
no prosecution."
In a memo at the time to another
White House official, Mr. Bush said,
"There is no intention on my part or
on the part of this agency to take
any action that might reasonably be
construed as an effort to thwart or
frustrate the investigation being
conducted by the [Justice] Depart-
ment.
"At the same time, I mean to do
whatever is necessary and appropri-
ate to carry out my statutory man-
date to protect intelligence sources
and methods," he said.
President Ford supported the
Justice Department and his White
House aides and instructed Mr. Bush
to let federal prosecutors have what
they needed. The Justice investiga-
tion eventually resulted in Mr.
Helms' 1977 plea of no contest to
two criminal charges of failing to tes-
tify "fully. completely and accurate-
ly" to Congress.
Mr. Bush's efforts contrasted
i sharply with those of his immediate
predecessor at the CIA, former Di-
rector William E. Colby. It was Mr.
Colby who first referred to the Jus-
tice Department the allegations of
false testimony by CIA officials, thus
leading to the criminal prosecution
that Mr. Bush was seeking to re-
strict.
When asked for comment, Craig
Fuller, Mr. Bush's chief of staff, said
through a spokeswoman that the
vice president's office first heard of
the Buchen files when questions
were raised by the Times yesterday.
He said he would withhold comment
until seeing the documents.
The Washington Post
The New York Times
The Washington Times
The Wall Street Journal
The Christian Science Monitor
New York Daily News
USA Today
The Chicago Tribune
Z.
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/05/25: CIA-RDP99-01448R000401580032-6