FUROR OVER THE CIA - WHAT IT'S ALL ABOUT

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP09T00207R001000020019-3
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 9, 2011
• Sequence Number: 19
• Publication Date: September 30, 1974
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/08/09: CIA-RDP09TOO207ROO1000020019-3
U. S. NETS & TORLD RE?r~Lr
30SEP1974
FUROR OVER THE CA
AT IT'S ALL ABOUT
ATEST POLITICAL STORM to hit the
Ford Administration concerns Chile
and the Central Intelligence Agency
and centers on this question:
Should the U. S. secretly give money
and other support to the opponents of
governments which Washington dislikes
or considers dangerous?
The events in Chile all took place
before Mr. Ford became President. Nev-
ertheless, the revelation that the U. S.
funneled funds through the CIA to op-
ponents of the late Salvador Allende,
while he was President of Chile, brought
these headaches for the White House:
? Some in Congress are seeking to call
Secretary of State Henry Kissinger to
testify on whether he told the truth
about Chile in confirmation hearings.
? There is growing insistence on Cap-
itol Hill that a tighter checkrein be
placed on CIA operations.
? Many Americans are learning for
the first time of an ultrasecret, top-level
Committee that decides when and
whether to turn the CIA loose in under-
cover operations against foreign govern-
ments. This Committee has been opera-
ting since 1948-and Mr. Kissinger was
its head when the decision was made to
move against Allende, a Marxist.
Behind the uproar. Roots of the new
controversy over the CLA go back to
April 22, when the agency's director,
William E. Colby, testified before one of
the "watchdog" subcommittees in Con-
gress that keeps tabs on the CIA. The
testimony was in secret.
In September, however, details of the
Colby testimony were "leaked." From
his statement, and from later admissions,
this much is clear:
The U. S. provided funds from 1970
into 1973 to help opposition news-
papers, radio stations and political par-
ties in Chile stay alive under Allende.
The total provided was relatively
small-S million dollars during the Nix-
on Administration, 3 million earlier dur-
ing Allende's first campaign for the
Chilean Presidency, which he lost in
1964. The amount expended is not an
issue. The dispute is over the ethics of
U. S. secret intervention in domestic
affairs of other nations.
Mr. Ford, at his news conference on
September 16, offered this explanation
of the Chile affair:
"In a period of time, three or four
years ago, there was an effort being
made by the Allende Government to
destroy opposition news media, both the
writing press and the electronic press,
and to destroy opposition parties.
"And the effort that was made in this
case [by the U. S.] was to help and assist
the preservation of opposition news-
papers and electronic media to preserve
opposition political parties."
This exchange took place:
Question: "Under what international
law do we have a right to attempt to
destabilize the constitutionally elected
Government of another country, and
does the Soviet Union have a similar
right to try to destabilize the Govern-
ment of Canada, for example, or the
United States?"
The President: "I am not going to pass
judgment on whether it is permitted or
authorized under international law. It is
a recognized fact that historically as well
as presently such actions are taken in the
best interest of the countries involved."
Other Government officials say that,
at the time, the Chilean opposition par-
ties were in dire straits-and the U. S.
had to choose either to let the opposition
go down the drain or to help it. The
STAT
decision was made to help-and it was
made by the "40 Committee."
The "40 Committee" is so secret that
few, knew it existed until the Chilean
operations became public.
The President's national-security ad-
viser-head of the National Security
Council-is the chairman. Since 1969,
that has been Henry Kissinger.
Other members are the CIA Director,
Deputy Secretary of Defense, Chairman
of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Under Secre-
tary of State for Political Affairs.
The "40" in the Committee's name
comes from the number of the executive
order reorganizing the group. It meets
whenever there is a crisis.
There was a session last summer,
about two months before the military
coup in Chile. A majority voted against
any action to help overthrow Allende,
and Mr. Ford said: "Our Government
had no involvement in any way whatso-
ever in the coup itself."
In the future.-. The box on this page
lists some of the CIA successes the
agency cites against critics who say it
should quit undercover work.
Says one intelligence official:
"If a President says to us, `Let these
countries go Communist,' then we
would let them go.
"But if a President ever said that,
chances are good that before very long
he would, change his mind and put us
back into covert actions."
Headquarters for CIA's worldwide activities.
CIA'S SPOTTY RECORD-A SAMPLING 01O9
In its undercover operations in foreign
lands, the CIA has had both failures and
successes.
Among conspicuous failures-
? The U. S. U-2 spy plane shot down
over Russia which led to cancellation of
the Eisenhower-Khrushchev summit
conference in Paris.
? The aborted Bay of Pigs invasion of
Cuba, in which U. S.-backed Cubans
failed to overthrow Fidel Castro.
Among the successes-
? Helping to prevent Communists
from taking over Italy in critical national
elections after World War II.
? Blocking Communist attempts
through labor unions to close French
ports to Marshall Plan aid.
? Overthrowing anti-Western Pre-
mier Mohammed Mossadegh of Iran and
restoring control to the Shah.
? Overthrowing the leftist Govern-
ment in Guatemala in 1954, thus pre-
venting Moscow from getting its first
foothold in the Western Hemisphere.
? Backing leftist-but anti-Corn-
munist-labor unions as well as other
groups to keep the Soviet Union from
getting control of much of the labor
movement in Western Europe.
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/08/09: CIA-RDP09T00207R001000020019-3