INTERNAL SECURITY REPORT NO ' WITCH HUNT'

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00806R000100490026-9
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: September 2, 2010
• Sequence Number: 26
• Publication Date: December 20, 1980
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/09/02 : CIA-RDP90-00806R000100490026-9
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ON FAG3__!??_-
A conservative think tank called the
Heritage Foundation has stirred a. hor-
net's nest of sorts with a series of policy
proposals submitted,, to the Reagan:
Administration. .'
The Heritage suggestion that drew?
A he widest notice-and created the big-
gest furor-was a recommendation
that the nation's intelligence and inter
nal security apparatus be refurbished.
In a detailed critique of the current
status of the CIA, FBI and other rele-
vant agencies, the' report concluded
that our intelligence *services are weak;:
that counterintelligence "(defense
against foreign intelligence operatives)
has been "virtually dismantled" and
that the nation's internal security func-
tions require a sharp upgrading.
The cries of alarm provoked by this
analysis, have been. ear-splitting. The
notion that we should erect defenses
against subversion and improve our,
foreign information-gathering has,
been described, and blasted, as a pro-.
jected return 'to' "blacklists," . "Witch
hunts," and other allegedly nefarious
tactics of the past. c . .
To read such statements, one could
only suppose there is'no such thing as
Communist espionage and policy sub
version in the world=or that, if there
is, we have sufficient defenses against
it as- matters stand. That the facts of
the case are decidedly otherwise may be
readily gleaned from a quick review of
recent items in the news:
? In the past few years, the number'
of Soviet and other Eastern bloc per-.
sonnel stationed on U.S. soil has in-,,
creased 'dramatically--to something,
.like' 1,900 people. A large percentage..
of these, perhaps as many as 75 per,
cent, are agents of the Communist in
telligence services. In addition, some.
50,000 seamen from the.Soviet bloc
touch. down at American ports .each..
year, and we have no effective way of-.
keeping track of them.
HUMAN EVENTS
20 December 1980
? It is well known that operatives of
the Soviet KGB are actively plying their'
trade in the Nation's Capital. There,
have been numerous reports of Soviet;
and East. German efforts to -contact;
influence, or plant operatives in the of
fires of U.S. legislators. Also, it is
known that the Soviets have conducted
electronic surveillance of our citizens.
? Cuban. influence' in the-United'
States was revealed in the case Of .Or-"
lando Letelier, -former! official in 'the'.
Marxist Allende regime, in Chile, killed'
in a bomb blast in September 1976. Pa-.
pens discovered in his attache case by the
Washington police showed he had been
in continuing contact with Cuban intel-;
ligence agents, that he had been receiv
ing $1,000 a month. from. Havana to
sustain his activities in the, United
States, and that some 'of this money.
had been used to finance a trip abroad
by an American congressman.,
' ? A persistent campaign has been
conducted by a group of activists. in-?'
eluding CIA defector Philip Agee (who
is quoted as voicing sympathy:?with_
communism and the KGB) to expose
and disrupt the operations of our in-
telligence agencies, an effort which has
been, powerfully aided by,* certain, ele
ments in the media
? Despite these and other similar
manifestations, the internal;. security
and ;counter-intelligence agencies; of
our government 'have been effectively
dismantled. The House and Senate In-
ternal Security committees have been
abolished,'the-Subversive Activities
Control Board has been scrapped, :the
FBI and CIA have been subjected to
'merciless.bombardment find' crippling
restrictions.
? So far" has the emasculation of'the
.FBI, proceeded that`' the bureau does'
not'. eveh : keep. T files from the' public
record on the Progressive Labor party;
a Marxist revolutionary outfit that has '
as part"of its program the infiltration
of our uniformed services;' or'
conduct
surveillance: of: the;.Socialist'- Workers
party; a 'Trotsky Communist: group
.witI . -international connections. Re
.cently, two former FBI officials were
convicted for surreptitious entries in an
attempt to track down the Violence-.-
.prone-,-and Cuban-connected-LWeather:
?~. The Civil Service. Commission has
adopted as a standard* 'policy 'the rule
that it is a violation, of one's constitu-'
tional rights even to ask a prospective.
employe of-the. federal government;if
,he or -the is a member. of the'Commu?
As the Heritage analysis. sums 'up the-
situation "There-As ? a' widespread ?'
.misconception abroad that the internal
,securi.ty functions of the United States
are adequate (in. fact, they are virtually;.
'nonexistent), that they have been irre-?
sponsibly abused : in :the past. (in fact; the United States has probably the best
record of concern for civil liberties and
privacy in human history), and that :
there is no serious threat to our internal I
security today (in fact, the threat to the i
internal security'.of the republic' is'
`greater today than at any time since
World War
'-;,None of which sounds very much
like -witch.; hunts, and. ail, of which'
,,.s6
much;like'a total collapse'
of the internal security and intelligence
function, to which the. Heritage. report ,
is most sensibly addressed I
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/09/02 : CIA-RDP90-00806R000100490026-9