C.I.A. CHIEF TELLS HOUSE OF $8-MILLION CAMPAIGN AGAINST ALLENDE IN '70-73

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP09T00207R001000020130-9
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 9, 2011
• Sequence Number: 130
• Publication Date: September 8, 1974
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Approved For Release 2011/08/09: CIA-RDPO9T00207R001000020130-9
8 SEP 1974
C.I.A. Chief Tells House
$8-Million Campaign
Against Allende in'70-73
.By SEYMOUR M. HERSH-.
5Dedat to The New YorkTlmn
WASHINGTON, Sept. 7 The
director of' the Central Inteili .
gence,Agency has told Congress
''that the . Nixon Adniinistratiotia
authorized more than $8-lnillioti.,
for covert activities--by; the
agency in Chile' between ;197a
and 1973 to make it impossible
for President Salvador Allende.
Gossens to gbvern..._
The ' goal of the clandestine
C.LA:` activities, tht director,.
WilIiaar E:' Colby, testifted at a
top-secret' bearing.. last.-` April;
was to "destabilize" the-Marx-.'
ist? -Government of President
Allende, who was electeid in.
1970. < l'
' The Allende Government was
overthrown in a- violent. coup
d'etat last Sept. 1I in which the
President . died. The military
junta that seized power say he
committed suicide but his sup-
porters maintain that he was
slain by the soldiers who at-
tacked the presidential palace
in Santiago.
Intervention In '64 '
In his House testimony. Mr.
Colby also disclosed that -they
Central In teiligence Agency.first
intervened' against Dr. Allende
in 1964, when he was a presi-
:~ ~_wwine
against Eduardo Frei-Montalva
of the Christian , Democratic
narty, which had;the support,
of the United Stan:.,. - .
The agency's operations, Mr.{
Colby testified, were considered
Ia test of the technique of using
heavy -cash payments to bring
down a (government viewed as
antagonistic toward the United
ISta?es. However, there have
been many allegations that the
C.I.A. was involved in similar.
)activities in other countries be-
fore the election of Dr. Allende..
Mr. Colby also maintained.
that all of the agency's opera-
tions against the Allende Gov-
ernment were approved in ad-
vance by the 40 Committee in
Washington, a secret high-level
intelligence panel headed by
The New York Times reported
then, that the "United States;
lacks political, economic or mil-
itary leverage to change the
course of events in Chile, even
if the Administration wished to
do so."
However, Mr. Colby testified
that $500,000 was secretly au-
thorized by. the 40 Committee
in 1970 to help the anti-Allende
forces. Another $500,000 had
been provided to the same
forces in 1969, Mr. Colby said.
Bribe Attempt Reported
Mr. Allende's victory was ra-1
tified by the Chilean Congress
in October, 1970, and the State-.
Department later declared that';
the Administration had "firmly(
rejected" any attempt to blockl
his inauguration. ;
But Mr. Colby testified that;
$350,000 had been authorized!
by the 40 Committee in an un-
successful effort to bribe mem-1
hers of the Chilean Congress.;
The bribe. was part of a much'
more complicated scheme in
tended to overturn the results'
of the election, Mr. Colby tee-I
tified, but the over-all plan, at-'
though initially approved byi
the 40 Committee, was later
rejected as unworkable.
Whilethe Central Intelligence
Agency was conducting these
clandestine operations, there
were reductions in United
States foreign-aid grants to
Chile in development bank
loans and in lines of credit
from American commercial
banks. Commodity credits for
vitally needed grain purchases
also were restricted.
United States officials have
declared that there was no
over-all Administration pro-
gram designed to limit eco-
nomic aid to the Allende
Government, but critics have
noted that large-scale loans
and aid are now going to Chile.
President Allende repeatedly
complained about what he told
the United Nations in Decem-
external pressure to cut us off
our economy and paralyzetra ,
from the world, to strangle our
economy and paralyze trade
and to deprive us of access to
sources of international fi-
nancing."
Colby Declines Comment
Mr. Colby acknowledged in
a brief telephone conversation
this week that he had testified
before the Nedzi intelligence
subcommittee about the C.I.A.'s
involvement in Chile, but he
refused to comment on the Har-
rington letter.
Mr. Nedzi, contacted in Mu-
nich, West Germany, where he
is on an inspection trip with
other members of the House
Armed Services Committee,
also declined to comment. ing to say anything about it.
Mr. Harrington noted in his "On this kind of covert ac-'
letter that he had been permit- tion," the official added, "it's
ted to read the 48-page tran -, up to those asked to do it to do.
script of Mr. Colby's testimony l' it secretly."
two rimes, appaienuy wlulVUL
taking notes. "My memory
must serve here as the only
source for the substance of
the testimony," he wrote.
A number of high-ranking
Government officials subse-
quently confirmed the details
of the C.I.A.'s involvement ash
summarized by the Massachu-i
setts Representative, a liberal's
who has long been a critic of
the agency's policies.
Companies' Help Rejected
In 1964, Mr. Colby testified,
some American corporations in
Chile volunteered to serve as
conduits for anti-Allende funds,
but the proposal was rejected.
A similar proposal in 1970 led
to a widely publicized Senate
hearing las tyear.
The C.I.A. director also said
that after Dr. Allende's 'election,
S5-million was authorized by
the 40 Committee for more "de-
stabilization" efforts in 1971,
1972 and 1973. An additional,
$1.5-million was provided to aid
anti-Allende candidates in mu-
nicipal elections last year.
Some of these funds, Mr.;
Colby testified, were provided
to an unidentified influential
anti-Allende newspaper in San-
tiago.
In his summary of the Colby
testimony, Mr. Harrington noted
that "funding was provided to
individuals, political parties
and media outlets in Chile?
through channels in other coup i
tries in both Latin America and)
Europe "
"Mr. Colby's description of
these operations was direct,,
though not to the point of iden
tifying actual contacts and
conduits; ' Mr. Harrington
added.
One fully Informed official,
told of The New York Times's
intention to publish an account
of the clandestine C.I.A. ac-
tivities in Chile, declared,,
"This thing calls for balanced
reporting to put the blame
where it should be laid."
"The agency didn't do any-;
thing without the knowledge
and consent of the 40 commit-
tee," he said, pointedly adding
that the committee was headed
by Mr. Kissinger, who was then
serving as President Richard M.;
Nixon's National Security Ad-,
viser.
Secrecy called Necessary
Another Government official
similarly defended the C.I.A: s
role in funneling fund into
Chile and the agency's subse-
quent denials of any such ac-
tivities. "You have a straight
out policy that the United
States conducts covert actin
on an officially authorized ba
,sis," he said. If you do suc
things, obviously you're not go-1
continued 00
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A3.,.dsM rrw
William E. Colby
and equipped by the agency'
failed in their invaiion of Cuba
in 1961. o
A Special Hearing
Details of the agency's in-
volvement in Chile were first'
provided by Mr. Colby to the
House Armed Services Subcom-
mittee of Intelligence, headed
by Representative Lucien N.
Nedzi, Democrat of Michigan,
at a special one-day hearing
last April 22. The testimony
was later made available to
Representative Michael J. Har-
rington, a liberal Massachusetts
Democrat who has long been.
a critic of the C.I.A. Harrington
wrote other members of Con-
gress six weeks ago to protest
both the agency's clandestine'
activities and the failure of the
Nixon Administration to ack-
nowledge them despite repeated
inquiries from Congress. A copy
of a confidential seven-page
letter sent by Mr. Harrington
to Representative Thomas E.
Morgan, chairman of the House f
Foreign Affairs Committee, was
made available to The New.
York Times.
The testimony of Mr. Colby.
indicates that high officials in the State Department and
White House repeatedly and
deliberately misled the public
and the congress about the
extent of United States involve
ment in the internal affairs of'
Secretary of State Kissinger. Chile during the three-year)
"nroittee was set up government of Dr. Allende.
~? ?- Shortly after Dr. Allende`
by President Kennedy in won a plurality in the presiden-I
(tempt to provide Admiristra- tial elections in September,'
Ition control over C.I.A. activi- 1970, high Chilean officials
lienitrh in
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Mr. Kissinger, altnougn iuuy :wuwnL , i ui+ccL uuli.CU1 Vongcaaa a+. a?y -.?,c ....-
unformed of The Times's ac~ States role the overthrow. ! tire four years of my stay.
count through an aide, did not) "On most of those you have, hard line toward Chile was car-
respond. to look at the language very' ried out at any time."
A number of officials whose carefully," one official said of; Charles A. Meyer, former As-
information about such activi the denials. State fort
ties has been accurate in the Shortly after President Allen-' sistant past declared in interviews this des overthrow there were un tinSecretary ec of of State fort ,week that there was a sharp confirmed reports" that the ly testified that the United:
split between some State De truckers' strike, which was a States scrupulously adhered to
s' stri
over the 40 Committee' key element in the social chaos a policy of nonintervention.
Chile policy. that preceded the coup, had "We bought n(> votes, we fund-'
ed no candidates, we promoted
Kissinger's Comment been financed, at least in part, no coups," he said.
In his only. public commen by the C.I.A. Senator Frank Church, Dem-
on the Allende coup, Mr. Kis At a closed hearing on Chil ocrat of Idaho, who is chair-
singer told the Senate Forei before a House Foreign Affairs fnan of the Subcommittee on
Relations Committee last year: subcommittee last October, Mr. Multinational Corporations,:,
"The C.I.A. had nothing to d Colby refused to rule out the could not be reached for com-I;
with the coup, to the best of possibility that some anti- ment. The subcommittee's chief
my knowledge and belief, ands Allende deipnstrations in Chile counsel, Jerome I.. Levinson; ex-p
I only put in that qualification may have been assisted through pressed anger today on hear-I
in case some madman appears) subsidiaries of United States ing of Mr. Colby's testimony.
down there who without in- corporations in Brazil or other "For me," he said, "the funda-;
'structions talked to somebody.) Latin-American countries. mental issue now is who makes
I have absolutely no reason to He was sharply questioned foreign policy in a democracyA
suppose it." . , about that possibility by Mr. and by, what standards and by
In his July 18, 1974, letter to Harrington, who emerged dur- what criteria?"
Representative Morgan, Mr. ing Congressional debate as Mr. Levinson said that the
Farrington quoted Mr. Colby , leading critic of the Adminis- "de-, testifying that the 40 Coat tration's Chilean policies. subcommittee had been liberately deceived" during its';
mittee authorized an expendi- Representative 'Harrington,
ture of $1-million for "further reached yesterday at his Mas- public hearings last year.
political destabilization" activi- sachusetts office, refused to in his letter to Mr. Morgan,.
ties in August, 1973, one mont discuss ..his letter to Mr. Mor-i Mr. Harrington said that he
before the military junta seiz !:gan, which he termed confi- had turned to the Foreign Af-
control in Santiago. dential. Nor would he discuss fairs Committee chairman "as
"The full plan authorized i other 'aspects of the possible alast resort, having despaired
August was called off whe of the likelihood of anything
the military coup occurred less American involvement in the; as a re
Mr. Har fall of President Allende. productive occurring than one month later," salt of the avenues I have al-
rington wrote. He added, how In his letter, Mr. Harrington! ready pursued."
ever that Mr. Colby had testi, complained about the "inherentl Mr. Harrington noted that
Pied that $34,000 of the funds limitations facing members of the subcommittee on Inter
had been spent-including a Congress in uncovering the' American Affairs had held five
payment of $25,000 to one per-~ hearings on human rights in:
son to buy a radio station. facts of covert activities such; Chile since the junta came to
A specific request earlier In as those in Chile." from
the summer of 1973 for $50,000 He also expressed dismay! power, with testimony
that the Administration had; only one State Department wit-
4rs' strike nabiwas pruck- authorized the covert expendi-; ness with full knowledge of the
the s
rike that was crippling) clandestine C.I.A. activity.
the Chilean Government tore of $1-million in August,; And that witness, Harry W.
turned down by the 40 Com- 1973, "without any apparent;
.mittee, Mr. Harrington further deterrent being posed by the re-1 Shlaudeman, a Deputy Assist
quoted Mr. Colby as testifying. cently completed hearings intoi ant Secretary of State for Inter-
I:T.T. [International Telephone; , American Affairs, refused to
A Difference of opinion & Telegraph] involvement in; (testify about agency activities,
"In the period before th e1 Chile and the Senate Water Harrington wrote.
coup," one official said, "the gate committee's disclosur of 141r was a pretty firm view on the; C.I.A. activities related to I He urged Mr. Morgan to call
for afull-male public investi-
part of the 40 Committee ---~ Watergate."
which is Kissinger and nobod A Senate Foreign Relations 1 gation of the Nixon Adminis-
else-that the Allende Govern (subcommittee concluded hear-! Itration's involvement in Chile.
ment was bound to come to de~ ings last April into what I.T.T. i j Mr. Morgan could not be
struction and had to be thor reached for comment, nor
officials acknowledged was an]
oughly discrdited." attempt to contribute'$1?miilion could it be learned whether he
The State Department su had responded to Mr. Harring-
to the United States Govern- r
ported this, but in a differen ton s letter.
way," the official recalled. ,I ment for use by the Central In- i ~ The Foreign Affairs Commit-
wanted to stretch out any clan. telligence Agency to create eco- l tee will begot sessions next
destine activities to permit the nomic chaos in Chile. Testimony week on the Administration's
regime to come to a political) showed that the offer was re- I foreign military-aid requests,
I end. 1 jetted after discussions that ap- committee aides said. Amend-
"The argument was between) i arentl involved Mr. Kissinger merits have been offered calling
those who wanted to use force) sand Richard M. Helms, then di- for 'the halving and for the
and end it quickly rather than complete elimination of the
to play it out. Henry was on . rector of the agency.
number of hi h State De- Administration's request for
the side of the former-he was; A partment officials g testified un- more than $20-million in mili-
for considerabl obstruction." ; der oath at those hearings that tart' aid and training for Chile.
All of the officials inter-i the United States was not mak-
viewed emphasized that the. ling any attempts to interfere
Central Intelligence Agency with Chile's internal politics.
was not authorized to play any; Edward M. Korry, former
direct role in the coup that: Ambassador to Chile, declared:
overthrew Dr. Allende. It was 1"The United States did not seek
also noted that most of the, to pressure, subvert, influence
subsequent denials of agency a single member of the Chilean
iinvoh?ement in the internal of-.
,fairs of Chile were made in the
00877
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