THEY DIDN'T LAUGH WHEN I INVITED CBS TO FILM THE CIA

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-01208R000100040042-3
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: February 22, 2011
• Sequence Number: 42
• Publication Date: July 15, 1984
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

STATE
STAT
_C~S to Film theGLA
,THE OUTLOOK INTERVIEW: HERB HEM PR MA~ YO THE P0IMERFUL,
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/02/23: CIA-RDP90-0120
ARTICLE APPEARED WASHINGTON POST
PAGE 8-3. 15 July 1984
They Didn't Laugh When 1 hivited
Q When you left the CIA your
. desk memo pads had a pic-
ture of a man with a funny
nose and glasses and fake moustache
and trenchcoat. Did you use that pad
while you were at the agency?
A: A little bit, not for anything of-
ficial. My son had those made for me
for Christmas.
Q: How did they go over there? In
general, the agency's not known for
having a big sense of humor. Is that
a bad rap?
A: Oh, yes. They all laugh at
themselves. It's like a family; it's
okay for members of the family to
laugh at each other but an outsider
comes in, that's not done.
Q: How did you envision that job,
for the first time creating a public
affairs office?
A: The first day I went to the CIA
I was scared to death. I'd never
been there in my life! The only
image I had of the CIA was the same
impression everybody else on the
street has. I didn't know what to ex-
pect. The people were wonderful,
but going in there perceived as the
guy who was going to let the press
in, open the windows . . . oh boy, a
lot of hostility.
Q: Were you a social outcast be-
cause of your job description?
A: No. Of course, Stan [CIA Di-
rector Stansfield Turner] brought
me in at a fairly high level. There's a
military feel to the CIA. If you're
brought in at a certain level it's al-
most like being a general. They may
not like you but you wear the star.
-, two TALKS TO JEAKKE MUMS,. hadOnnamesorofthreepeopleocin the story
not for content. We couldn't touch
anything if it wasn't classified. And
the only thing that could be classi-
Q: You were the first person to
let a network TV crew in? CBS?
A: Dan Rather. [When] I sug-
gested at the morning meeting that
we let CBS come in - "60
Minutes," no less, with cameras -
and film the agency and do inter-
views, I think three of the assistant
directors almost dropped dead. You
could hear a pin drop in the roon).
But we got an agreement from
"60 Minutes" that they would let us
review the raw film for security but
fied would. be people's faces or
badges, things like that.
Q: But it's hard to shoot a roomful
of people at desks without seeing
some faces?
A: The only faces we were wor-
ried about were people undercover.
Q: As opposed to other people
who work for the CIA, particularly
in covert functions, you didn't have
to hide the fact that you worked
there from your neighbors?
A: Oh no. My cover was diapha-
nous. I was the most overt of all the
overt people.
Q: What was a typical day like for
you?
A: My friends asked me that
question when I first went there and
I'd say, well, the first thing I do is go
out and look under my car, because I
didn't think I was too popular out
there. Then send my dog out to
start it!
No, I went to work early and used
to review the morning intelligence
reports. I was never shut out to the
best of my knowledge, and I don't
mean that in a snide way.
Q: Did you ever say something
that you shouldn't have to a report-
er?
A: Probably, but the only times I
did, when I knew I did, and I don't
mean that I breached security, but
there were several occasions where
I worked with reporters who called
and volunteered to read a story to
me. They said they were writing a
story about the agency and wanted
to read it to me to see if there was
anything with which we would disa-
gree. An old reportorial ploy - call
the guy and read the story and hope
he'll fill in the blanks. I knew that.
that really didn't add anything and
would have blown somebody's
cover. I volunteered the fact that
those people really were ours and it
didn't add to the story and asked
[the reporters] to take their names
out, and they did.
Q: Is that the biggest nightmare
of the public affairs director of the
CIA? That you will leak something
that you shouldn't?
A: The most unique frustrations I
had at the CIA were that I couldn't
talk about a lot of the successes. To
a public relations man not to be able
to talk about your company's suc-
cesses - I don't mean "company,"
I'm being facetious - is heartbreak-
ing. Drove me mad. The converse of
that was to see stories I knew to be
untrue. I couldn't correct the story
[because] the reasons that the story
was untrue were classified or I
would break somebody's cover.
The CIA is fair game for anybody
that wants to accuse you of virtually
anything. Trying to disprove a nega-
tive is almost impossible. A guy
caught in a bank robbery said that
he was robbing the bank to get
money to line a cave with lead be-
cause the CIA was bombarding his
head with electronic emissions,
using his head as a receiver!
Q: When there are leaks to the
press from within a government
agency, is the finger of blame usu-
ally pointed at the public affairs of-
fice?
A: Almost always. You're the one
'who's consorting with the enemy, so
to speak. It's part of the game. A lot
of people out there thought that
even talking with the newsmen was
ridiculous, made no sense. They
wouldn't get the story right. They'd
write all the negative things. [Some]
didn't think my job was necessary in
any case, and doing things aggres_
1- - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/02/23: CIA-RDP90-01208R000100040042-3