BORAH SYMPOSIUM BRINGS CIA INTERVENTION TO LIGHT

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00806R000201140064-3
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: July 30, 2010
• Sequence Number: 64
• Publication Date: April 4, 1984
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

STAT
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Borah Symposium bpyff, r,
rings
CIA intervention to light pe;ef
mise ourselves!" ?? ???~~~ ?~~ w?a,,,uc LM 16cuVLI I. uuer-
"The select committee is slothful." nationally. We must demonstrate what it is
"Don't credential a procedure where we to be citizens of a free society," he said. "We STAT
pick governments for other people by elimi- must accept the risks of freedom for our-
nating indigenous challenges." selves and others and not incrementally, de-
"We need to recruit guerrillas to a better viously and secretly draw this country again
revolution." into an immoral posture. ... We are ob-
The, honors class was meeting in a small sessed with our fear of communism!"
room just inside the entrance of the Psychol- Moments of cynical pragmatism included
ogy Building on the campus of the University former agent Phillips saying continually,
of Idaho last week. Twenty-five or of us Our presidents are strong, assertive me,__
a crowded in with the class members to ... We need to ask why they order these ac-
listen. We sat on window sills and on the tions!" Phillips believes covert actions can
floor, and those who couldn't push through not be eliminated, only restrained and lim-
the door listened from the hallway. ited to the responsibility of a very small ex-
The speakers were participants in the ecutive agency.
Borah Symposium held each spring in honor Balancing these tensions was the cool
of the man who once was called the Lion of logic of Colby's speech to the respectfully
Idaho, Sen. William E.. Borah. The annual quiet ranks of the ROTC classes, describing
symposium is Borah's legacy to.the state he the emergence of the need of a centralized
served in the U.S. Senate from 1907 to 1940. government agency to handle intelligence
For 55 years the Borah Foundation grant has after World War II. "There is a need-to-
funded a meeting to "call public attention to know guideline in intelligence," he ex-
the causes of war and the conditions of plained., "Compartmentalization protects
peace." both information and the people involved.
This year those causes and conditions The difficulty comes when it must be deter-
were the role of the CIA in Latin America. mined who needs to know what to establish
In that room, seated together around a policy in an open society whose Congress
small table, were: former CIA Directolil- must ultimately approve policy and also
Liam Col y, two former aenc -spooks" must be responsive to its own constituencies.
wfioTiad sevve iii.L.at n Se and else- "Therefore," he concluded, "the Ameri-
where; the former U.S. representative who can people need to know so they can partic-
first acted to investigate CIA activities in spate properly in the debate."
Chile member of the current Sandinista Colby made that comment just before he
'g vernment of Nicaragua, the head of the joined his, fellow participants in the honors
Council on Hemispheric Affairs, and an ex- classroom where a student voiced the other
iled Chilean editor and film producer who side of the need-to-know issue. "How do you
heads Chile Democratico. get public awareness of all this?" he asked.
The classroom meeting was only one "The people aren't interested."
event of many in the two days of discussion "The newspeople are interested," Colby
that included speeches by all the. partic answered. "They are the public's surro-
ipants, classroom meetings, several unsche- I gates."
duled confrontations, and an ongoing series It was an answer any newsperson would.
of films about the CIA. A collection of dup-, like to hear, except it rang hollow in the con-.
licated articles and reference materials had text. There were very few newspeople in evi-
been distributed throughout the campus in -dente at the symposium. The local newspa-
advance. Evening panel discussions - were pers covered the events, but not in any real
telecast live on public television.' depth. Live telecasting of the evening ses
Moments of high drama included an ex- sions gave an opportunity to viewers - a
change between the two former agents, worthy gesture. But it was probably only a
David Atlee Phillips and Ralph McGehee, gesture. It is safe to speculate that the Borah
shouting "Yes, you did," and "No,-T show did nothing to knock the regular rat-
over charges that a direct CIA payment of ings of Northern Idaho viewing out of kilter
cash from Phillips had rewarded the organ- for even a percentage point.
'izers of a trucker's strike during the In fact, the most revealing note in my vo-
orchestrated economic destabilization of luminous pages on the Borah Symposium of
Chilean society that culminated in the assas 1984 is attributable not to a knowledgeable
sination of President Salvador Allende. visitor, nor to the intensely interested few
Moments of impassioned moral oratory in- who crowded the small honors classroom. It
cluded a tirade by former U.S. Rep. Michael came from a very bemused young man in a
Harrington against covert actions such as lethargic afternoon philosophy class who
those currently underwritten by the United was still trying to figure out what was going
States against the government of Nicaragua. on the second day of the symposium.
Cantinuod
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The class was waiting quietly for the de-
layed arrival of their visitor, former CIA
agent Phillips.
"What," he asked, "does covert mean?"
"Did you -look it up in the dictionary?"
asked his professor gently.
"I don't have one with me."
It was an exchange that would not make
:Sen. Borah rest any easier in his concern for
his people, his state, the future and the
:causes of war and conditions of peace.
(Alice Delter Is a retired corporate our-
nalist for a wood-products company.) ,.
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