WILL ANTI-INTELLIGENCE' GET KEY ACLU POST?

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00806R000100060004-0
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: September 13, 2010
• Sequence Number: 4
• Publication Date: December 29, 1984
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/09/13: CIA-RDP90-00806R000100060004-0
X-1-` 1 PFEAM HUMAN EVENTS
Oil 29 December 198
nce'
Anti-I Eiige
The American Civil Liberties Union
has a personnel problem with national
security implications. The director of
its national office in Washington; John
H. F. Shattuck, has resigned to accept
-an administrative post at Harvard. The
ACLU's search for a replacement-
which began in June-has been com-
plicated by the facts that (a) the group
has a self-imposed affirmative action
requirement that it search for a minor-
ity replacement before considering ap-
pointment of a white successor to Shat-
tuck, and (b) the ACLU - leadership
.from which a successor would .most -
naturally be chosen is lily-white.
In mid-September, -with I only two
applications for the job filed,- both
from whites, Executive Director Ira
Glasser said up to 10 minority candi-
dates would be asked to apply and, if
none had been chosen by the time of an
October 20 board meeting, the board
would. be asked to drop the affirmative
action rule. This, according-to the
Washington Post, would virtually pave"
the -way for . the selection of Morton
Halperin, "highly regarded by virtually
all of the ACLU :hierarcby,'.'_ as .suc-
cessor to Shattuck:--October..20 came
and went, bowevet;.'with no. decision
made: .~-
Will?a minority.person be-found
to fill the post? Or will Halperin;
waiting expectantly- in the: wings,'__.
get the nod? Nore.-importantly,. - : ?
would. Ralperin's appointrnent be": .:.
good or bad news',. = =
It would appear to'be good news. In
-the extensive publicity Halpenn'?hasre-_:I
.
ceived in recent; years,- he has..usually.
been identified as,-a."deputy -assistant.
secretary of defense in the- Johnson - '
Administration and key aide, to Na-
tional Security. Adviser Henry Kis-
singer; as a senior staff member of the
National Security Council .(NSC), in
the early days of the Nixon Adm'inistra-
Additionally, Halperin"-has made
numerous congressional 'and court
appearances as a reputed expert on the
classification of. sensitive government.
documents, intelligence, and other na=
tional. security issues'.*,'.,'.
In' one of his =many appearances
before the House Intelligence Commit-
tee, Halperin said in -1978-that "in the.
spirit of full disclosure," he- wanted to
make three statements for the record:
? As -a graduate student, he had ap-
plied for a' job with .the CIA.
? As .a freelance journalist, he had
used the CIA as an information source.
As a lecturer, he had appeared at
CIA- headquarters on invitation of the
agency and had been paid for his ser--
?vices.
-Seemingly, more good news. Not-at
all a typical ACLU type. But Halperin
? then proceeded to attack the CIA-for,
among other things, its handling of the
:news about the December 1975 murder
of Richard Welch, CIA station chief in
'Athens, after CounterSpy had identi-.
'-fied - Welch as a CIA intelligence of-'?
Halperin accused the agency of wag-
ing a "disinformation" campaign
against the American public by ascrib-
ing guilt for the killing to renegade CIA
officer Philip Aget, and'the magazine
CounterSpy, then Agee's principal
weapon in his continuing *campaign to
expose covert U.S. intelligence person- i
nel, particularly those serving in
foreign lands. -
He also tried to absolve Agee, *the'
self-proclaimed "revolutionary Social-
ist," of all blame in the killing by saying
he did not think CounterSpy's exposure
played "any role" in Welch's assas-
sination and by asserting of 'all those
Continued
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/09/13: CIA-RDP90-00806R000100060004-0