GEN. WALTERS: SECRET MISSIONS ALL ACCOMPLISHED

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP91-00901R000700060112-4
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: October 11, 2006
• Sequence Number: 112
• Publication Date: March 18, 1978
• Content Type: NSPR

Approved For Release 2006/11/08: CIA-RDP91-00901 R000700060112-4
ARTICLE APPEARED
ON PAGE 1 C- 3-C
c~ t1,(r. 5 1 rklis ,'~>ss
ers:
THE MIAMI HERALD
18 March 1978 .
ecret Missions
CV' '1
z ".ate '-~t''w?-;:: g.,`$'? .: ..
By FREDERICK BURGER
i tir, r. r '~>ikratd Stafi5~4Yriter :.
y, PA11f BEAItw-~4 He: does :tdt?
,`even have,:'a hrgli sCh o1 diploma, 3
bikt:.the man who,;se iias deputyr
director: of the Clcf>frirt the fttr..
#ilfent '?watergateS years; rose `.:toss
power as a three-star geit ai n
teipreting eight tan agesfot! hiss
Army superiors a~ii th ret: press .
dents..-
'Lt. ~
Gen. (Ret ):.Vernon Walters
now living in Palm Beach; spent
career, arranging seecrct 'conferences:
between. world: powers _`,Ho set u
peace- talks betweeil the;: U S.'`an
North Vietnaatt and ftt?ally, late.: in
his career,. underwent the: 5cruttny
of the Watergate investigation
It is ,the last episatfe,l`liat firough
111 m, notoriety-- and ` ttlentior o? -i
brings a determined set to his fau~e
lit not will g. Ito glue just -w
Watergate ihtervtew, 'lie anap~ a<
WALTERS who as d`eputyf di.
rector of the Central Ihtelligenc
Agency from Maly
`l 72 ;to his??ie-
tirement in July' I.976,fiad some
thing else to discuss Silent Mss,
siana, his'$12 95 alobiog`raptiya
be published M re 2 bIJoubic=
d~y F; k .. sf j
His 65; ? e .
page booic focuses fYn his
35-year military career ana l1Qw lie
used his fluency in:eight`languages
to interpret.,far Presidents? Trt}man',
Eisenhower aa&Nixcln , r 'f~ c t
ThTy knew I hart i i {languages:
capability; and thugsc?ught rs
ou.%aid Waltets,,i> fio-A
imposing 6-feet , 3 inches ai 4
weighs a hefty 220pourids: k"I don't
tlrinl?,apresident eves his"
aii office
ciat Interpreter. I guess nterpret=
li~?. deed`eonversa"tigns for
presidents, h ostly Eisenhower'.' ,
qr.n is Newa'York City, Walters
wa? ? ix when ,he., moved with his
S
e
parents to London;here hisfather wQ keil as office manager of an in-
surance.company.; ':He. _ attended
schaot;in. France and England and
beganto devglop'his talent. for-lan-
guagGt?and ark interest in.':history.
While In.Europe lie also began a
hfefoii habit of keeping diaries. His
boob?.is ?culled' partially from these.
He ipt rned;_to -this country when
he was'i6.and.hadao quit school to
help his financially-strapped family.
don't - feature' this in head
lines,":he-said , `but you're probably!
Looking- at the' only general in. the;
1rm~y without a high lo-
-l
WMIiTERS enlisted in Il and
;ser ed mostly in non-combat roles,i
atctlijtg h1;tg?r41 11ein#! matit!?as he
his superiors ri `l
lewas rrlllttary attache -in Paris
e
ww1rc1 - to ,, helpe d:, arrange -secret i
peace talks between the United
States and North Vietnam. He
writes that Le Duc Tho, North Viet-
nam's chief negotiator, once urged
the United States, through Secre-
tary of State Henry Kissinger, to as-
sassinate Nguyen Van Thieu, the
president of South Vietnam and an
American ally..
Kissinger refused any American
involvement. Duc Tho and Kissing-
er later shared the 1972 Nobel
Peace Prize.
"I would hope Silent Missions
would sell well," said Walter! who
lives
hi
v,,
s .Pa-f,Quu military retire-:
ment pay, acccording to Pentagon
spokesmen. "I was not really'an'l
.actor. I was an- observer of the l
deeds of other people. rve held
every job in the -United States
Army, from private to. three-star
general., and that's something you
can't complain about.
rying to convey how, much
fun I've had, and, at the same time,
contribute to things I believe in."
ONE OF THE things he believes
in most passionately is the ,need fors
a strong intelligence apparatus in,
.the United States. And one of.the
topics he dodges as much as possi_
ble is CIA involvement in Water-
gate. Even in his book, he devotes
just 67 pages to the subject that
brought his name to the forefront of
national attention.
Even now, he maintains the CIA
was "absolutely not" involved in in
the Watergate burglary,- nor did it
monitor the scheme's planning stag-
es, in spite of the fact that most of ?
the Watergate burglars had worked'
fo~ the CIA at some time.
"The CIA's business isn't to go.
find Howard Hunts or people in the'Watergate," Walters maintains..
"Its business is to find out what
the
of their forces are. The setting up of.
inteingence apparatus in no way
th
reatened the CIA, since the CIA
basically is not in that business
"
.
Walters' name- surfaced - in thel
Watergate .. affair when-- -it was
learned that John Dean 'asked hind
to ask the FBI to halt its investiga-
tion of the burglary as itmight re-i
late to Mexico, since such-. probes
might reveal CPA activities.; ' ?
mained in office speaksrforitself: It~
Approved For Release 2006/11/08: CIA-RD091-00901 R00070006011FQ? INUED'
 Approved For Release 2006/11/08: CIA-RDP91-00901 R000700060112-4
was a highly hysterical, witch-
hunting atmosphere. I had a highly
rewarding life, and I was deter
mined to stay through the storm
Nobody laid a hand on me."
A BACHELOR, Walters settled in
Florida after vacationing here with
his mother in the late '50s. He
owned a Palm Beach condominium!
for six years before he retired. He!
kept a picture of the beach as seen
from his condo window in his CIA.
`office. "When people asked what it,
was, I told them that's what's Wait-
'ing for me-if anybody- squeezes too
hard.I was ready to resign that job
-Heavier -now-than before he re-
tired, Walters nonetheless devotes a
lot of, time to boating, bicycling and
swimming. His sister-and brother-
in-law also live in Palm Beach.
:Rather than fiddle with the social
scene, Walters. says he prefers to
`spend his time writing.
A second book, a novel entitled
Sunset at Saigon, is about -to be se
to his publisher. He? has written
four chapters of a third, The Mighty
and The Meek, and he already has
,title (Project Guilt)' fora fourth. "
"I 'was lucky to have an extraor;
dinary and adventurous career,,and
I want to share it," he said with rel-
ish. "Just as I wielded that sword,
I'm wielding the pen,",-
Approved For Release 2006/11/08: CIA-RDP91-00901 R000700060112-4