THE CITIZEN'S RIGHT TO BE LEFT ALONE

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP91B00046R000100150004-1
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 4
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: February 25, 2010
• Sequence Number: 4
• Publication Date: November 15, 1988
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

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Vital Speeches of the Day,
VOL. LV NOVEMBER 15, 1988
The Citizen's Right To Be Left Al
THE CITIZEN'S RIGHT TO BE KEPT SAFE AND FREE
By WILLIAM H. WEBSTER, Director of Central Intelligence
Delivered to the American Bar Association, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, August 9, 1988
T HANK YOU very much Bob, President MacCrate,
Prime Minister Robinson, other distinguished guests
and fellow members of the American Bar Association.
I am delighted to be with you. I can't resist saying that if some
day - as I'm certain I will - I am called to account for my
sins, I hope that Bob MacCrate is around to impanel the jury.
I particularly feel pleased to be here this morning and to
follow in the wake of the award of the American Bar Associ-
ation medal to my fellow St. Louisan, Bill McCalpin. It is richly
deserved. I've known Bill for forty years as a friend and a col-
league and, along with your distinguished past President John
Shepherd, we worked together on many projects. I am proud for
Bill, I'm proud for Saint Louis and I'm proud for the American
Bar Association that Bill has been selected for this high honor.
Well, I am here in Canada speaking largely to Americans,
and that, in a way, is a relief. I spoke to the Royal Canadian
Mounted Police Annual Mess several years ago and discov-
ered at the last minute that I was expected to engage in a
bilingual exercise. I stumbled through a few formalities in
French about being glad to be there, and then finally I said,
"And now, I must return to my own language - unless you
want my views on closing the window or putting the crayon on
the table."
In a world of disarray, some very interesting things are hap-
pening, even as we visit together. The prospect of peace in the
Persian Gulf and a cease-fire in the war between Iran and
Iraq; the withdrawal of Russian troops from Afghanistan; the
ne
Cambodian peace talks and the prospects that the Vietnamese
may soon withdraw their troops from that country; the ongoing
discussions in Angola and the promise of a cease-fire; and the
constructive discussion of possible solutions for the conflict in
the Western Sahara. All to the good.
In contrast to these developments, we see a faltering effort
to provide a permanent solution to conflict in the Middle East;
insurgencies in the Philippines; five nations arming the Spratly
Islands off the coasts of Vietnam and China; the spread of
chemical and biological warfare in the Middle East; and the
emergence of China as one of the great munitions makers of
the world, now specializing in missiles of great distance. And
I guess I have to mention Latin America. Nicaragua, Panama,
Honduras, Chile, El Salvador, and Bolivia. I need only men-
tion the names for us to realize how much there is to do to
create a safer and more peaceful world. We saw the U.S.-
Soviet summit meeting in June, and we saw the recent meeting
of the Soviet Central Committee plenum, when Gorbachev
gave an amazing speech promoting the principles of glasnost
and perestroika. And yet, we know that no essential goals of
Soviet domination have changed - or, at least, the Soviets
have made no public statements of such a change.
And we see across the world that three problems are emerg-
ing again, as they have always been there: espionage, terror-
ism, and drugs. And we have to ask ourselves what kind of
tools we need - and what kind of tools we can be allowed to
use - to deal with these threats. And, what reasonable limits
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T
WILLIAM H. WEBSTER
should be placed on law enforcement and the Intelligence
Community in their efforts to bring these worldwide problems
under control?
Some fifteen years ago, while I was still serving on the 8th
Circuit Court of Appeals, I had occasion to review a statute
which made it unlawful to carry or attempt to carry a firearm
aboard a commercial aircraft. In the opinion that I wrote, I
discussed the evolution of the airport inspection or checkpoint
system - a system that had been challenged not too long
before as a gross intrusion into personal privacy. Subsequently,
a rash of hijackings brought home the reality of the terrorist
threat and the need to balance individual privacy interests
with legitimate security interests. I opined then - and I believe
today, with equal force - that if those checkpoints were
removed, there would be a storm of protests from passengers
who value the security and protection that they afford and
consider such inspections to be a reasonable price for that
security.
Some of you no doubt attended the morning session run by
Dick Friedman, Chairman of the Standing Committee on Law
and National Security. Nick Rostow gave some opening
remarks about how to balance humanitarian concerns and
respect for the rule of law with our national security objec-
tives. This is a tough issue and one that is very much on my
mind today. While I was still at the FBI, I often spoke of the
balance that must be maintained between each citizen's right
to be let alone, and the right to be kept safe and free. Bob
MacCrate and I have also talked about this balance. And when
Bob asked me to speak to you today, he suggested that I address
this topic again from my vantage point at the CIA. And so,
today I will try to do that - to discuss how the work of intel-
ligence can provide greater safety without unreasonable sac-
rifice of individual liberty.
The CIA and other components of the Intelligence Com-
munity collect information on a host of issues that affect our
national security. Two of the issues that most clearly touch on
the relationship between safety and liberty - issues that
therefore demand special safeguards - are the threats posed
by hostile intelligence services worldwide, operating against
this country, and the threats posed by international terrorists.
Our activities in these and other areas are governed by Exec-
utive Order 12333, which outlines the duties and responsibil-
ities of the CIA as well as the limitations upon intelligence
activities undertaken by the Agency. The order reflects the
requirements of the National Security Act of 1947, the CIA
Act of 1949, and other laws, regulations, and directives, as well
as intelligence policies.
In addition to following the Executive order, the CIA and
other agencies within the Intelligence Community are required
to develop and have approved by the Attorney General their
own guidelines and procedures. The procedures at the CIA
were developed to:
-encourage legitimate intelligence activities;
-provide legal protection to employees by providing au-
thority for intelligence activities;
- and - I think this is of major importance - assure the
American public and the intelligence oversight committees
that all CIA activities involving U.S. persons are lawful and
related to legitimate intelligence objectives. For instance, we
file an annual report with the House and Senate intelligence
oversight committees spelling out significant intelligence activ-
ities, and we follow up with briefings if necessary. Our activity
in this area is closely monitored by the oversight committees,
which act as surrogates for the Congress as a whole and as
surrogates for the American people.
The first of the issues that I mentioned, counterintelligence,
is critical to our national security, and clearly a legitimate
intelligence objective. In fact, an effective and comprehensive
counterintelligence program has never been more important
to our nation, because the threat against us has grown. The
number of operations against us has certainly increased, and
the number of intelligence services involved in such opera-
tions has also grown.
Over the past three years, we have discovered more pene-
trations of the U.S. defense and intelligence communities than
at any time in our history. The costs of these compromises are
estimated in the billions of dollars.
Two major espionage cases which affect our country have
surfaced in Canada this summer. Stephen Ratkai was arrested
in June for attempting to pass U.S. naval secrets to the Soviet
Union. And during that same month, the revelations of a Soviet
defector, Yuriy Smurov, led to the expulsion and barring of 17
Soviet officials who were trying to steal Canada's advanced
commercial and military technology.
Although many countries engage in intelligence operations
against the United States, the Soviet intelligence services, the
KGB and GRU, represent by far the most significant intelli-
gence threat in terms of size, ability, and intent to act against
U.S. interests - both at home and abroad. And despite Soviet
glasnost and perestroika, we have actually seen an increase
this year in Soviet attempts to recruit U.S. sources.
Because we can protect ourselves best if we understand what
our adversary wants, I think it's worth considering just what is
being collected. The highest Soviet collection priority is infor-
mation on U.S. strategic nuclear forces. Other high-priority sub-
jects are key foreign-policy matters, congressional intentions,
defense information, advanced dual-use technology - the kind
of technology that is civilian in nature but can be adopted to
military purposes - and, not surprisingly, U.S. intelligence
sources and methods. The Soviets also target NATO intensively,
partly as a means to obtain, through information that we share
there, U.S. foreign-policy and military information.
And the methods employed by the Soviets to get the infor-
mation they want are becoming more aggressive and more
sophisticated. We expect to see greater Soviet efforts to recruit
U.S. personnel abroad; increasing use of third countries for
clandestine meetings with American agents - the better we
get here, the more likely they are to meet outside this country;
greater efforts to penetrate allied governments that might be
privy to U.S. secrets; and greater emphasis on exploiting the
intelligence collection capabilities of Warsaw Pact allies.
But the methods the U.S. Intelligence Community uses to
counter this threat are also impressive. And the most impres-
sive of those methods is the increased cooperation among the
various agencies within the community. For example, the FBI
and CIA are today working closely together in mounting both
offensive and defensive measures against hostile intelligence
services.
In recent years the FBI has made great strides in countering
the intelligence activities of the Soviet and Bloc countries. The
Bureau has improved the quality and sophistication of its
intelligence systems and, as a result, has succeeded in dis-
rupting hostile intelligence operations aimed at critical U.S.
targets at home.
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VITAL SPEECHES OF THE DAY
The FBI's main tactic has been to "spiderweb" known or
suspected intelligence operatives. In spinning webs with phys-
ical and electronic surveillance - and, incidentally, all elec-
tronic surveillance must be court authorized under the For-
eign Intelligence Surveillance Act - U.S. intelligence has
been able to weave a barrier between hostile agents and our
citizens. Those of you familiar with FISA will recall that there
is a much higher threshold required to direct electronic sur-
veillance against U.S. persons.
To provide the information that will allow enforcement
agencies to protect our citizens, we have bolstered counterin-
telligence efforts throughout the community. For the CIA, such
efforts include collecting information outside the United
States on Americans who are or may be engaged in activities
on behalf of a foreign power, and collecting information in
circumstances where an American may be the target of a for-
eign power. Our own procedures dictate that we must use the
least-intrusive collection technique feasible to obtain the intel-
ligence required.
To make the best use of that intelligence and to improve the
effectiveness of counterintelligence activities both within the
CIA and in the Intelligence Community, I created a new
Counterintelligence Center at the Agency. The center works
to protect the Agency's foreign operations and the security of
all Agency components against penetration by foreign security
or intelligence services. This center was badly needed and, for
historical reasons I don't have time to discuss, too many things
were falling between chairs in the absence of this new and
important development. The Counterintelligence Center not
only provides analysis of hostile intelligence threats and past
espionage cases, it also provides instruction for our people
going abroad.
The CIA is authorized to collect information on yet another
problem: the targets, the victims, and the hostages of inter-
national terrorist organizations. This is a very important role
for intelligence. The CIA is also authorized to collect infor-
mation on Americans who may be engaged in international
terrorist activities.
During the past three and a half years, there have been 253
cases in which some sort of counterterrorist actions - efforts
to prevent terrorism - were taken on the basis of intelligence
information collected and disseminated by the Agency. We
can't say in all of those cases that the information or measures
taken were solely responsible for the preventions, but they
clearly had a role and that is important to us.
In one such case, the Agency received a report that terror-
ists planned to assassinate a senior American diplomat in a
Middle Eastern country when he arrived for a meeting. When
the diplomat was informed of the report, he confirmed that he
was to have such a meeting. At the last moment, he arranged
for the meeting to be held elsewhere, thus escaping an attempt
on his life.
On numerous occasions in recent years, the Agency has
received reports of planned terrorist attacks on our embassies
in several parts of the world, particularly the Latin American
countries of Colombia, Peru, and El Salvador. In each case, the
embassy, upon receiving such a report, increased its security.
On several occasions, a source has subsequently informed us
that this increased security persuaded the terrorist group to
cancel its plans to attack.
But in spite of such successes, last year the property and
citizens of over 84 nations were the victims or targets of
international terrorist attacks - attacks that resulted in
nearly 3,000 casualties. Information collected for this year
indicates that the citizens and property of almost 70 coun-
tries already have been the victims of international terror-
ism. These figures support a trend. Since 1981, we have
noticed a steady increase in international terrorism world-
wide. In 1981, we recorded close to 500 incidents, in 1985
almost 800 and, if early trends continue, we could register
almost 900 acts of international terrorism by the end of this
year. And I think that we should keep in mind that about half
of these international terrorist incidents are directed against
U.S. persons, U.S. property, or U.S. institutions around the
world.
The CIA, cooperating with other intelligence and law
enforcement organizations in accordance with the National
Security Act of 1947, has collected valuable information about
terrorist groups. Some of the most useful information has come
from walk-ins - terrorists who wish to defect from their orga-
nizations. By protecting, and in some cases resettling, these
individuals, we have been able to gain their cooperation. They
have told us about their former colleagues, about who finances
and protects their organization, the location of their head-
quarters, and the names of their leaders.
Such information is often vital in protecting both U.S. and
allied interests overseas. We learned, for example, that the Pal-
estinian terrorist, Abu Nidal, had an extensive international
commercial network that dealt in the gray arms market. This
network had key offices in Poland, East Germany, and several
other countries. By using this information, the U.S. State
Department delivered a series of diplomatic demarches to the
governments of these countries expressing U.S. concern about
the presence of these businesses. As a result, the companies
were closed down.
We also keep track of the movements of wanted terrorism.
If our government has an outstanding warrant for the arrest of
such individuals, we are able to make this information avail-
able to judicial authorities so that they can locate and appre-
hend them. In some cases, the United States asks for extra-
dition. In other cases, as in that of Fawaz Yunis, wanted for the
June 1985 hijacking of a Jordanian airliner which carried U.S.
citizens, our information enabled the FBI to arrest Yunis in
the Mediterranean. We worked with the Trevi Group, the
organization of the Ministers of Interior for the European free
countries who are united in an effort to end sanctuary for
terrorists. An important effort if we are going to succeed against
terrorism.
We share information with foreign governments on names
of potential terrorists, including aliases used and false doc-
umentation, that allows them to add these names to their
watchlists. Such improved, broader control enabled one gov-
ernment to arrest a well-known supporter of several terrorist
organizations. Information has also been used to deny entry
and safe haven to known terrorists and their associates. I
understand today that there was an important development
in the Hammadi case - the terrorist arrested and now on
trial in West Germany. And over the summer we were instru-
mental in giving positive identification of one of the principal
terrorists who planted an underseat bomb in an airplane going
from Tokyo to Honolulu a few years ago - an incident result-
ing in the death of a young Japanese boy.
I'd like to say just a brief word about what the FBI is doing
in the United States because I think that it is a record that has
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.WILLIAM H. WEBSTER
gone largely unnoticed, and it shows that considerable credit
is due to the men and women who are out there laboring to
make it possible for us to be safe and free in this country.
While this trend has been developing worldwide, the number
of bombings and terrorist incidents in the United States has
gone from about 100 a year when I took office to less than a
dozen in the last two years. And there have been very few
casualties. They have done this not just as police officers,
because that's after the fact. They've done it by developing
good intelligence on the workings of international and domes-
tic terrorist groups in the United States and by developing
criminal, prosecutable cases against them. And they've done it
with strict adherence to Attorney General guidelines on ter-
rorist investigations which permit this form of intelligence-
gathering.
And I know that such investigations are always sensitive
and apt to attract criticism when they do not go 100-percent
as one would wish. In the past year there has been consid-
erable speculation - and I think undue criticism - about
one particular terrorist investigation, most because of its
mischaracterization. It was said that this investigation was
a widespread investigation of the critics of the Reagan
Administration. It had nothing at all to do with the Reagan
Administration. It was said that it involved the investigation
of over 150 individuals and organizations. My understanding
is that it involved about a half dozen organizations. It was
said that it was massive. My understanding is that it involved
five man years per year for two years, ten man years in all.
Hardly massive. It has been charged that it involved highly
sensitive and intrusive techniques. It did not involve elec-
tronic surveillance. It did not involve undercover operations.
It did not involve searches. The investigators were criticized
for taking down some license numbers and taking some pho-
tographs. This case did not produce an indictment and it was
closed a few years ago. It is only now receiving scrutiny and
criticism. And if there were flaws in it, and I'm sure there
were, they will be brought to light. But I think that we have
to take into account the security that good intelligence has
produced for this country in asking ourselves whether or not
we can afford the taking of a few license numbers and a few
photographs in the interest of out national security and our
personal safety.
I have been making the point that effective counterintel-
ligence and counterterrorism programs are critical to our
national security. And they are certainly critical to the phys-
ical security of our citizens. But I want to emphasize as well
that how the CIA and other intelligence agencies carry out
their responsibilities is of equal importance to our country.
We are subject to specific laws and we operate under internal
procedures approved by the Attorney General. In addi-
tion, my General Counsel's staff briefs employees - both at
home and abroad - to ensure that those Agency employees
who deal with issues that affect the constitutional rights
of American citizens know what our laws and procedures
are. My Office of General Counsel also works closely
with the Office of Intellignce Policy and Review at the Depart-
ment of Justice in dealing with those types of activities
that may require Attorney General authorization. They
work together to examine relevant issues and obtain the nec-
essary approvals, consistent with applicable requirements of
our law.
We want to catch spies and curb terrorism, but we will
not circumvent our own laws to do so. We must maintain
absolute fidelity to our laws and our rules - rules imposed
to ensure our citizens that we are indeed accountable. I do
not think the CIA, or the FBI, or any member of the Intel-
ligence Community is exempt from this principle. In fact, I
believe that it is the key to public acceptance of our vitally
necessary work.
We must, in the end, have both safety and liberty. The bal-
ance between the right to be let alone and the right to be kept
safe and free is central to our profession and to our heritage.
And in our ability to strike that balance true, lies our future
as a land of ordered liberty. Former Supreme Court Justice
Robert Jackson must have had this balance in mind when he
observed that the constitutional Bill of Rights of the United
States was not a suicide pact. The protections it includes and
affords to us must be rationally applied if we are to prevail
against those who would threaten our national security.
I really believe that we have sufficient legislative restraints
and that we should stop looking for legislative solutions to
problems as they emerge, because such "solutions" can
impede necessary work in the interest of national security.
Rather, what is needed is a better understanding of the
requirements of existing law and the discipline - the iron
determination - to see that these laws are scrupulously
observed.
And then there are people, the people who work for you in
law enforcement and in the Intelligence Community. I am
looking for a certain kind of person and I am getting them,
with applications coming in at the rate of over 1,000 a month.
People who are risk takers, but not risk seekers. People who
are not particularly interested in fame or fortune, but see in
our work an opportunity to pursue their highest aspirations
for a safer and a better world. This blend of requirements
and balancing was best expressed by an old friend - Sir
William Stephenson. And I can think of no better place to
recall his words, than in this, his homeland of Canada. In the
introduction to the book,A Man Called Intrepid, which chron-
icled his remarkable intelligence accomplishments during the
Second World War, Sir William wrote:
"Perhaps a day will dawn when tyrants can no longer
threaten the liberty of any people. When the functions
of all nations, however varied their ideologies, will be to
enhance life, not to control it. If such a condition is
possible, it is in a future too far distant to foresee. Until
that safer, better day, the democracies will avoid disaster,
and possibly total destruction, only by maintaining their
defenses.
"Among the increasingly intricate arsenals across the
world, intelligence is an essential weapon, perhaps the
most important. But it is, being secret, the most dan-
gerous. Safeguards to prevent its abuse must be devised,
revised, and rigidly applied. But, as in all enterprise,
the character and wisdom of those to whom it is
entrusted will be decisive. In the integrity of that guard-
ianship lies the hope of free people to endure and
prevail."
I subscribe fully to this statement and I believe deeply that
a nation dedicated to the rule of law can protect itself and its
heritage in no other way.
Thank you.
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