FORMER DIRECTOR COLBY EXPLAINS CIA ACTIONS

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Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 
CIA-RDP99-00418R000100100005-6
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RIFPUB
Original Classification: 
K
Document Page Count: 
3
Document Creation Date: 
December 22, 2016
Document Release Date: 
May 11, 2012
Sequence Number: 
5
Case Number: 
Publication Date: 
February 17, 1978
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OPEN SOURCE
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U#~VAO~_Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/05/11 : CIA-RDP99-00418R000100100005-6 ins C or er Director Colly p that. By SUSAN CARR those laws we ran everything from the American people believed that See related interview, page 4. individual spy to the Bay of Pigs. The was the case." "We can almost literally peer over result of this," he continued, "was a Consequently,. he went on, "a the corners of the earth and learn realization that no part -of the US journalist put it all on the front page. about things we never would have government can operate outside of it Many events were sensationalized, ss as well." and there was a gross William would declared Colby, former director of the in speaking of public investigations misunderstanding of what we had, Central Intelligence Agency, as he into CIA operations, Colbysaidof the been doing. But when you read the. wn internal attempts to reports," Colby explained, "you find ' s o spoke before a near-capacity crowd CIA in Hubbell Auditorium last night. investigate itself. In 1973, "We looked that the CIA was not out of control. Colby said that "American, back to see if the CIA was operating that it was responsive, under intelligence now operates under outside of the laws. We gathered a complete Presidential control, and American law, and that's a very novel little bundle of such instances, wiped that then the Congress knew about it, " as he spoke of a "New our hands and thought we'd brought or didn't Want to know." r American laws. As a result of the investigations, idea d , e Intelligence" for the United States, ourselves in un "different from any past images of But it was equally important that the-- Colby explained that information is spies, cloaks, and daggers." Tracing a general history of the intelligence operatives in the United States, Colby declared that the need for some centralized information- gathering center "began at Pearl Harbor. Pearl Harbor was not the result of lack of information," hesaid, but we just didn't put that information together." Describing the nature of the CIA and its functioning, Colby said that there were more individuals - scholarly, managerial,and technical - from a wider diversity of backgrounds than in most other governemnt organizations. He said that "running such a great enterprise has become comparable to running great technical insititutions - a school or a business." Colby outlined some of the courses of basic changes . in the CIA's oprations since Vietnam and Watergate. He stated that, when the CIA was first organized and laws governing its activities were first established, they were "laws in nice, fuzzy, broad language, and under William now in public documents, and that "instead of the Congress shutting its eyes, congressional committees will do the supervision." Colby did not say, however, that complete honesty with the public could be.feasible. "I think we tried it once," he said, referring to the years immediately following World War I. But people then quickly learned that "the world was not populated by gentlemen." Colby stressed the importance of intelligence "in a world we have to share with other super- powers." In response to questions dealing with various undercover and illegal activities the CIA has been charged with, Colby replied, "This business of giving secret help to other countries Colby... (continued from page 1) must be placed into proportion. Because these things ? happened doesn't make them right, but we can look back and find many things that are right." Colby defined the CIA's role in Vietnam as one of "providing assistance to those who wanted to fight for their freedom." He :k maintained, "The South Vietnamese 5, were fighting the war, we were o helping." i Colby was questioned intensively about his involvement in "Operation 3 Pheonix," a covert program he s directed in 1967-68 whose purpose d was the imprisonment of thousands of Vietnamese citizens. o Colby stated that the purpose of to ' d program was "to bring accuracy and decency into a very brutal battle. Most of those killed were in military combat and some by the Vietnemese police. Some were undoubtedly and wrongly killed. But the purpose and the effects of Pheonix were to eliminate that as much as possible." "Stories of atrocities were much overblown, but I never pretended no deaths occurred under the Pheonix program." He clarified his statement, adding, "Pheonix was outside of the CIA." Colby spoke about the importance of central intelligence for the immediate future, especially in light of threats from Third World countries. He predicted that Brazil and Iran would also rise as super-powers. He said, "Knowledge gained through good intelligence will deter the problem well be faced with." Colby said, in response to a question about whether the US had the right to interfere in other nations' internal affairs, "Except in self- defense, we do not have the right to impose our beliefs, but we may go in and help those who are sympathetic to our interests." ' Colby concluded by saying, "If the CIA has-done some -things wrong, then let's correct it and let's control it. But let's not blind ourselves in the process." Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/05/11 : CIA-RDP99-00418R000100100005-6 Colby spoke last night in Hubbell Auditorium. Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/05/11 : CIA-RDP99-00418R000100100005-6 Colby' spea!cs on CIAUR link By WILLIAM HARTEL The CIA is "not perfect and has made some mistakes in the past," said former Director of Operations William Colby, "but it is still the best (intelligence service) in the world - the best in scholarship and the best in technology - and will continue to be so." During an interview with a Campus Times reporter yesterday afternoon, Colby discussed various aspects of the Central Intelligence Agency. Colby spoke on topics ranging from current issues regarding the CIA and covert operations to. Project MK- ULTRA and the UR. Present CIA Director Stansfield Turner, recently revealed that public disclosure of a total spending figure for alt US intelligence agencies would be an acceptable risk. Colby, however, disagrees. Disclosure of a single spending figure "wouldn't mean anything to anyone," said Colby, "it can only lead to, further disclosures." Turner and Colby agree that detailed information on intelligence spending would be a powerful weapon for US enemies, allowing adversaries to focus counter- measures against American efforts. "Otherwise," said Colby.. "(Turner) runs a tight ship." Turner is an admiral in the United States Navy. Jimmy Carter recently signed a bill into law requiring that all "para- military" operations of the CIA be approved by the president. The new law prohibits torture and assasinations, and disallows US involvement in 'overthrow of 'democratic' governments. Colby feels that the term "democratic" will have to be better defined before the law can.,k,ecome effective in that, respect. Colby doesn't figure the new regulation will severely hamper the effectiveness of the Agency. Regarding assasination , plots against Premier Fidel Castro, Colby said he was not aware of any such plans until just before he was appointed director in 1973. Colby immediately issued a prohibition forbidding the assasination attempt. Colby stated that the assasination would have been "extremely unethical and dangerous." When asked about CIA involvement in a plot to overthrow the government of Chile, Colby said that he knew the US was sending support to a "center democratic government organization," when, in 1970, President Nixon issued an executive decree ordering the CIA to prevent the rise of President Allende. to power. Allende was later found dead and listed as "apparent suicide," Allende had been shot twice in the mouth. Throughout the decades of the 1950s and 60s, the CIA-conducted experiments on college campuses under the guise of innocent research. Colby said that this research by the CIA should not have been done without the consent of the president of the university. Colby also stated that the secret research was not widespread and is no longer taking place. - 480 The UR was involved with such research from 1953 to 1964. Project MK-ULTRA was disguised as motion sickness testing and began September 1953 with subproject 46, which lasted until September 1962. CIA subproject 17 lasted from October 1953 to October 1955: Subproject 148 lasted from October 1963 through 1964. MK-ULTRA studied the metabolic rate and distribution of psychotropic drugs. About, classitied projects such as MK-ULTRA, Colby said the mode of research was "improper." Directives issued udring Colby's administration in 1973 prohibited the CIA from conducting tests on unknowing individuals. i Colby was not personally involved in drug research, but he was aware that testing of biological warfare weapons was taking place in theearly 1960s. A treaty to prevent biological warfare was ratified in 1969 and all research was discontinued. Colby stated that, in hindsight, he believed the testing was somewhat immoral and unethical. However, had we "discovered that LSD could be used in certain ways of if we had discovered an antidote for its effects, the answer would be yes, the research was valuable and necessary." With regards to recruiting of CIA agents on college campuses, Colby said that extremely few, if any, professors are CIA agents. However, a college professor might approach a CIA agent regarding a particularly bright student. Colby feels that there is nothing wrong with a citizen "consciously helping the US maintain its high. standards." The CIA agent might then confront the student in question and "relate" to him various opportunities in foreign espionage. When presented with the hypothesis that, since the UR has a - high percentage of foreign students, this school might possibly be a prime target for recruiting agents, Colby replied, "Well, it's not beyond possibility. I Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/05/11 : CIA-RDP99-00418R000100100005-6 Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/05/11 : CIA-RDP99-00418R000100100005-6 400 at U of R talk By DOUGLAS C. LYONS Washington, spoke before 400 students Former CIA Director William E. t the University of Rochester. His Colby looked more like a college pro- isit had a certain irony and a fessor than a spy last night during his momentary trace of the college pro- speech on "The New Intelligence" tests of the early '70s. before a group of University of Roch- The irony was that the former CIA ester students. - director was speaking at a 'university But during the question-and-answer that had been used by the CIA to session, Colby became the spy who conduct mind-control research during came into the cold as several students the 1950s. sharply questioned the rationale of The aura of the college protest CIA operations in foreign affairs. period came at the beginning of "You tell us of the CIA's efforts to Colby's speech as nine students support friendly groups in the election passed out flyers denouncing Colby's of foreign governments, but how do visit to the campus. you reconcile that with our country's Despite some sharp questioning support in the right of selfdetermina- La~nddVietnam, ut the CIA's involvement in Chile tion?" a student asked Colby. the audience was recep- "I would answer your question as I' to Colby. did a similiar question earlier," Colby lby had joined the Office of Stra- responded. "We are in favor of self- tegic Service, the forerunner of the determination for any country, but we Central Intelligence Agency, in 1943. are not in favor of self-determination With the exception of a brief stint in for a country that will put us in law school and private practice, Colby mortal harm." had been with the CIA until 1975. Colby, now a private attorney in Colby was deputy director in charge of the CIA's Directorate of Operations when he was appointed director of the ,CIA in 1973 under then-President Richard M. Nixon. Colby resigned the post during a major shakeup in the Ford administration. During an interview before his speech, Colby lived up to -the "profes- sional," "soft-spoken," and -very careful" accolades that were used to describe him five years ago when he was named to head the CIA. "I guess the'most difficult year for me was in 1975, when I was asked to testify on Capitol Hill about CIA operations," Colby said. "I tried to be in the middle and not hide the things that were mistakes. "I think that I was well criticized around Washington for saying too much," Colby said when asked about, his resignation. "I ' think that that contributed to it (his resignation), but I think the President had to make a change to show that he was in control." During the press conference, Colby outlined. three reforms that he said could improve CIA operations. These include enacting a clear set. of guidelines to regulate CIA opera- tions, maintaining supervision of CIA operations thf'ough congressional oversight committees, and promoting a greater public understanding of the importance of intelligence operations. Colby, however, remains opposed to requiring the CIA to make its annual budget public., "If you put out a number in a budget, it doesn't mean anything, and when that figure goes up, it'll raise a lot of questions," Colby said. "I think that's going too far." Colby defended the CIA as "the best intelligence gathering operation in the world." He also praised President Carter's executive order that places all nine U.S. intelligence agencies under the direct budget control of current CIA director Adm. Stansfield Turner. Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/05/11 : CIA-RDP99-00418R000100100005-6