CIA VISITS GLEN COVE

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP88-01315R000300080012-1
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 16, 2016
• Document Release Date: September 15, 2004
• Sequence Number: 12
• Publication Date: November 19, 1977
• Content Type: MAGAZINE

provled For Release 2004(14Qll ,~CIA-RDP88-01315R00030
19 Novemher 1977
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. Newsday Photo by R. Scott Ystrwood
CIA's Paul Chretien answers questions about `the-lntebligenee agency
.By Leonard Levitt 'tion as he attempted to answer all questions, some
Glen Cove--On the stage sat a panel of Glen - more successfully than others. Helms never lied
Cove High School' teachers and students. A few to the President, he said. "The accusation was"
feet away, the target of their sometimes mocking, that he did not tell the whole truth to Congress."-.
often hostile questions, was a middle-aged man And assassinating Castro, he suggested,.might
with horn-rimmed glasses, wearing a rumpled have been preferable to sending six divisions to
suit and unshined black shoes. Cuba which might have led to the deaths of some
His name was Pais! M. Chretien, and he is a 60,000
senior briefing officer of the Central Intelligence ? :As to predicting wars,.he said, "We are not a
Agency. Usually he talks to senior military. and.. predicting divinity; we are an intelligence agency.
diplomatic officials' about the agency's ? activities. 'We said if there was a war in the Middle East in- j
He had come to Glen Cove as part of the school's 1967 it would last a week. It lasted six days We
Educational Enrichment Program which, accord ". said if there was a-war in 2973 it would last two-`
log to a school brochure, brings to the, school "pro- weeks. It lasted 12
fessioital people who are able to. give students Why test mind-controlling drugs? !If you could
rand faculty .a deeper insight and better under- control the mind of (Soviet' Premier- Leonid)---
-~ standing of . [their] organizations.". :.=.:.. Brehznev it could b&. useful," he said, adding he
nearly three hours yesterday, Chretien at-'. felt the drug testing 1950s` did to provide insight into and understand out of hand. the early did ext-
ing~ofthe CIA, though he refused to say in which of our times" .. he said. .'.'No one. at the time
overseas stations he'd served. He appeard unruf- , thought those actions were illegal or immoral. We
fled, but underwent a grilling that he said left- were in a kind of war. We feared World War III."
him "surprised and disturbed." ;fey- were out to crucify you," teacher Bob
---t":," People are bothered by the CIA's ill-advised
Clay
illegal activities," began Donald Goodyear . bourne told Chretien after his talk. "Do you*;
think you should spend more money on educating
'cial studies instructor. "How can (former CIA a Di-- the public?'y'
-rector) Richard Helms lie to the President and, -"I think so," Chretien said.
Congress? What about the lack of intelligence xn
Cuba during the $
ay of Pigs and your inability to The Washington Post
predict the Yom Kippur War in 1973?" - ' Washington-The, Central Intelligence Agency
"Is it morally right for the CIA to have plotted - accused Frank Snepp, a former CIA analyst who
to assassinate Fidel Castro?" 17-year-old Roger has written a book critical of the U.S. evacuation
De Gennaro, the school valedictorian, asked. "If from South Vietnam, ofviolating his secrecy the CIA is con erred wi oath
~would they to i ex~g4 i o `13f'e ]~ITS~ 1d i ~-i1elayed
civilians?" another student asked, sarcastically. n : the charge to the Justice Department and Attar- -I
?_ , .. ney General Griffin-Bell said he had referred it to It
Chretien never raised his voice or showed enso-= the civil di'on_