THE CIA: TIME TO COME IN [F ]

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP88-01314R000300170030-2
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 19, 2016
• Document Release Date: December 2, 2005
• Sequence Number: 30
• Publication Date: September 30, 1974
• Content Type: MAGAZINE

~ ~ SAP 1974
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Approved
For Release 2006/01/03 :CIA-RDP88-01314F~000300170030-2
~hrestion: "Under what International
law do Ive have a right to attempt to de-
stabilize the constitutr""orally elected gow
ernment ofanothercountry?"
Answer: "!am notgoing to pass judg-
ment on whether it is permitred or au-
thorized under international law. It is a
recognized fact that historicelly as well
as presently, such actions are taken in
the best interest of the countries in vol ved. "
Shat blunt respanse.by President
Gerald ford at his press conference last
week was either remarkably careless or
remarkably candid. It left the troubling
impression, which the Administration
afterward did nothing to dispel, that the
U-S. feels free to subvert another gov-
ernment whenever it suits American
policy. In an era of detente wich the So-
viet Urtionand improving relations with
China, Ford's words seemed to repre-
sent an anachrotustic, cold-war view of
natianat security reminiscent of the
1950x. Complained Democratic Senator
Frank Church of Idaho with c~nsider-
able hyperbole: '?{It s1 tantamount to
saying that we respect no law save the
law of the jungle."
The question on "destabil'v_in~" for-
eigrt governments followed Ford's con-
- firmation that the Ttiixon- Admnistra-
.tian had 4uth~~.rized tha Central
Intelligence ~loency t~ wave an S8 mil-
lion campaign in 1970-73 to aid oppo-
nents of Chilean President Salvador
Allende's htarcist government Lsee box
page 21). Until Iast ~~?cek, members of
bath the. Mixon and Fard Administra-
tions had flatly decried that the U.S. had
been involved in undermininv Allende's
regime. They continuw to insist that the
C1A -was not resgcansible f7r the 1973
coup that left tlller.Je dead. and a re-
pressive right-wing junta in his place:
Congressmen were otltraed by the
ne~.vs that they had once aoa,iti been 1-nis-
led by the Executive Branch. 141are im-
~partant, disclosure of the Chile opera-
tton helped focus and intensify the
debate in Congress and the nation aver
the CtA: IIas thengenay gone too farm
recent years? Should it be barred from
interfer7nb in other countries' domestic
affairs? ZVhere it has erred, was the CtA
out of control or was the White House
at fault for misJir~~ting anal misusin,;
the agency? Should it kie morn tightly su-
penised, and. if so, by whom? In ad-
dition, the controversy spotlighted the
fundamental dilemma posed by an-open,
dc:macrakic saci:;[y wing covert activi[}'
---tha "dirty tricks" or "black" side of in-
tellia~ence br~anil-aticins-as an?instru-
ment of foreign policy.
CEtiTRAt INTELLiGEhICE AGENCY 61RECTOR Y11Lt1AM E. COtBY
"T/~ere's nothing wrvny with accvuntalziltty."
Ati the center aF the storm was `ViI-
liam Egan Colby, S4, the CTA's director
-for the past year. Shrewd and capable,
Colby has sought from the day he took
office as duector to channel more of the
C1A's efforts into the gathering, evalu-
ation-and analysis of information and
less into covert actio;7s--the "operation-
al''side afthe inteliauence business. Says
he: `'The CtA's cloak-and-dagger days
ha~~e ended."
Certain Actions. Butob.'iausly,not
quite. It was Colby who oversaav the last
months of-the CtA activity in Chile as
the agency's deputy director for oper-
ations in 1973, though this ope.ratian ap-
parently ended shonly after he became
director. But it. was also Colby who dis-
closed details of the coven action to a
ctesed hearing of the House Armed Ser-
vices Subconuriittee~ cin Inte{ligenca last'
April 2. A sum~?Tlary of his testimony
was Ieaked to the press. two weeks ago.
By the time Fard met with the press,
Colby's revelations were more than a
week old: the President had. been briefed..
by Secretary of State Henry Kissinger
and doubtless was ready to :Field report-
ers' questiaas. -Said Ford: "Clur Govera-
ment, like other governments, dcrs ta'~ce
certain actions in E;!.e intelligence field
to help implement foreign policy and
protect national security. I am informed.
reliably that Communist nations spend
vastly more money than w~, do for the
same kind of ptrrpases."
Since sa much had already Faked
out. Ford perhaps had no choice but to
mate an admission.. But his statement
seemed to set no or few Iimi~s on clan-
Approved For Release 2006/01/03 :CIA-RDP8.8-013148000300170030-2
c and i?:tx =.