THE CIA AND ALLENDE

• Document Type: FOIA
• Collection: FOIA Collection
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 01430482
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 28, 2022
• Document Release Date: August 7, 2017
• Case Number: F-2007-00094
• Publication Date: April 12, 1973

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-Approved for Release: 2017/01/18 C014304820
BALTIMGFIE AMERICAN
12 APR 1973
� .
� JOEIN. p. P:OCPIE
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he CIA and Aie, de
The current imbroglio over the, role that'
the Central Intell:geoce Agency arid7the
ternational Telephone and Telegrap.h Co.
played (or considered playing) in trying to
block the, election of Chilean President
lende :h.as. its tantalizir,.g and perplexing as-
pects'..'as the CIA's cash balance so low it
needed .a :11 Wirth dollars from ITR�T?�Did the.
CIA and ITR�T really. think they could pull
off some of the stunts contemplated without,
the word getting out and working.massively-
in favor, of Allende? But underlying this.
brawl are a series of very difficult question
of principle, to say nothing of definition.
First of all', ..what constitutes� American-,
(public or priyate) intervention in the.inter--
nal affairs ,of another .slate?; Obviously,.
sponsoring a- revolution (as Teddy :Roosevelt'
did to break. Panama loose ft-OM Colombia).*
is at one pole. But betv.-eerpsponsoring revo-
lutions and totally eliminating any Ameri-
can activity outside of the United States,'
_there is .a long line on the spectrum, a line
that gets fu47:ier and fuizier -the further: you
...� : " �� � �
go.
Moreover, even doing nothing Can be Con:.:
strued as: intervention: .Egypt's' -President
Nasser throught .that Secretary-Dulles' refusal to help financesthe Aswan Darn was a -
form of intervention, and some years "ago �
six confee-producing nations in Latin Amen-'
ca.protested to the Organization. of Ameri-.
can States that our refusal to .rig 'coffee
prices intervened in their infernal affairs.
I would argue that the very existence or
the United States as the most powerful' n.a::
lion in the world automatically intervenes in
the affairs of every other state. Nasser and
the coffee producers were right: Inaction on
our part can have as great art impact as ac-
tion. To take a vivid instance, if we had not
shipped military equipment to Britain be-
fore Pearl Harbor, the war for Europe could �
;have been lost.
If we accept that�propoSition. the futile
'argument over whether we should intervene
automatically goes by the boards. Then we
;turn to the hard one: To what ends should
'we (publicly and privately) intervene?
Shout� we protect democratic. (or even un-
democratic) nations from totalitarian inva-
Sion or subversion? Should we utilize our:-
. foreign aid to nourish democratic political
, � development as is provided in the. Fraser
- .� Amendment ,to- the foreign aid -bill � or
� should .we 'take a.strictly .hands-off ap-
proach? �
It. as at this 'point that the 11.8�T fracas
� ...comes .back _into focus, and as ileological .
. shambles' occurs. Let us suppose for a .rno-
,',� ..ment that the Chase Manhattan Bank, influ-
_. � enced by the World Council of Churches and
� black militants, decided to provide a conduit
� - to black7liberation movements in South
Afri-
ca, using�its-.business connections to provide
� arms 'and other aid to the revolutionaries.
. -.Would this .be. a- "bad" thing? Was it a
"bad" thing when the CIA, using a business
�� .cover, sliipped.. into Santo � Dorning_o the� �
wea_pons used to kill the brutal dictator fru-
' Cl don't know howhe feels about it to-
day, out in �190-Ftne Dominican statesman
":Juan Bosch thought that intervention was
the- -thing since the discovery of
America.). � � - �
, What this comes down to is that interven-
� tion is a "good" thing when you happen .to
faVor the cause involved, but is wicked and
'immoral.. if you disapprove,of the goals. K.
� � "perfettly.hum.an response; but hardly one, on
�� which sound public policy can be foimulat-
ed.The though, of .ITR-T losing its Chilean
. assets does-not bring tears to my eyes or
. lead me to, wish we still had a supply of gun-
boats in stock. Capitalism. I'm told, involves
.. taking risks, and the corporation may in the
: end be reimbursed by a federal agency set
up to provide insurance for 'such contingen-
cies.
No, what bothers me is the wholly ad hoe
reaction of the Senate committee investigat-
ing the matter. We' would be far better'
served by Sen. Church and his colleagues if
they spent less time being outraged and a
little � more trying to formulate general
guidelines, guidelines which would apply to
South America and South Africa. to the just
�and the unjust alike, however defined. '
Approved for Release: 2017/01/18 C01430482
00465