CRITICISM OF CIA EXPOSURE REJECTED

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP91-00901R000600090012-3
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 44
• Document Creation Date: December 19, 2016
• Document Release Date: October 11, 2005
• Sequence Number: 12
• Publication Date: December 12, 1975
• Content Type: NSPR

Approved For Release 2005/11/28.: CIA-RDP91-00901R000600090012-3
WASHINGTON POST -
Tr.h e Thishiington Merry-GoZ:0-112-1t1
ci .
-Kewri tro ei Trin Erra
:
,
By Jack Anderson
and Lea %Vizi/ten '
Spiro Agnew resurfaced the other day to
yarn against revoking the Central
Intelligence Agency's writ to assassinate
foreign VI...9s. He doesn't want high level'
riurder to get out of hand, mind you, hut
regards it as "an extreme option that we
chould keep."
At the same time, members of Congress,
eadministration spokesmen and even some
etitorialis Is have denounced
tOngressional committees for publicizing
the CIA's homicidal intrigues. There are
'leigns that the committees are backing of(
rid pulling their punches.
Some of the critics oppose washing our
blood-stained linen in public because it
iiinders intelligence gathering, corn-
our relations with touchy nations
xvhose leaders may have been on our hit
list and alienates people around the world
NvhD might look askance upon government
gangsterism.
e Others contend 1hat the CIA must
_i-ip?rate at the same subterranean level as
Die 'KGB: that we must confront. the
Communists in the nethe.r.vorld as well as
the visible V.,orN: that we must give our
bfficials secret authority to play the dirty
jar: me. trusting them loth) the right thing.
t- The trouble with such sentiments Is that
they are urnArnericnn. Literally. They
mpty cznnot be squared with four fun-
flamental assumptions upon which the
4.mericart system was constructed:
"r"--
a
k;\
E TeTh?fIA. -?"
:Ca-
- (1) Officialdom, left to itself; will tend to
do wrong not right: (2) powers not rigidly,
limited and regularly inspected will be
used against our people as well as others;
(3) secret, unaccountable powers must be
forbidden to government, particularly the
power to commit crimes; and (4) should
one branch usurpsuch powers, the others
are duty hound to expose and restrain it.
Is it possible that, only 16- months after
the Watergate climax, these homely
truisms must be relearned? If so, there is
need to review how the CIA, got into the
assassination besiness. ? ?
Who, for instance, gave the CIA
authority to commit murder? In this land,
the people are the sovereigns, and the
government cannot assume powers that
the people do not bestow. Any agency that
operates beyond its authority, therefore, is
acting illegally_ -
The assassination Plots, like Adolf
Hitler's death ovens, were carefully
hidden from the people. If the. Senate in-
telligence committee could not identify
who had authorized the killing of un-
desirable potentates, the committee at
least traced how ? the ugly secret fieally
leaked out.
We played the: he role, in this
unraveling, which began almost nine
years ago. On March 7, 1u57, we reported a
1963 CIA oiot to assassinate Cuba's Fidel
Castro. "Cor sources agree," we wrote,
-that a plot against Castro defialtely was
-taken up inside the CIA L the time Senator
Robert li'veeedy, D-N.., was riding be.rd.
?
on the agency far hisfirother." . _
STAT
12 DEC ips,
t
ie. 11 .fP t&iLL
This was the first that President Johnson
had heard about it. Ourstory, according to
the committee, "'prompted Johnson to
direct (CIA chief Richard) Helms to
conduct an investigation."
As we poked deeper into the dark
recesses of the CIA, meanwhile, we COtl-
tacted John ;McCune, who had headed the,
CIA Curing the assassination attempts. In,
great alarm, he called Robert Kennedy,
who asked him to set down his recollec-
tions in memo form. McCone*tated the
memo on April 14, 11.)67.
Relates the committee: - "The
memorandum- was prompted by a
telephone call from the newspaper
columnist Jack Anderson, who at that time
was preparing a column on Castro.:
assassination attempts. After talking with
Anderson on the telephone, at Robert
Kennedy's request, McCone dictated the
April 14, 1967 memorandum, which stated
_ "I recall a suggestion being made to
-liquidate top people in the Ca.stro regime,:
including Castro."
? Helms, meanwhile, assifened the CIA -
inspector general to conduct the in-7
vestit.-,ration. Johnson had requested.. The
subsequent report, dated seiay 73, 1957,
confirmed a series of CIA assassination
involvements.
Rut Helms decceived johnsoo. the
committee says, by giving him an .
abridged oral report on the earher at- ?
tempts to kilt Castro, without mentioning
that these efforts had continued into thee -
Johnson presidency.
STAT
C Ur".itz?d Frail:re Syndicate, On._
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Approved For Release 20105tt, 1121P:HCIA-RDP91-00901R0006
i77-11
iVP
ale
A-4
. BY, JOHN HALL
News American Bureau
WASHINGTON ? At least
twO participants in a high-
level Aug. -10, 1962, meeting '
on Cuba have testified that
then Defense Secretary Rob-
ert S. McNamara said Fidel ;
Castro should be assassinat-
ed. ?
A third gave a sitnilar ac-
count but later recanted. A -
fourth said he couldn't recall
but, after checking his rec-
ords, said McNamara made
the suggestion. ?
Three other's said they
couldn't recall the subjeetcf
killing the ? Cuban le.ader
being raised at all.
McNamara, now preaident
of the World Bank, aaisihe
had no.recollection of sayteg
such .a thing and "It is en-
tirely out of charectar
what I believe I thonatt at ?
the time .
An aide to fermer
rector John iM'cCce.e sz:f. he
listened in on a rhre c:r.-
versation the ex dayin
which McCone scolded Mc- ,
Namara 'for having made- the
suggestion.
Another CIA official sub-
mitted a memoranelem he
said he dictated four days
after the meeting whielasatd
McNamara brought up the
assassination suggestian.
Despite the conflicting tes-
timony,. 'dimmed ma-Monies
and incomplete records, the
material assembled by the
Senate Intelligence Commit-
tee on the Aug. 10 meeting of
16 members of the interde-
partmental mongoose special,
?group represents the firmest
evidence to date that the as-
sassination of Castro was a
subject not confined entirely
within the walls of .the Con-
tral Intelligente Agency
(CIA)
CIA officials Involved in
the assassination plot have
testified they were operating ?
under tremendous presture
from the ..White House Arid'
from Atty. Gen. Robert F.
Kennedy to rid the Western'
Hamisph.ere of the CaStro
regime. There was direct
al,Ithority from president
00090012-3
STA
tr`fl,t 6-44 W) 671
:ctl. a_
? ? "
ball a '4,
1962 .meeting "is one of the
few times where the commit-
tee has established upon con-
vincing evidence, that
assassination was raised and
overtly ,discussecl as a poSsi-
ble course of action."
? Baker said he found it
'"disturbing" that the ex-
haustive inquiry did not es-
tablish writ) suggested
assassination.
'No. one was: candid
enough to say, 'Yes, I raised '
.
it, but not in a serious vein or
, in a moment of frustration.-
_rather we are left either to
nquestion the credibility of the
witness or conclude that asa
sassination was so common-
-place or insignficant that it
did not make'an impression
on anyone. In any case, it is
not a pleasant picture."
William Harvey and Gen.
?Edward Lansdale, who were
running the CIA's anti-Castro .
effort, testified that McNa-
mara raised the assassina.-
tion possibility.
Lansdale said he could not
recall exactly but McNa-
? mara "was usually very
? brief and terse in .his re-
marks and it might have
been something like, well,
look into that . . -
Harvey said he was "not
; guessing ; to the best of
my recollection, it was sur-
faced by Robert McNa-
' rnara.'!.1Ia6,ey's Aug. 14
; memorandum on the meeting
also referred to McNamara
John F. Kennedy to encntit-'
age sabotage and to prOduce
a violent, military Overthrow
of Castro,
. There Was no specific in-
junction from the White
House and overseers of the
CiA prohibiting CIA involve-
ment in assassinations. And
the committee said there is a
strong' likelihood that the
lack .of clear command au-
thority for an assassination
was part of the "plausible
'denial" doctrine, in which
the 'president and his-itop
.staff could tell the. world
-without fear'of contradiction
that they were not involved
:should the plot be exposed..
But Sen. Howard Baker,
R-Tenn., Aid the Aug: 10,
bringing up the assassination . -
suggestion.. .
Secretary of. State Dean'
Rusk and presidential. advis-
ers McGeorge Bundy and
Roswell Gilpatric said they!
could not recall having heard .
a4one discuss assassination
at the meeting.
But Richard Goodwin, an-
other presidential adviser, :
told the committee staff that
'etched on his memory" was -
the following:- "McNamara
:gbt up to leave dating a
cussion of -how to get rid of
Castro and only way ,
_to get rid of. Castro was to .
kill him." Goodwin said
McNamara added, ."1 really.
Mean it."
Later, however, Goodwin
testified before theatinnii-tZ.:
tee he .was, ,"tinablksJii?ie}7,
with certainty". Who' jiroiTAhrn
up the subject :e.
Thomas Paritf, who re.c
orded minutes_ fdh the meri.- !
ing, said ,he did not recall ;
McNamaea raising. aSsasaai-
nation, and the 'minutes: do
not reflect that. it :AKils: dis-
cussed at all.
STAT
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THE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR
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Former CIA head wants
intelligence committee
Hot Springs, Virginia
_ Former director of the Central
Intelligence Agency (CIA) John
A. McCone-,,is advocating the -, -
establishment of a single joint
,committee on intelligence within
Congress to oversee the activi-
ties of the CIA.
. Mr. McCone told a meeting of
the Business Council, an orga-
-nization of the top executives of
100 of the largest United States
corporations, that the recent -
revelations about the agency_ _
have so greatly damaged thig-'.
image-of the CIA that some
changes must be made to end
criticism and restore confidence
while at the same time enabling
the CIA to continue to collect
foreign intelligence.
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11 October 1975
000600090012-3
.McCone Uro-es lIghter dri on ,L,1
., HOT SPRINGS, Va sight, and intelligence se- But he said these abuses groups" during the years ,of
1, (UPI) ? FormerT CIA crets the CIA develops, had been minor ones and protests against _U.S. , in-
director John A. McCone should be restricted to a the 'adverse publicity they . volvement in , Vietnam, he
said yesterday the intelli-- light circle composed of the generated had obscured the said.
gence agency needs ,closer . President, his chief national responsible and Valuable ,.
White House and congrbs,.. security adviser ? current services performed by the McCone said he ' haid ex-
e - 1, s '.'
r s r
sinnal super pressed his im on CIA
vision even ly Secretary of State Henry agency. ,
oversight to cdrninistration
Kissinger ? and a few ?
though reports of its illiS- ' ' officials and had met pri- ,
members of Congress. i . AMONG ITS violations,
deeds have been exagger- 'vately on Thursday with',
ated. "The proximity of . the ? McCone said, the CIA had '.
, Sen. Frank Church 11- -
CIA and its director to the, carried out surveillance of ? ,?
' But he said CIA opera-, % Idaho, chairman of the Sen- -;
tions must still be wrapped .. ate ' corrimittee investigat- '1
President and the National -Americans and the illegal,
for Security Council should be _ opening of mail long ? after ?
in a "cloak of secrecy' ing CIA activIties. ? .
made more conspiccius,"; ? those activities had. ceased , ? ,
the protection of agents and
A
' because the intelligence McCone said : - . ' 1 .-T , to serve a legitimate intelli; sked whether the
..
mission is vital to national He conceded the CIA had .-., gence purpose. . ,, , administration had made
-defense abused the law and its own , . -.. plans for closer CIA super- !-
' McCone, CIA director
. charter in a variety of Ways', 4 "It was a natural :out; . vision; ' McCone said offi-,..'
, ? , .
e: from 1961 to 1965 in the made public recently by ,a, - growth of 1 a progrm to. ' cials told him they were
..,
-Kennedy and 3 ohnson ? presidential commission'',- determine if there were for . waiting to, see ?what de-, ,
' Administrations, spoke to ' and congressional `commit:-:, eign influences or financing' veloped from the Church
,
reporters at a meeting of tees ''''''' of some of these dissident committee's investigations. ,1
. ....e'' ? . .
-:The Business Council, an ? ......
-association of top industrial 1
: executives which he ad-
- dressed in closed session. .
,- He recommended that
_.;.the President's 'National
T Security_ Council be put in
i direct charge of the CIA ,i,
?and that Congress alsci-1".
treate a joint committee to:'
assist in overseeing the .
- agency.
BUT HE SAID the over-
?_
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THE WI, Slii!:IC.7-TON POST
Approved For Release 2005f11/A6IA4p1D91-00901R0006
By- jack Anderson 1
and 1,.; Whilten
It has becorne =part of our, po-.
litical folimayi fcire:?Candidat
to spout hokuni: For some, lying
becomes a habit, they, cannot
break after they are elected to
oftice
L This may explain why so many
politicians are willing to place
the full weight, of the U.S. gov-
ernment behind .flagrantc ase-
hoods. At all _levels of -gOvern-
inent, officials play loose with
the truth td cover up mistakes;
hide corruption. and make bad
policies lookgood: -? -
But let., an ,investigative-re-
porter make .'a mistake-or
wrongly condemn someone in
.,authority, and there are hoWls
:Of outrage, E'erhaps we may be
--excused, therfote, if we occa-
sionally remind, our readers
'Who has been telling them the
truth.
On 'March 1972, for exam-
ine,- we repPrted ? that Interna-
tional Telephone and Tele-
graph had feared its assets in
Chile might be"nationalized if
Salvador .Allende, a Marxist,
were installed as president. ,
a To protect: its investments,
ITT had tried to; inveigle the
.U.S. government to help subvert
Chile's constitutional proc-
esses. ITT and the CIA had actu-
ally plotted together to' "create
economic chaos in Chile," we
reported, "hopieg, Ibis would
Cause the Chileart arialy to pull a
coup that would block Allende
from corning to power:-.'.
White House aides and CIA of-
ficials alike- 'categorically dea
nied that the: plot against.,AI-
lend& Was ,anything more than
pn FIT - pipe _dream. But now,
sworn testimony. has e..ta
Tished that the CIA schemed
against Allende not only before
but after he became President.
:We began another series of
columns on May .1; 1972, charg-
ing that the e'r3I, CIA and Secret
Service kept dossiers on the pri-
vate-lives of- prominent Amen-
:Patrick Gray, the acting FBI
chief; called a press conference
to deny it--'There are no dossi-
ers or secret files," he declared.
We resuonded on May 11 that we
would be "happy to tell poor
Pat, since he's new around the
FBI, where some of :the: secret
files are stashed." - -
, Thereafter, we published the
'file numbers and quoted ex-
cerpts from secret dossiers on
political figures, movie stars,
football; heroes aneriewsmen.
The existence of these FBI-CIA
dossiers, of course, is ne longer
disputedeel '
r: Each neW development in the
unfolding story of the CIA asses-
.
sinatIon attempts also confirms
the details that we first, pub-
lished in a series of columns be-
ginning'January 17; 1971. The
plotters whom we named have
now confessed their partieipa--
ton.
Yet our columns about the as-
sassination plots were summar-
ily -denied ,and dismisSed 41/2
years ago. "No plot was authpr-
ized or implemented to assassi-
nate (Cuban Premier Fidel) Cas-
tro, (Dominican dictator Rafael)
Trujillo or anyone else,". lied
former CIA chief John McCone
On Nov. 8, 1974, we reported
that "military intervention"
against Middle East oil sheikh-
doms-had been discussed at the
highest Washington levels "as a
in
last resort" to save the West
from "economic ruin." The
State Department professed to
be aghast at such an idea.
But the following .Jan. 2, no
less than Secretary of State
Henry A. Kissinger acknowl-
edged that force might be used
?only in the "greatest emer-
gency," of course?to prevent
the "strangulation of the indus-
trial world." ? .
Again, we warned on May. 27,
1974 that:the Greek military
junta was in imminent danger
of collapse, the, State Depart-
ment pooh-poohed:caw report.
The junta fell two months later_
The.prevaricators
have had to swallow dozens of
denials since we took over the
column in Auguste. 1969. The
Chappaquiddick affair was then
in the headlines. We reportedon
Aug. 8 that Sen. Edward M. Ken-
nedy (D-Mass.) had arranged for
his cousin, Joe Gargano to take
the blame for driving his car off
the bridge:
Our story was not only denied
but derided. Yet five years
later, the Boston Globe assigned
a squad of reporters to reinves-
tigate the incident. They Spent
several weeks 'examining every
available detail. Their most fas-
cinating finding: "In particular,
Kennedy's cousin, -Joseph Gar-
gan, agreed at one point to take
responsibility for the accident."
,Tie latest attack upon our ac-
0090012-3
curacy has come fritra: S:e4e.
Hiram Fong (ft-Hawaii),-7,w110:4
called "totally false" carr fee;brct,!I
that he was fronting foretherplit?a)
eat lobby. Yet on June hisliatt:
eat aide, Robert Seto, confided
in a memo that Fong's -patent
bill had been written by_the pat:,
ent lobby. - ?- 7
"The actual wordings'-esseee
tinily are from papers:sirbeeit-:;1,
ted to me by such organizatieea
as the American Patent Law Aa
sociation, the American Bat A;5- :t
sociation : . ahd by members a
various (Indus-nay-dor 'dine te:ct
patent committees, PP('
(Pittsburgh Plate Glass) Indust
tries and others who stlb-ritliedi
papers and/or letters, rote
Seto. _ ? -
In- other words, the, Tong
amendments were avrf,tten "1:1Y: 1
patent lawyers and the Ilicfus-F.i
Tries they serve. Amongathe cora 1
porations that contributell theit
views were Phillips PeIro.lenrn;
Westinghouse, Dow' Chen-deal 1.
and Allis-Chalmers, to.-name
few. All ,NOUld pror,it- ,frorri
Fong's bill. .. ? -,.
Fong's six-page attack on tis
on the Senate floor Is ftlli.bf
fEd-
sehoods and distortions.
The politicians on -CaPitol a
Hill have. prcmoted 'fruth 'I iri I
lending and truth in advertis,
lag. The greater need Is -foil
truth in politi-
cs, - ST T
1875, by United Feature Synte4i ;14
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facVAnderson,
id
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27 JULY 1975
th.e. Castro Plot Backfire? _
, ? z ..?...? .
Tlielit&- Rohert- Kennedy was tor-. activities against Castro. One insider, knew him and understood
iy -, former Deputy Defense Secfetary Ms- stances well enough to realtze he
nented b the terrible thought, ac-
i well Gilpatric, told us .the focus "on. blamed himself for his brother's death.
eording-Ao-lkirdates, that he may have the Cuban situation" was intensified in There was little doubt, they say, that
tielped, trigger the .assassination of his Mil at Robert Kennedy's "insistence.", he believed the CIA's attempts against
'Erother., -.. ? The President eventually put Robert Castro put into motion the forces that
We raise-d-thls. possibility in-January in charge of a counter-insurgency corn- brought about his brother's martyr-
1971,. when.lwe first revealed- that the mince, called the , Special Group, dom.
CIA had. plotted to assassinate Cuban which concentrated upon harassing On January 18, 1971, we . reported:
PreinierTidel Castro. It has taken u ? Castro. One member, former CIA chief "Among those pkivy. to the CIA con-
s John hIcCone, acknowledged that the spiracy, there is still a nagging suspi-
ilk years to get the rest of the story. group h ad "directed mischievous don?unsupported by the Warren Corn-
Loyal _ associates of Robert Kennedy,. things against. Castro like infiltrating mission's findings?that Castro became
rushing to defend his memory, have, saboteurs, blowing up bridges and car- ;aware of the U.S. plot upon his life
'worn that' he knew nothing about the rying on general confusion." iand somehow recruited Oswald to re-
Assassination attempts and, contradic-: McCune insisted, however, that "the taliate against President Kennedy."
only, that he put a stop to them. Roth group at no time gave any considera- It has now been disclosed that the
tecounts are incorrect, according to tion to any assassination plot." We .warren Commission was told nothing
.ources?with an intimate knowledge of have established that the "executive about the. CIA's plot to kill Castro
;he events,. ... . - - action plan" was directed by William even though the late Allen Dulles, the
C
CIA chief who initiated the plot. sat On;
IA's attempts to kill Castro, but after linked to the assassination plot in our the commission.
Not onlY-Was he fully aware of the Harvey, the CIA operative, whom we
President Kennedy was gunned down original 1971 story. We have also .
According to the final report, the
in.?Xiallast, Robert was devastated by learned that he reported to the late .
commission investigated "literally doz-
he ,possibility that the CIA plot may Desmond Fitzgerald in CIA headquar-
? ens of allegations of a conspiratorial
lave . backfired against his brother. ters. We have been unable, however, to .. .
contact' between Oswald and the Cuban
The Preparations to knock off Castro ,,,,,,a--
to any of them.
?d
Identity the next. link in the chain of government" but found no substance
iegan:iltiing the last months of the ,,,
-:isonhoW'er administration as part of Nevertheless, wholly reliable sources ,.,
. ' ,
'r----e gaY,of Pigs planning. President . insist that Robert Kennedy knew terview with Frank hi ankiewiez and
't 'lie Cuban m'emier himself, in an i a-
W1-; ennvdy, '!?wh he o inherited t fiasco,. about the plot against Castro and did
?
more Id ' friends afterward that he ' nothing to stop it. The intended tar- ,Kirby Jones, emphatically denied hav-
Nould,like "to splinter the CIA in a get, Fidel Castro, also knew about it. ,ing anything to. do with the Kennedy
,housand pieces and scatter it to the assassination.
f.Me assassination squad reportedly I ?it is .. .
' was apprehended on a Havana roof top man Oswald, who was involved in the
very interesting that this
N'itiiin range of Castro's movements, I
Instead, ' he - appointeV his . brother, !fibont March 1, 1963.' assassination, traveled to hlexico a few
he ?
' - months prior to the assassination and
i - T Cuban premier, in afi interview'
tobert, to oversee the CIA,, with in. ' '
tructions to shake if up,. Characteristi- with Associated Press corre lbassv to travel to Cuba, and he was
spondent? ' applied for a permit at the Cuban em-
ally, Robert began investigating the Daniet Harker the following Septem- ;
indercover operations from top to bot- ber, warned tbat U.S. leaders would ? .
not given the permit," said Castro.
.orn. His purpose was to prevent an- -find themselves in danger it' they at-- , But I ask myself why would a man
who commits such an act try to come
Aber Bay of Pigs. . tempted to do away with Cuban lead-
Ile- 'became. fascinated, - say our ers. I here. Sometimes we ask ourselves if
;ources;? with the CIA's covert activi- "United-States leaders should think -someone did not wish to involve Cuba
' ies.-.Eagerly,- he pursued the details that it they are aidiri s51011 that Kennedy's assassination was
a terrorist plans in this, because I am under the impres-
town- through the, lower levels. As one to eliminate Cuban leaders, they them- ?
.ource put it, "He was like a wide-eyed selves will not be safe," Castro told organized by reactionaries in the
athOolboy." Harker. ' stilt of a conspiracy . . . NVe have never ?
United States, and that it was all a re-
in the -process, he learned about the Two months later, President Ken-, believed in carrying?
,
out this type
tontioning. effort to eliminate Ca 'Ira, nedy was shot down in the streets of
to operation known inside lire CIA as Dallas. The accused assassin, Lee Hay- of activity of assassination of
adversaries." . --
the 'execittive action plan." In tact, vey Oswald, had been active in the'
itobert took a. special interest in the pro-Castro movement and bad traveled (tt; ili13. Una :d Feature. Inc.
to Mexico to visit the Cuban embassy
a few weeks earlier'.
The first person 'to reach Robert-
Kennedy's side after the shooting was"
CIA director John hIcCone, who re-
mained alone with Robert at his Mc- .
Lean, Va., home ? for. nearly three.
hours. All others, including Robeft's
. priest, were turned away. But McColl?
swore to us that. Castro's ,name was
never mentioned during the agonizing
three hours.
1/4....,) Other sources saY- that Robert,
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clhsion- for the next few nays, Al- --
though he bottled up his feelings, they .
090012-3
Approved For Release 2005/21J/21&I: C1AMP91-00901R
26 JULY 1975
Staaci,
STAT
00600090012-3
By M. STANTON EVANS
Liberal spokesmen voicing outrage i
I dent Rafael Trujillo of the Dominican ; ing outside of regular channels-ibis
about U.S. involvement in political ; Republic. Trujillo was gunned down on doesn't tell us whether elements of
assassinations have discovered that the ' a lonely highway May 30, 1961, six j the CIA were irnolved or not. The
. - t Kennedy group reportedly didn't "
.
issue is a twp-edged sword with cutting wee Ks ar a
power against their own political in- Cuba's Bay of Pigs. According to a re-
terests. e. ?
cent write-up in the New Republic, this,
- - ? too' was a CIA job' with apparent guid-
- As evidence on the 'subject is pie .need a_ ce from the highest levels.
-together, it appears that official encour-
agement of this unsavory practice In its June 28 issue, the New Republic faction, roost notably Hilsmari, envi-
? reached its high point, not unclerl reprints a 1963 dispatch detailing moves sioned the possible liquidation of Diem
Richard Nixon or even Lyndon John-1 by which the CIA allegedlY funneled with great equanimity. As noted by
Son, but under liberal favorite John F. i arms to Trujillo's assassins. In an nor. former Johnson aide John Roche, I his- ;
Kennedy. Indeed, the data made public,
i cornpanying up-date the magazine adds man sent a memo to Secretary of State '
so far on high-level plotting against the; that the original draft of the.1963 Piege Dean Rusk on Aug. 30, 1963, setting
rulers of other nations all concern the;
said ."President Kennedy knew of and forth a number of possible actions by ;
.
Kennedy years. Three episodes have' approved plans to bump off Tfujillo," Diem and recommended American I
,
recently been aired: - . I but that this reference had been.deleted. respohses. Among Other :things . thisl
/.. Maj. Gen. 'Edward Lansdale, a for-;
I The New Republic further relates that memo said:. .
, Time and the New York Post knew the
ni8r high-ranking official in the Penti-I story of the CIA's involvement but did
gon; has stated that in the summer of i
1962 Atty. Gen. Robert Kennedy or-- not print it.;
dered him to start a CIA project work- i The magazine says the manuscript
ing out all feasible plans for "getting! alleging CIA and Kennedy involvement
rid of" Cuban premier Fidel Castro.; in the Trujillo killing had first been sub-
Lansdale told the Washington Star that I Mined to liberal columnist William
Kennedy gave him this order outside i Shannon of the Post (now with the
_ the regular CIA chain of command, and j New York Times). The Post wasn't
that he relayed it to CIA official Wil- i buying, so Shannon passed the article
ham K. Harvey. . I along to the New Republic, suggesting
: 1 according to the author that the K rl-
The Star also reports that a former 1 nedy reference be excluded. The New
CIA official confirms Lansdale's state- Republic concludes that "relations be-
tween asserting that Kennedy went to i. the press and President Kennedy,.
Lansdale because the President and his i
brother mistrusted the leadership of the I everyone now recognizes in retrospect,were too chummy."
CIA. Lansdale said that Robert Ken-
. nedy did not use the word "assassina-I 3. Finally, there is little question that
want Diem killed, but the overthrow
they encouraged led directly to that
result..
Moreover, certain of the pro-coup
tion," but that there 'was little doubt the Kennedy regime was responsible for
foreign rulers targeted for extinction in I
"the project for disposing of Castro en- the overthrow and subsequent death of these reports were themselves anti- !
-visioned the whole spectrum of? plans President Ngo Dinh Diem of South ? Communists, and they happen to be the
from overthrowing the Cuban leader to Vietnam in November 1963. The es- two that wound up dead. -
I Sential facts on this one were reported
at the time by the late Marguerite Hig-
1 gins,.but were largely ignored until the
revelation of the Pentagon Papers and
' the recent -uproar about the CIA. In a
nutshell, Kennedy * and various of his
advisers- had become convinced Diem
should go, and gave the green light to
military plotters to stage a coup.
Pxincipal actors in this scenario
were President Kennedy himself,
Ambassador Henry Cabot Lodge,
and Assistant Secretary of State
Roger Ililsman. To their credit,
both Secretary of Defense Robert !
McNamara and CIA Director John I
McCone opposed the coup?though I.
sriase410061111/12111nPeilAPRD094-60'901R000600090012-3
-
"We should encourage the coup!
group to fight the battle to the end and
to destroy the palace if necessary to
gain victory;.. unconditional surrender
should be the terms for the Ngo family,:
since it will otherwise seek to outtna-:
neuver both the coup forces and the
U.S. If the family is taken alive, the
Nhus should be banished to France... ,
Diem should. be heated as `the generals
wish." a ?
? ? z' -? - -
The pattern emerging from- these
stories is not only shocking, it also
casts considerable doubt on. the theory ;
that such activities should be condoned !
on the grounds of "national security"
or anti-communism. Two of the three
-assassinating him."
Lansdale explained that the Ken,'
nedy contact came during the Cuban
missile buildup When there was
growing concern about the presence
of Soviet military advisers- and a
possible ICBM force on the island.
He added that he instructed Harvey
to prepare "contingency" plans for
"disposing of" Castro because he
wanted to know if the United States
had the capability for such an opera-
tion.
? - 2." It is reported that the Kennedy
regime, working both sides of the Carib-
bean, was also inyolved in as ?
nation of CastroTIBRfavhle,
THE '..TISHIkIGTON STIR
Approved For Release 2005/11/282VAMDFWV-4901
kg)
By Norman Kempster
Washington Star Starr Writer
Following a White House- meeting
with President John F. Kennedy in
1963, a Belgian Jesuit priest was
.given $5 million in under-the-table
CIA money to support anti-Commu-
nist labor unions throughout Latin
America and back the presidential
campaign of Edwardo Frei in Chile.
The incident was related by an
American Jesuit friend of Belgian
Rev. Roger Vekemans as an example
of the CIA's relations with mission-
aries and other overseas representa-
tives of religious groups. ? ?
The Rev. James Vizzard said he
was having lunch with Vekemans at
?
a restaurant near Dupont Circle
when a White House automobile pick-
ed up the Belgian for a meeting with
Kennedy, Atty. Gen. Robert F.
Kennedy, CIA Director John McCone
? and Peace Corps Director R. Sargent
Shriver.
?
AFTER VEKEMANS' session at?
the White House, Vizzard related,
"Roger came back with a big grin on
_ _
his face and he said, 'I got $10 million
?$5 million overt from AID (Agency,
for International Development) and:
, $5 million covert from the CIA." '
Vizzard said he has no reason to ?
believe that the CIA ever asked
Vekemans to do anything that he
would not have done anyway in at-
tempting to carry out orders from his
superiors in Rome to Support social
development in Latin America. It
was just a case of the CIA helping to ?
finance a program that fit in with the
agency's objectives. ,
. Almost from its inception in 1947,
the CIA has used religious groups
both as a source of information and
as a conduit for funds. CIA spokes-
men declined to discuss the CIA-
church connection in any detail but
other sources said the relationship
was prevalent in the 1950s and 1960s
at least. Some sources said it may be
used less frequently today.
?
SOURCES SAID the CIA dealt with
religious groups in Latin America,
Africa, Asia and elsewhere.
A spokesman for the Senate select
intelligence committee said the
Approved For Release
panel's staff is investigating cot
plaints that the CIA has had impro
er dealings with missionaries.
The spokesman said some of I
accusations resulted from CIA acth
ties in Bolivia. He said the charg
included "tapped phones, dossie
and improper use of priests."
? "The committee is interested
whatever it can get on this matte
the spokesman said. .
Dr. Eugene Stockwell, assista..
general secretary of the Nationa
! Council of Churches for overseas
missions, said he has personal knowl-
edge of two cases in which mission-
aries provided intelligence informa-
tion to the CIA. But he said they
occurred 14 years ago. ? -
000600090012-3
HOWEVER, Stockwell said his
organization is warning missionaries
that the CIA may try to contact them.
He said it is important that overseas
- churchmen not be gullible enough to
inadvertently provide information
to-
intelligence agencies. _ - ) ?
"I personally would hope
that missionaries would not
provide information of this
' kind," he said in a tele--
phone interview.
David A. Phillips, once
the chief of the CIA's Latin
Americans operations, re-
marked, "CIA people go to
:church, too." .
; "Over the past 25 years
in Latin America, CIA peo-
ple have been in contact to
mutual advantage with
some of the many fine
churchmen who work in the
area," said Phillips, who
has been attempting to re-
spond to criticism of the
agency since he retired
from active service earlier
this year.
"THIS DOES NOT sur-
prise or shock me," he
added. "On the contrary.
any information gathering
'organization would be-dere-
lict if it did not take advan-
tage of the in depth exper-
tise of American clerics
working in the area."
But Phillips insisted that
overseas contacts with nits- ;
2oo5ttinoryciAgmn -*on ROO
declined mrecent years. -
scruples a.out using reli-
gious figures.
._?
ACCORDING to the
Rockefeller Commission re-
port, the CIA routinely con-
'tacts American citizens re- -
turning from abroad to -
determine if they can pro-
vide useful information.
The commission said the
agency attempts to contact
all Americans except for
students and Peace Corps
volunteers._ .
- A CIA offic-ial confirmed
that there is no prohibition
on contacting missionaries,
either those who are taking
brief home leave or those
who are returning to the
United States to stay. He re-
fused to discuss specifics
but he left little doubt that
missionaries are routinely
asked for information.
The official emphasized
that in contacting returning
Americans, CIA representa-
tives always identify them- i
selves fully and stress that
the interview is voluntary..
NEVERTHELESS, some -
returning missionaries have
expressed shock at haying
been questioned by the CIA.
The CIA official said he
knows of :no instance in
which churchmen were
asked for information while
they were working in for-
eign countries.
But former State Depart- !
ment intelligence officer-
John Marks said such con-
tacts have been made.
Marks, a CIA critic who
is director of the CIA
project at the Center for
National Security Studies,.
0600090012-3
_ .
contrnued
THE WASHEIGTON STPR
Approved For Release 2005/1N2?-1AIRW91-00901R 00600090012-3
CIA-Mafia Effort?-.:,...
By Norman Kempster.
, Washington Star Staff Writer
A former high-ranking CIA official
says there were at least two separate
CIA-Mafia plots to kill Cuban Premi-
er Fidel Castro, one of them begin-
ning in 1960 and ending in 1961 and
the second beginning in 1962 and con-
tinuing at least until 1963.
Lawrence R. Houston, who was
CIA general counsel for 26 years
prior to his retirement in 1973, said
he informed former Atty. Gen. Rob-
ert F. Kennedy of the scheme in the
spring of 1962 at a time when he
thought it had been "aborted."
Houston said Kennedy, who appar-
ently was hearing of the plot for the
first time, angrily issued orders to
"break contact" with the Mafia
group that included Sam Giancaria
and John Roselli:
BUT DESPIte. Kennedy's order,
Houston said the plot was resumed
later in 1962 with a different CIA
"case officer" but the same group of
mobsters.
? Houston's account, told to a group
of reporters yesterday, filled in a few
of the blanks in what is known about
the _plan to kill Castro. But it left
An???????.ftri????
? Rep. Don Edwards
Quits CIA Probe Unit/
- Rep. Don Edwards has resigned
from the newly reconstituted House
committee investigating the CIA and
other intelligence-gathering federal
agencies.
Named to replace him on the 13-
member panel was Rep. William
Lehman, D-Fla. House Speaker Carl
Albert appointed Lehman to the va-
cancy yesterday.
Edwards, D-Calif., cited other re-
sponsibilities in connection with his -
Chairmanship of a Judiciary sub-
committee on civil and constitutional
rights for leaving the CIA commit-
tee.
Edwards was one of the most
-liberal members of the intelligence
committee, but took no public role in
the recent dispute that led last week
to a reorganization of the panel..
?
unanswered the most intriguing
question ? was the plot authorized by
former Presidents Dwight D. Eisen-
hower and John F. Kennedy, or did ,
the CIA act on its own?
- This is the chronology that Hous-
ton outlined: ? -
? In 1960, the final year of the Eisen-
hower administration, Sheffield
Edwards, former, head of the CIA's
office of security, contacted Gianca-
na and Roselli. Edwards was intro-
duced to the 'mobsters by Robert
Maheu, a former FBI agent and then
an aide to billionaire Howard
Hughes.
? Edwards worked out a plan to kill.
Castro with the mobsters. Of course,
this and subsequent plots were
unsuccessful
? Sometime in late 1961, the plot was
aborted. Houston said he does not
know who turned it. off.
? In the spring of 1962 ? Houston
said he thought it was in April ?
Houston and Edwards described the
plan to Robert Kennedy who had
been assigned by his brother, the
President, to ride herd on the CIA
following the Bay of Pigs debacle.
? Kennedy reacted angrily ta the
news that the CIA had dealt with the
Mafia. Kennedy was pushing strong
measures __,,aeainst organized crime
Approved For Refeastio2004/111:2 ale CIA-RIDP91409
that any government dealings with
STA1
STA1
organized crime might compromis
prosecutions.
? Sometime later in 1962 probably
August or September, the Mafia lin'
was re-established. This time th
"case officer" was William Harve3
Houston said Harvey asked Edward
for an introduction to Roselli but Ec
wards refused because of Kennedy'
admonition to avoid dealing with th
underworld. Houston said he hag n
way of knowing who reinstated th
plan. Houston said his only direct co,
nection with the plot was to accen
pany Edwards, who died recently,
while he reported on the matter firs
to Asst. Atty. Gen. Herbert J. Mill(
and later to Kennedy.
Houston said Kennedy was angt
about the use of the Mafia, althouf
"he didn't seem very perturbed"
the prospect of killing Castro.
The former CIA official sa
Kennedy admonished: "If you a.
going to have anything to do with ti
Mafia again, come to me first.
Houston said he informed Ge
Marshall S. Carter, then CIA deputy
.director, of the substancie of the re-
port to the attorney general. He said
he does not recall why that report
Went to Carter instead of CIA Direc-
tor John A. McCone, but he assumes.
it was because McCone was out of
town.
?MCCONE HAS said recently that
he knew nothing of the Mafia connec-
tion at:the time, although he learned
of it later. - . ? . ,
Retired Maj. Gen. Edward Lang-
dale, a counterinsurgency expert
with strong ties to the CIA, said in an
interview with The Washington Star
earlier this month that Robert
Kennedy directed him in 1962 to pre
pare contingency plans to "get rid
of"- Castro. He said he passed the in-
structions along to Harvey.
Lansdale recanted his account the
next day. He said Kennedy ,never
ordered him to plan to kill anyone
and that assassination "is not my
bag." In a subsequent intervfew,
Lansdale said he could not recall if
he had dealt with Harvey.
Lansdale's original story did not
explain how he could have launched'
the Mafia plot, which had begun two
years earlier. However, Houston's
version explains that Harvey did not
become involved until 1962.
Harvey and Roselli have both
testified in secret before the Senate.
select intelligence committee. Chair-
man Frank Church, D-Idaho, said
Wily ilatziycarkaritdi 7 Roselli.from ;
published accounts of the Mafia plot. it
THE T.LL'.5-:-,71;GTOIE STAR
Approved For Release 2005/1ii28j:561AilliD91-009,61RQ00,60
rhurch: A 'Very Raz-,-)1 Possiogiri
By Norman Kea-tipster
? Washington Star Staff Writer
Comparing the CIA to a "rogue ele-
phant on a rampage," the chairman
of the Senate Select Intelligence
Committee said yesterday it is possi-
ble the agency planned assassina-
tions without the knowledge or ap-
proval -of Presidents Dwight D.
Eisenhower or John F. Kennedy.
Atter the-committee questioned the
final witness in its two-month-long
investigation of CIA murder plots
abroad, Sen. Frank Church, D-Idaho,
said the evidence points to a "very
real -possibility" that the agency
acted Without White House approval. -
Eisenhower's son, former Ambas-
sador John Eisenhower, told report-
ers after testifying in the commit-
tee's Closed hearing that if his father ?
had heard of an assassination plan he
would have rejected it with "con--
tempt.' ?
?
- ? .
KENNEDY'S defense secretary;
. Robert S. McNamara, and national,
security adviser,. McGeorge-Bundy,
last week issued statements -that
Kennedy had never approved assas- ?
sination as an- instrument of foreign ?
policy.
Church said earlier that 'although
the committee has found "bard evi-
.dence"' that the CIA engaged in
assassination planning and in actual
murder attempts, there was no clear
evidence to link either Eisenhower or
Kennedy to the plans. ?
But Church said yesterday the evi-
' dence may show the CIA acted with-
out legal authority. - ?
"We have to face the very real
possibility that the agency may have
been behaving like a rogue elephant
'on a rampage," Church said. "But
rather than speculate on that, I think
the evidence will have to speak for it-
self. When the committee issues its
report, everyone will have an opPor-
tunity to review the evidence." ? -? '
Church has said the committee is
investigating assassination plots dur-
ing a period running from the closing
months of the Eisenhower adrninis-
trationuntil the early months of the
Johnson administration.
Underworld figure John Roselli 4
has told the committee of a Mafia-
CIA plan to kill Castro during that
period. . -
JOHN EISENHOVei.R, who was on
his father's White House staff, said
President Eisenhower's view of
assassination was that "it is a rather
poor way of running a business be-
cause you are going to make a mar-
tyr out of the other fellow if you do
something like that and no i.nan is
indespensible. Now, maybe some
would disagree that no man istinde-
spensible. but that certainly was his -
attitude." ? -
"It's like the empire says, it ain't?
nothing till I call it, and nothing came
to the.White House," Eisenhower
Said. ?. -? -
-.Former CIA Director Richard
Helms also appeared before the-
-Church committee yesterday but he
-refused-to talk to reporters after-
- ward.- ? ? -? ? ?
? . Helms said earlier that the CIA'
only- acts in response to the wishes of.
the White House.
Asked: about- Helms . statement,
John Eisenhower said his father was:-
never alone with the CIA director _
e"except for one short period of 10 -
? L. ? - ?
minutes." During all other meetings
with the CIA head, John Eisenhower
said, the President was accompanied ;
by aides unconnected with the agen-
cy.
ALTHOUGH the committee has- nht ?
began to write its report on assassi-
nations, it already has begun. to take ?
testimony on the next phase of its in-
quiry ? clandestine CIA attempts to .
manipulate events in other countries.. "
-The first example of clandestine
operations to be examined was. the
CIA effort to undermine the govern- t
merit of Mar:eist President Salvadcire
Allende of Chile. Allende died in a
coup that overthrew his regime in
1973_
- ? Church also said the committee-1
plaos to investigate illegal CIA mail
opehino,. He said that probably will !
be a topic to be considered when the
committee holds public hearings in
the fall. -
-
.."You know, we have to pot a ston .
to that," he said. "You know it is not
only illegal, it is outrageous."
The Rockefeller Commission re-
port said the CIA's mail-opening STAT
project was ended in 1973. ?
TECC)MMtI .O.LE plans to issue
an interimh report on assassinations
? later this Month or early in August_ '
Asked if there was a possibility
that assassinations were planned ;
without the knowledge of the CIA
director-by lower-level agency !
ployes, Chturch said, "That can best- -
. be answered when you have a chance ;
to review the evidence." -
Former- CIA Director'. John A.
McCone told the committee earlier
that he has found records of a plan to -
kill Cuban Pren-APpreckad-.Fartrafieibase 2005/11/28 : CIA-RDP91-00901R000600090012-3
he said he had not been informed of
the plot at the tin-ie. McCone said if
try,4,1"-ri nf the nlan_ he would
TI!..F2]
Approved For Release 2005M1titrtECW-FibP91-00
TI-IE CIA
The Assassination Pot. That 'Failed
Of all the charges of wrongdoing by
the Central Intelligence Agency, the most
distta bing are those that implitate the
agency in plots to assassinate foreign rul-
ers who were deemed inimical to U.S. in-
terests. Among the putative targets were
Con,,,olese Nationalist Leader Patrice-
Lumumba and Dominican Republic Dic-
tator Rafael Trujillo, who were assassi-
nated in 1961; South Viet Nam Presi-
dent Ngo Dinh Diem, who was murdered
in 1963; and Cuban Premier Fidel Cas-
tro. The allegations are being investigated
by a Senate committee, which last week
continued to question past and present
CIA officers about the alleged plots. At
TimEfs request, Charles JV. Murphy, a
former editor and Washington
correspondent of FORTUNE,
talked with his ion g-titne sourc-
es in the U.S. intelligence field
about the charges and sent this
- report:
?
The suspicion is that two
Presidents?Dwight Eisen-
hower and John Kennedy
?authorized or condoned foul
plots by the CIA to do in sev-
eral foreign leaders. Democrat--
ic Senator Frank Church of
Idaho, who heads the Senate
investigating committee, has
claimed to have "hard evi-
dence" of the agency's com-
plicity but nothing that would
implicate any President. Still,
in the singular relationship of
the agency to presidential au-
thority, evidence of a CIA as-
sassination plot would seem to
implicate one President or the
other, even both, unless, of
course, the CIA had become a
law unto itself. What the
Rockefeller commission report
revealed was in all likelihood
just the tip of the iceberg," ac-
cording to Church. The real
likelihood is that so far as the
actual assassinations are con-
cerned, there was never much
more to this floating body than
a deceptively shimmering tip.
Castro, however, was another
Fie ncney ecsioo of ,p,sT'.;
faction with three rifles. A group of se
en or eight men ambushed Trujillo o
the road from his house to the pres
dential palace. Whether any of the U.S
supplied rifles were used in the killin
has never been determined to the s
nior CIA men's satisfaction.
LUMUMBA. The Soviet Union su
ported him with money and arms in t
contest to take the former Belgian Co
go out of the West's orbit. While t
CIA supported President Molse Tshom
of Katanga against Lumumba, it had
part in Lumurnba's arrest and murd
by Katanganese soldiers. He was a c
snaky of African tribal politics.
DIEM. The coup against Diem w
IL I. U ST CATIOY
? ?
STAT
01R000600090012-3
r):).,.7-r!ON OF- Ct.13,5.",;iThDO CAST:4.0:6 fA !+C;T7T
7;es th P,,,hcfps
l'UJILLO. former senior
officers of the CIA maintain that neither
the agency nor Presidents Eisenhower
or Kennedy had anything directly to do
with the dictator's death. Officials in the
American embassy had tried to per-
suade Trujillo to resign to end the do-
mestic unrest that the U.S. feared might
make the country r.k) CRrEnvi.6.11-ri
They had also beer!' t yui(R! 15w!ca
with leaders of the political opposition
and as a. token of the American interest
thy man io Havarit-tl-tot cold feet.
planned with the knowledge of Dean
Rusk and Averell I iarriman at the State
Department, Robert S. McNamara and
Roswell Cillpatric at the Defense De-
partment and the late Edward R. Mur-
row at the U.S. Information Agency.
The U.S. hoped Dicm's overthrow would
0 00 0' turrui
int had weak-
N.DP9tig(1901
rector, John A. MeCone, vigorously op-
posed the overthrow of Diem on the
. t
Office of Security. Edwards
passed the idea on to Deputy
Director for Plans Richard M.
Bissell Jr.
He instructed Edwards to
explore the feasibility of the
project. For help, Edwards
turned to a former FBI agent
and later Howard Hughes as-
sociate, Robert A. Maheu.
Maheu, then a private consul-
tant and investigator,. was be-
lieved to have a line to Mafia
interests that had operated
gambling casinos in Havana.
Through the connection. Ed-
wards sought to find out
whether the Mafia could pro-
duce, if need be, a man in Ha-
vana in a position to liquidate
Castro.
Through Chicago Mafia
Chieftain Sam Giancana, who ;
was murdered last week in his
suburban Chicago home, and
his lieutenant, John Roselli.
the CIA recruited a gangster re-
puted to be in Castro's entou-
rage of bullyboys. In late Sep-
tember Bissell and Edwards
informed Director-Allen Dul-
les of the results of their ten-
tative explorations. Bissell
maintains that his discussion
with Dulles was in the most
general terms: he was merely
eneotie.v,,e1e.st the grotind
ferti!er.
Inc medical section of the
CIA produced some exotic pills and even
'fixed- a box of fine Havana cigars. The
cigars seem never .to have left the lab-
oratory, but the 'pills were turned over
to the Mafia. The would-be assassin was
to have been paid 5150.000 if he suc-
ceeded, some earnest money, -.a few
thousand dollars,- was turned over to
R0906000911012T3c1 Roselii expected
something more important than money:
both were under investigation by the De-
.,
NATIONAL GUARDIAN
Approved
live a little, Fiotior Release 209?/t1/28 :191*RDP91-00901R000600090012-
_ protect a
related materials included the names of more than 300,000
persons and organizations, which were entered into a
Li I
repr : intelligence abroad on any. _foreign connections with
computerized index."
American dissident groups. In order to have sufficient
"Operation CHAOS used a number of agents to collect
"Commencing in 1969," the report then adds,
'cover' for these agents, the operation recruited persons
from domestic dissident groups or recruited others and
, instructed them to associate with such groups in this
t.
country."
There in brief is official confirmation of a fact the
left has long maintained: the CIA is a secret police
organization that, contraty to the law and its own charter,
C - sty I e aims its reactionary activity against the people's
movements at home as well as abroad. Other related
exposes in the report include the following:--.4 The CIA has employed wiretaps, burglaries, buggings
,
and the illegal use of tax records against dissident
y CARL DAVIDSON' - , . .. _____ ----
- ? - - Americans. , ? ?
Nelson Rockefeller pulled off one of the biggest "dirty ? The CIA illegally "intercepted" more than 4 million
-icks" of them all last week with the release of his official pieces of mail a year from the Soviet Union and China over
sport on the Central Intelligence Agency.. '' several years, opening and photographing tens ? of
The vice president's-"`Commission on CIA Activities thousands of them in the pmcess. -
Vithin the United States" confirmed many of the charges 'The CIA maintained a "drug-testing" program over a
-lade in recent exposes of the agency and pointed out that 10-year period to determine the usefulness of various
:s massive domestic spying activities, conducted by a substances in breaking the mental resistance of its targets.
ceret division canes "Operation- CHAOS," was mainly One agent killed himself after being administered a dose 1
1
imed at insurgent movements of the American people. of LSD without his knowledge.
Nonetheless, the commission did an overall whitewash ' ? The CIA maintained a system of monitering telephone !
DI) on the CIA, especially in covering up its role in political I says between individuals here and in Europe and Latin i
-ssassinationt. In addition,. the panel urged the Ford-America . s., - -- - - -- - - -- -- ---
_chninistration to implement a bevy of "reforms" that -....-;?.- The CI:A-develo-Ped illegal relationships with several.
would strengthen and expand the power of monopoly ?local police departments, which included training
-apitai's secret police?all in the guise of rectifying the -programs in intelligence work, routine payment of
2-IA's mistakes and "Protecting" the People's democratic "gratuities," the '''lending" of CIA agents and equipment
for police work and the use of police officers during CIA
"Whenever the activities of a government agency break-ins.
named its authority," states the summary of the 299:-page ? The CIA established over a period of 20 years an
eport, "individual liberty may be impaired. Individual agreement with the Justice Department which exempted
lberties likewise depend on maintaining public order at any CIA agent from criminal investigation or prosecution.;
aome and in protecting the country against infiltration -. ,
7rom abroad and alined attack." , , v' - ' GIVE A urnz, SAVE A LOT - t
Public scepticism in the wake of the Watergate affair, - The disclosure of these items more than confirms the,
lowever, was a key factor compelling the panel to exposures of the agency initiated by the New York Times ?
substantiate many of. the- "domestic spying" charges. late last year. At the same time to curb further ,
What are the charges that have been confirmed? Those revelations, the Ford administration is brazenly indulging ?
sontnined in the report alone 'reveal that-the CIA -today in a well-worn ploy of the Nixon White House?giving up a -
r.annot measure up to the' claims made at its founding in little to protect a loti - - I
.
1947 when, stated the panel, "Congress sought to assure "There are aspects of this material that should never be '
the American public that it was not establishing a secret permitted to comes out," said a White House staff
oolice which would ,-threaten the civil liberties . of, member, commenting in the June 23 Newsweek on
Americans. If specifically forbade the CIA from exercising l information that had turned up "independently of the
'police, subpena, or law enforcement powers or internal commission." s ? _
security functions." -, , s , , - , "Only the tip of the iceberg" was the phrase used by
- , _ Sen. Frank Church (D Idaho) head of the Senate team
MASSIVE DOMESTIC SPYING invegtigating the agency, after reading the report. This
But at the center of the commission's minimal was also backed up by Newsweek, which noted that an
"criticisms" of the CIA is its account of "Operation , "expert estimate" said the panel had focused on "no more
CHAOS,' the agency's label for its massive and secret than 5 or 6% of the CIA's activities."
domestic spying operation revealed in part by the-New Eyen the items admitted in the report were constrained.
York Times six months ago. _ - ' "It left details undetailed and names unnamed," said
i
"Operation CHAOS" was established in August 1967 in Newsweek. "It entrusted the work of reform largely to the
order to combat the "growin' g domestic disorder" of the 1 agency itself and to the White House?often collaborators
Black-liberation struggle and the antiwar and student in the 'abuses of the past."
movements, says the report, and "it resulted in the The "work of reform," however, is the most insidious
accumulation of considerable material on domestic aspect of the panel's report. Its aim is to shore up ands
dissidents and their activities." _ .1 strengthen the CIA. The agency's main task?the export
"During six years," it PNItOrClaresi rtilP FttPlUattn2CitariihrvOtWOlitrie the report
pool2 -3
compiled some 13,000 different files, including files on an is_viewell a 1 ,
7200 American citizens. The documents in the a
se files and
__ ... , . t ontinue-d,
Approved For Release 2005/11/28 : CIA-RDP91-00
elv
iii
By Tad Szulc
"... The commission may have found out?a
that the CIA had planned to murder Chin
The politics of assassination is a rela-
tively new phenomenon in American
politics. But it is a political weapon
with two cutting edges. One is the sim-
plc act of assassination for political
purposes at home and abroad. The
Warren commission decided, for ex-
ample, that Lee Harvey Oswald acted
alone when he killed John Kennedy
in Dallas, but it could not rule out
the possibility that Oswald was politi-
cally motivated. Similarly, it is as-
sumed that Sirhan Sirhan had some po-
litical motivation in shooting Bobby
Kennedy in Los Angeles in 1968. And
to plot the death of foreign leaders---
Premier Castro of Cuba, say?is to
make a political decision, whether the
plotting is done by elected officials of
the U.S. government or at the Central
Intelligence Agency.
The other cutting edge of the politics
of assassination is the use of knowledge
of assassinations, or assassination plots,
to damage past and present govern-
ments. Who gains depends on who
is playing this game. One thinks of the
attempt by E. Howard Hunt, the con-
victed Watergate "plumber," to falsify,
while working in the Nixon White
House, a series of telegrams to show
that President Kennedy had ordered
the assassination of South Vietnam's
President Diem in November, 1963.
The politics of assassination is
clearly the legacy of murders and at-
tempted murders of national leaders
.reaching back to the cold War era of
the 1950's. The plots against Castro,
the deaths of John and Robert Kennedy
?we have become accustomed to mys-
teries, accustomed to conclusions with
loose ends untied.
In the past five months, the politics
of assassination has been on view in
the handling of charges that the CIA
plotted political .murder in pursuit of
presumed American foreign-policy ob-
jectives. In these months, the conduct
of the Rockefeller commission, whose
duty it became to look into these
charges, had at least one decidedly po-
litical aspect. While the commission fi-
nally?chose not to get to the bottom of
the assassination charges, it appeared
to have tolerated enough leaks to the
media to suggest that if there were any
CIA murder plots, they were hatched
at the direction of John and Bobby
Kennedy.
The politics of assassination, as
played in Washington today, is espe-
cially obvious in the running contro-
versy between the Rockefeller commis-
sion, chaired by Vice-President Nelson
Rockefeller, who has not ceased to run
for president in seventeen years, and
the Senate Select Committee on In-
telligence Activities, headed by Frank
Church of Idaho, a potential Demo-
cratic presidential candidate in 1976.
Rockefeller's commission refused,
finally, to report On the subject despite
an extra two months' time allotted to
it by President Ford for this purpose.
Church, whose painstaking investiga-
tion is very much centered on assassina-
tions, says that he has "hard evidence"
of CIA murder plots.
, The Rockefeller commission's ham:
dling of foreign assassinations is, in
fact, a kind of classical case study in the
politics of assassination. Its decision to
skirt the whole subject because "time
did not permit a full investigation" im-
mediately became a burning political
issue, with both the While House and
the Rockefeller panel being charged
with a cover-up.
Ford, to be sure, prornised to give
the materials on assassinations gathered
by the commission to appropriate con-
gressional committees and to the attor-
ney general for further investigation.
But the real outcome of this maneuver-
ing was that the presidential commis-
sion was spared the necessity of address-
ing itself to the hottest, and the most
politically dangerous, aspects of the CIA
inquiry. When the Church committee
01R000600090012-3
presents its conclusions, probably early
in 1976, the White House might well
accuse the Democratic majority ? of
playing politics with assassination in
an election year. This, the White House
might well hope, could defuse the dan-
ger posed by Church's investigation.
The politics of assassination is also a
vicious circle.
The whole CIA affair to date prob-
ably did nothing to enhance the stature
of Nelson Rockefeller in terms of his
vice-presidential (if not presidential)
ambitions in 1976. As a congressional
observer remarked last weekend, "The
CIA investigation may turn out to be
Rockefeller's political Bay of Pigs."
Why Ford should have saddled Rock-
efeller with the investigation in the
first place is a reasonably interesting
Approved For Release 2005/11/28: CIA-RDP91-00901R000600090012-3
65 NEW YORK/JUNE 23, 1975 Photographed by Peggy Barnett
,etet
Qe,
VIA51-11:ITGlint; STA-R
Approved For Releas020b#17f1/12CIA-RDP91-009
9
er
izool 4 a st
Uti LOIS
2y 'Norman Kempster But Nesssen said Ford. BUT McCONE did not
Washirigion Star Staff Writer was also concerned at news ? say who had granted the ,
reports, of bits and pieces of authority, which he said ?
3enate investigators, the evidence the White, was prior to his tenure .as
aY recalled CIA Director
House is assembling con-, CIA chief.
ham Colby for more cerning CIA-sponsored ? The House CIA investiga-
esaions ,about assassina- assassination plots. tion reached a deadlock
-n plots as the House
eggled to find a way. NESSlPni said that when Monday when the House
overwhelmingly refused to
-ough the internal im- information is provided "by accept Neclzi's resignation
sse that has blocked the dribs and drabs, the people as chairman as had been.
art of its intelligence
get a not-complete version demanded by a majority-of
-obe.' of what went on." the Democrats on the corn-
The Senate committee 1 Roderick Hills, the presi- mittee.
ard Colby as its first wit- ; dentia l counsel who is han- The Matter was referred
-ss last month, but it de- dling the White House CIA
.'str,d to question him again to the Rules Committee
investigation, said yester- after Rep. B.F. Fisk, pt
ter taking testimony from.
-reter directors John
_cCone and Richard
elms.
ut as the Senate investi-
-.tion continued under
tt secrecy rules, House -
oy.clers searched for a
essible compromise in a .
hter dispute between Rep. '-
aecien Nedzi, D-Mich.,
:airman of its Select Corn- !
eintee on intelligence, and ?
_ majority of the Demo-.
on the committee.
AT THE REQUEST of
?louse Speaker Carl Albert,"
.he House Rules Committee -
as temporarily postponed
:.onsideration of a resolu-1
nen that would abolish the.
eteiligence committee and i
;reap the whole investiga-
An aide.to Albert said the :
eaker hoped to work out 1
Ttn agreement that would
tesolve the dispute without 1
steolishing the committee.
Albert reportedly '
that cancellation of the
ee-oteigatien would be con-
cover-:) of CIA
.dent ?
spokesmae indicane
White House is also _
" eening sensitive to-
ee-up cht rges.
sugl.,,estion that this
ij trying to hide'
:cotbinz just doesn't add
1R000600090012-3
He said foreign agents'
are "developing consider-
able political and economic
information" as a result of
an increasing number of
contacts with members cif
Congress and their staffs,
many of which "are of a
clandestine nature" in
which the agent poses as an
official of a .foreign govern-
ment.
SUCH CONTACTS con-
trast with actual infiltra-
tion, in which a foreign-
day his staff is conducting a; Calif., introduced a resolu- agent would seek to recruit
a congressional staff mem-
"top-to-bottom" search Of: tion to dissolve the commit-
National Security Council tee. ber to gather and pass
- along information, he said.
records of U.S. policy in the Albert asked a delay in His comment- was on a
Caribbean.. 1 the hope of working out a Scripps-Howard news serv-
? Hills . declined t? -saY ; compromise, although both idle- report that the Rocke-
whether the assassination Nedzi and the dissident feller commission in the
of Cuban Premier Fidel ; Democrats indicated that .course of its lni;estig,ation
Castro had been cliscusssed i
, an agreement was doubtful. t of the CIA reenneed evf-
in the NSC. But he said the Meanwhile, the House . dence that Soviet-bloc
entire history of NSC t-.1c- . Ethics Committee met agents may have infiltrated
tions between 1959 and 1963-., briefly to consider the case congressional office or .
was relevant to the investi-
. ; of one of Nedzi's most out- committee staffs.
gation. , e
spoken critics, Re5.-11;11i- A White House official
"If you look at the NSCI
minutes over lout years you! chael Harringnon, D-Mass. with access to evidence
turned up by the commis- -
could determine who was:
responsible for what," Hills i THE -HOUSE Armed sion denied the report, say-
aid. 1 Services Committee voted in g "there is absolutely no
s
McCone said - following., Monday .to deny Harrineton evidence" of infiltration of
his appearance before. the; classified information be- Congress by the KGI.3, the
Senate Intelligence Corn- cause he had discussed in Soviet intelligence
mittee that he had - found- public supposedly secret organization.
Sen. Barry Goldwater. R-
evidence that the CIA had, testimony concerning a CIA
Ariz., a member of the Sect-
planned an attempt on Cas- plot to destabilize the gov-
tro's life under "authority" ernment of the late Presi- ate Select _ Intelligence
granted in the closing ? dent Salvador Allende .of Committee, raised the issue
months of the Eisenhower. Chile. Sunday when he said that
administration and early in- Commift.ae s'ources indi- ; he hoped the panel would
investigate reports he had
the Kennedy aclministra- Cated a tifiblic hearing i
tion. probably will be held, but ' received frorn "very, very
no date Was set. good sources" of such infil-
. A hi7,h-ri-Ant;ing FBI ?fit, tration
cml, :viaeanwl-i.ile, :said for-
.:--::1 intrillliz,::ic:i a?-i,--nts
becorrii:-..:?, -i-asia.4;y oc-
tive on Capitol Hill but have
not succc:erted in infiltrating
any c,on!:,,re..--zional rf iir-t-Th'. .
"We law2: no indication of
any rt teal infiltration,"
Jam's 1i. :s.d.ir,-.s, denaty
associate C.i-cctor, eaici in a
Press tectretaitt? Ron- telrplliii iii.nrview yoster-
,:;en said ),,sterdayApproved For Release 200541128114'CIAIRt094-016961R000600090012-3
Ila];;I'!: anyLhing to teporte'cl.
-,..'asn't i.v.-fil'il in
STA
STAT
-?:"A H Tl'IGTON STAR
5 juTE 1975
Approved For Release 2005111128: CIA-RDP91-0090
0
e
By David Wise
A former director bf the Central
Intelligence Agency, John A.
McCone, was in town a few days ago
and remarked to reporters that Fidell
Castro's assassination, or "liquida-
tion or disposal, I've forgotten the
exact words," was discussed at a
high-level meeting that he attended
while CIA chief in 1962.
These little details are difficult to ,
recall, especially after the passage.of
so much time, but McCone's com-
ments demonstrate how casually thei
subject of political murder has enter-
ed the mainstream of public debate
in America, a nation that likes to
think of itself as the moral leader of
free men everywhere. And, although
the matter of alleged CIA assassina-
tions of foreign political leaders was
deleted from the Rockefeller commis-
sion report handed to President Ford
last week, the subject will not go
away.
The Rockefeller commission's 299-
page paperback report, bound in
baby blue, makes fascinating read-
ing, but it ,would have to be rated PG.
The really good version, including
the X-rated material, has not been
released by the President.
Ford explained it this way at his
press conference last Monday night:
"Because the investigation of the po-
litical assassination allegations is
incomplete, and because the allega-
tions involve extremely sensitivei
matters, I have decided that it is noti
in the national interest to make pub-i
lie material relating to these alIegaj
tions at this time." Instead, Ford
said; he was sending the classified
assassination material to .the Senate
and House committees investigating
the CIA and other intelligence agen-
cies; in addition all of the data gath-
ered by the commission will go to the
Justice Department for possible
criminal prosecution of individual
law-breakers.
In effect, Ford was dumping the,
explosive assassination issue in the.
lap of Sen. Frank Church, D-Idaho1.
chairman of the Senate panel. This.
could be seen as a fairly shrewd liticaimove by Ford, for it was a way.
. for a Republican president to trans-
fer a nettlesome problem from the:
White House to a committee and as.
Congress controlled by Democrats.
In fairness to Ford, however, there
was also some administrative logic to
AtilAkietleF0
his action, since the
panel was originally established last
January to investigate CIA domestic
transgressions, not its actions over-
seas.
? A strong counter-argument, of.
course, is that if the commission has.
solid evidence of CIA assassination!
plots or actual killings, the informa-
tion ? even if incomplete ? should
be made public. The President's fail-
ure to do so inevitably raises the
question of a cover-up, an unpleasant
issue coming so soon after Water-.
gate.
But the great irony of all this, lost
to some extent in the controversy
over the CIA and the. Rockefeller re-
port, is that President Ford himself
was responsible for the news leak
that created the current political
furor over assassinations.
What turned into a comedy of
errors began on Jan. 16, when the
President lunched privately with Ar-
thur Ochs Sulzberger, publisher of
the New York Times, and several of
the newspaper's senior editors from
New York and Washington. Ford was
asked why he had appointed so many
establishment figures to the Rocke-
feller commission. He replied, off the
record, that he had chosen reliable
types because he did not want the
commission to go too far and get into
the area of assassinations.
Bound to secrecy by the rules that
permit press and government to re-
late to each other in something short
of total anarchy, the newspaper, al-
though agonized by the position in
which it found itself, did not print the
story. But journalists are terrible
gossips ? it is in the nature of their
work ? and before long the story
found its way to the sharp ears of
Daniel Schorr of CBS News, who
broadcast a version of Ford's private
comments on Feb. 28.
Thus began a spate of news stories
about alleged CIA assassination
plots, ? especially those directed at
Fidel Castro. Some of these accounts
reported that the CIA had hired
Mafia figures to murder the Cuban
leader. These stories, in turn, gener-
ated other stories speculating that
President John F. Kennedy might
have been assassinated on Castro's
orders, in retaliation for alleged CIA
'plans to kill Castro.
. Reporters began dogging Vice
President Rockefeller's footsteps, de-
manding to know --whether the
commission would investigate CIA
assassination allegations. At first,
tf,utis unwelcome
011436, bocAtiRDni
'44'6640
assign
;
P d
he confirm
would at least explore toe
aspect of alleged assassination plots
by CIA. That left the odd impression,
never entirely clarified, that the
panel would confine itself to studying
only any murder plots hatched within
the United States ? at CIA headquar-
ters in Langley, Va., for example, or
in Miami against Castro.
The same day, the story came ful.
circle for President Ford. At a news
conference in Indiana, he acknowl-
edged that he had discussed the sub-,
ject of assassinations with Vice-
President Rockefeller. Ford added:'
"I condemn any. CIA involvement in
any assassination planning or ac-
tion."
In April, former CIA director Rich-
ard Helms emerged from a long
interrogation by the Rockefeller
commission and snapped "Killer
Schorr" at the CBS newsman, i.vho
was waiting outside the hearing
room. "As far as I know," said
Helms, "the CIA was never responsi-
ble for assassinating any foreign
leader."
R000600090012-3
Despite this and other official deni-
als, there have .been recurrent, pub-
lished reports of CIA assassination
involvement for years; one of the
astonishing aspects, of the current
controversy' is how long it has taken -
for the matter to become a political
issue.
? Item: In 1967, in the book The
Espionage Establishment, Thomas
B. Ross and I reported that when
Castro visited New York City in 1960;
a CIA agent told New York police
that the agency had devised a plan to.
plant a box of special cigars where
Castro might smoke one: when he
did, it would explode and blow his.
head off. But the CIA man explained-
the plan would not be carried out.
tai Item: in August 1970, when the
Kennedy Library in Waltham, Mass.,
was opened to scholars, the New
York Times published a F,tory based
on a taped interview with former
Sen. George A. Smathers, a Kennedy
friend. Smathers said he had more
than once talked with President
Kennedy about "assassination of.
Fidel Castro, what would be-the reac-
tion, how would the people react,
would the people be gratified."
Smathers said Kennedy "was certain
it_could be accomplished," but
M9111Momoosooliaz-she Presi-
continued
STA
BALTIMOHE TIS AMErtICAN
13 JUNE
Approved For Release 2005/11/28 :-'CIA-RDP91-00901R0006
JACZi ANDERSON with LES WMTTEN
Govt. Guests And CIA
CIA COVERUP: Former CIA chief John
McCone now has acknowledged a story he
denied to us more than four years ago. ?
In January, 1971, we reported that the
CIA had recruited two underworld figures,
Sam Giancana and John RoseIli, to plan the
assassination of Cuban Premier Fidel
Castro.
He identified their CIA contacts as Wil-
liam Harvey and James "Big Jim" O'Con-
nell. The CIA was put in touch with the
underworld triggerman, we reported, by.
billionaire Howard Hughes' former Nevada
honcho, Robert Maheu.
The plotters are now being hauled be-
hind closed doors of the Select Senate Intel-
ligence committee to tell what they know.
McCone emerged after three hours of ?
secret testimony to admit cautiously to the .
press that plots, indeed had been sanctioned
to kill Castro.
This was the opposite of what he told us. -
in 1971. "No plot was authorized or imple-
_
merited" to. assassinate Castro, he told us. -
We went ahead with the story anyway, and
now McCone has acknowledged we were
right.
"The plot to knock off Castro," we re-
ported on Jan. 18, 1971, "began as part of
the Bay of Pigs operation. The '.r.tent was to
eliminate the Cuban dictator before the
motley invaders landed on the island_ Their
arrival was expected to touch off a general
uprising, which the Communist militia
would have had more trouble putting down
without the charismatic Castro to lead
them."
Yet even after the Bay o: Pigs, we re-
ported, ass-assination teams continued to try'
to eliminate Castro until the end of Febru-
ary, 1963. "Nine months later," we rsned,
? "President: Kennedy was gunned down ia -
Dallas by Lee Harvey Oswald, a fanatic
who previously had agitated ',at- Castro in :
New Orleans and had made a mysterious
trip to the Cuban Embassy in Mexico City."
Among those privy to the CIA conspira-
cy, there is still'a nagging suspicion ? un- .
supported by the 1.1;arren Commisslon's -
findings ?that Castro became aware cif the
U.S. plot upon his life and sc-,n7ellow recruit-
ed Oswald to retaliate aga?.73:-. President
Kennedy.
The Senate committee is investigating
also this intriguing possi5ilty that the CIA
attempt to kill Castro ma hr:e bac'Kf.recl
against President Kennecly 11 Dallas.
No less than the ;ate Pr dent's broth-
er, Robert, and successor, Lyndon Johnson,
were deeply conscious of this unproved
090012-3
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THE WASHINGTON POST
Approved For Release 2005/34/2E1`181AW15P91-00901ROOC
By Jack An dors?
and Les Whitten
CIA Cover-tp?Fi;nnt:r CIA1
chief John McCone has now'ac-
knowledged a story he denied to
us more than four years ago.
.In January. 1971, we n ported;
that the CIA had recruited two
underworld figures, Sam Gian-
cana and -John Roselli, to plan
the-assassination-of Cuban-Prez
mier Fidel Castro.
We identified their CIA con-
tacts as William Harvey and
James (Big Jim) O'Connell. The
CIA was put in touch with the
underworld triggermen, we re-
ported, by billionaire Howard
Illic:hes' former Nevada honcho,
Robert NI alieu. ?
The plotters are now being
hauled behind closed doors of
the se/et Serate intelligence
committee to tell what they
know.
McCone emerged after three
hours of secret testimony to a.-1-
mit cautioosly to the press that
1:?lots. indeed, had been sane-
Lion( to kill Castro.
Tilis was the opposite of what
he told us in 1571. "No plot was.
ltithorized or implemented" to
assa,sinate Castro, he told us..
We went ahead with the story
anyway. and mr.v MeCone has:
acknowl,,.!..c.,d we were
"l tie plot to knock off Cast i o,";
we reported on Jan. 13, 10"1,i
-began as part of the ayo:
operation. The intent was to
eliminate the Cuban dictator
before the motley invad crs
landed on the i:;land. Their.ar-i
rival was expect.zd to touch off a:
general uprisilg. which the
Communist militia would have;
hal more trouble putting dv.r....n
witi!out the charism:?:tic. Ca: Nt
to 1?:?i:d them."
Yet even of.ter the Bay of Pigs,
we reported. assa,3siimtion
team-. continuod to try to eii
iii-
nato Ctro until t!..n end of Feb-
ruary. 1.z3. Nine months lat-
er." we noted. "President Ken.
necl ta,s gunned down in Dar
la,by Lee Harvey 0:.o.vald. a fa?
rat;e v. h., previously h7ici agi
[mu: fk;:- Castro in New On arts
made a mysterwas tri
to the. Cuban Embassy in Me::ico
City."
Among those priri the CIA
conspirt.cy,.there:is st,.lt a nag-.
ging suspicion?unsupported by
the Warren Commisiion.s find.;
ings-:-that Castro becarrie aware!
of the U.S. plot upon hi 3 life and i
somehow recruited Oswaid tai
retaliate against President Ken-
nedy.
The Senate coin mittEe is also;
investigating thi-3 intriguing!
possitility that the CIA
terapt3 to kill Castro may have;
backfired against President
Kenn:. dy in Dc,ilas.
Nc less than the late PreF.i-;
Mother, Ilo!)ert?
cr.23si,r, Lyn1011 Johrsi. v erf..' ?
deel:?Y consci?Jiis of
prov?2t.
1.9;5. UnitCti Fea Ive Sy .:2
STAT
600090012-3
Approved For Release 2005/11/28 : CIA-RDP91-00901R000600090012-3
Approved For Release 2003/1Al?2tg.,
11 JUNE 1975
Del2y on CIA Report.
Raises Credibility !ssue
BY ROBERT L. JACKSON
Times Staff Writer
WASHINGTON?President Ford tstand the -footwork that seems to be
Friday received a 350-page report .;:taking place right now. I'd rather not
from the Rockefeller commission ;:speculate on the motivation or the
with recommendations on the Cen- ;reasons for it." ?
? tral Intelligence Agency and a sepa- e. Church, described as 'strange" the
rate packet of "investigative mated:. ;possibility that the Rockefeller report
als" on the CIA's alleged role in as- ;fwould be withheld from the public.
sassination plots. ? "It is my purpose to make a; public
The report, .representing a five- 1:11.sclosilre of all the facts that come
month investigation by the blue-rib- -;`?to our (the Senate coinmittee's) at-
bon panel headed by Vice President lention," Church said. _ ? -
Rockefeller, is understood to focus on Meanwhile, former CIA Director
the CIA's future role and on charges ;'John A. McCone told reporters that
that ic engaged in illegal domestic . there were "certain actions . which
spying. .Nvere either planned or some actually
In acceptine? the report, Mr. Fond ;undertaken" against the life of Cuban
said it would help assure "that we :.Premier Fidel Castro ;in the early
end up with a CIA and an intel- 1960s.
ligence community that will do an ;!- 3,IcCone, after testifying for three
excellent job for the future of this hours at a closed session of Church's
country and at the same time ensure 'cornmittee, said that anti-Castro ?per-
' the privacy of individuals." .;ations. had been approved "both at
White House officials said they ext '; the close of the Eisenhower adminis-
pected the report to be made public. tration and the early part of the Ken-
in several days. ; ?-pedy administration." But he added:
..The issue of alleged plans for asses- , ;-.1.1 don't know the source of the au-
sinations in foreign countries was Nit ;
dealt with in the report itself because thority."
He confirmed that in August, 1962,
the commission decided that it coulct ::iop Kennedy administration officials
not do a thorough enough job in the
?including Secretary of State Dean
time allotted, Rockefeller said. ;Rusk and Secretary of Defense
However, stripping the report of :Robert S. McNamara?had discussed
the assassination material or refusing . but dismissed the possibility of asses-
to make it public clearly will raise ,
einating Castro.
questions of credibility, not only :
about the commission and its report But a high Defense Department of-
but about the motives of the Ford;
:ticial subsequently wrote a memo'
Administration.
:providing the CIA With authority to
Sen. Frank Church (D-Ida.), begin . ?
y planning
man of the Senate Select Committee ?
possible assassination of Castro, Mc-
on Intelligence Activities, criticized
;Cone said. He said this memo had ;
the Rockefeller commission for
; been "erroneous" and "was changed
avoiding the assassination issue.
"Clearly the Rockefeller commis-;
Church disclosed later that he had :-
sion had a choice," said Church. It
lence, linking the CIA to plots
could deal with the assassination
aaaainst foreig-n leaders other than
issue or duck it. Evidently it hasde-
cided to duck it." '?Castro. ?
"The assassination problem is not
He said he did not "quite under;
- confined to Mr. Castro," he told re--
-.porters.
. Church said he. was not sure
'whether former President John F. ?
. Kennedy and former Atty.- Gen.
'Robert F. Kennedy had been in-
VOL'ved in planning foreign assassina--
Oil S.
-; 'The evidence is quite confusing on
STAT
litilgt1-00901R000600090012-
this question," Church said.
Speaking to newsmen, Rockefelle
said: "We did not feel we had the ful
Story (of the alleged as-s.assinatioi
plots) that would give us the basi
for making conclusions." He said i
was a "reasonable assumption" tha
the Senate CIA committee?but no
the public?would have access to tie
raw data on this subject that hat
been turned over to Mr. Ford.
That material is said to includt
staff interviews with former CIA offi
cials and others, as well as Justice
Department files bearing on reports
that the CIA cooperated with Mafia
figures in getting intelligence out of
Cuba prior to the ill-fated Bay of Pigs
'invasion and in planning attempts tc
kill Castro in the early 1960s.
The Mafia figures, who had operat-
ed lucrative gambling casinos in Ha.
vana before Castro came to power .
reportedly worked with the CIA be-
cause they hoped that they would be
able to resume gambling operations it
Castro were ousted and because they
wanted to recover more than $450,-
000 in cash they had left in Cuba. At -
the time, they were under investiga-
tion by the Department of Justice.
In his remarks to reporters, Rocke- ?
feller rejected newsmen's suggestions
that withholding evidence from the
public on the assassination question
would be viewed as a coverup.
The CIA report originally was to
have been made public this weekend, -
and, because of comments by Rocke-
feller and coriniLssion member C. :
Douglas Dillon. it had been expected
to deal with the assassination issue.
3
As late as Wednesday, in resnanse.!
to a statement by Church that the' in-
telligence agency had been involved'
in "murder plots,". Rockefeller said
his rePort would address that cues-
tion.'.
But Thursday night the Vice Pros-
iclept's office said that the siibect had -
been inadequately .investigated by
the commission in its rush to meet to-
day's deadline .for reporting to Mr.
Ford.
Rockefeller aides said Friday that
the Vice President, in his statement
Wednesday, had not meant to imply
that the assassination question would
be discussed at length in the report.
They said he had been accurate in:
saying that the question would be ad-f
dressed because the report will note
that the commission looked into it
without reaching any conclusions.
-"As far as I know," presidential
.Press Secretary Ron Nessen said,
neither the President nor anyone in
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station material excluded from the
final report.
Approved For
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ase 2005/11/28:
Maheu served as the link
-RDP911409011R60061409611e3
CIA.
THE COMMITTEE has
issued a subpoena for
underworld figure John
Roselli to testify later next
week about the reported
"contract" on Castro's life.
While insisting ?that his
committee will make publi
- in about a month what i
? has learned about CIA mur
ders, Church indicated th
panel probably will shun
he said he learned of the plots later.1 televised public hearings of
By Norman Kempster The possible use of assassination the type conducted two
Washington Star Staff Writer "was raised" during his tenure as years ago by the Senate
Former CIA Director John A. CIA director, he added, but he re- i Watergate Committee.
McCone &aid yesterday both the, jected it as "contrary to moral "I doubt very much that
Eisenhower and Kennedy adminis-: standards." matters of this kind should
trations sanctioned plots to killS However, McCone urged critics of be the subject of a televi-
Cuban Premier Fidel Castro. . the arrti-Castro plots, to think "in the sion extravaganza to be
Talking to reporters after three ?context of the time" when the Cuban ! broadcast day after day to
.
f'orld flunr'
hours of secret testimonylo the Sen-
ate Select Intelligence Committee,
McCone said the most serious mur-
der plan was "stopped right after the
Ba of Pigs (invasion of Cuba)."
He said the CIA was given the au-
thority to consider killing the Cuban
leader "prior to my taking office" as
head of the agency. Former Presi-
dent John F. Kennedy appointed,
McCone in 1961 following the Bay of
Pigs debacle. McCone left the agen-
cy in 1965.
HE SAID the authority,
presumably approved at the White)
House, was issued in the "latter part)
of the Eisenhower administration
and the early part of the Kennedyl
administration.
But McCone insisted the plots were
"minor" and were "all finally aborti
ed."
Committee Chairman Frank!
Church, D-Idaho, said the lawmak-
ers have collected evidence that the
CIA plotted murders of other foreign
leaders in addition to Castro and that,
."in certain cases (there have beer*
'more than simply plans -.the actual;
attempts have been undertaken."
He said there were no actual kill-
ings in which "the CIA was directly
involved."
WHILE REFUSING to go beyond
that statement, Church left no doubt
that he had intended to imply that the
agency was indirectly h)volved in
slIccessful assassination attempts.
Church indicated that the Commit-
tee also wants to find out if the CIA
'played a part in the assassination in
1963 of South Vietnamese President
Ngo Dinh Diem. McCone said with-
out elaborating that he was question-:ed about "the South Vietnam situas
Von in 1963."
Communist leader was considered to - - e.
be a major menace to U.S. security. . audience," Church said.
He said the committee ,
CHURCH SAID his committee will: would inform the public in a ,
way that would not
put the matter into a historical eon-
"magnify the damage to:
text but "the assassination problem .
is not confined to Mr. Castro and, , the United States."
therefore, cannot be dismissed on The committee is operat- '
ing under a "secrecy" rule
grounds that Castro took action, in- '
which forbids members
eluding making Cuba a missile base,
in later months, that in retrospect ; other than Church to talk -
might have justified . that extreme about what happens behind
ei
step." . its locked doors. Church is .l
Meanwhile,' a . House se- .
permitted to brief reporters
in general terms but may-
lect committee on the CIA
not talk about details.
was embroiled in an inter-
nal controversy of its own. .
AS A RESULT, questions -
A majority of the Derno- are often raised that cannot
cratic members of the con- be answered. Church was
mittee have demanded the asked earlier in the day if -
resignation of Chairman the comittee was Con-
Lucien N. Nedzi, D-Mich.,. ' vinced that either President
because his prior known-. Kennedy or his brother,
edge of CIA violations of' Atty. Gen. Robert F.
U.S. law would make it, Kennedy, was involved in
impossible for him to con-i the assassination plots.
duct an independent inves-i "I'm rot, and the evi-
tigation of the agency. dence is quite confusing on ,
-Nedzi said he would not this question," he respond- .
resign but that it mightbe a ed.
good idea for the full House
seem-
to vote on whether to oust McCune, however, ed to indicate that a
him or have him stay on.
Nedzi's aides were work- number of top officials of:
both the Eisenhower and
ing out a defense strategy -
Kennedy administrations
keyed to an araument that
his activities in overseeing ,..4.,..re. i71-;?:,,..,".1 m givin.e, tce
the CIA were well-known at CIA auinority to plan
. .
the time Speaker Carl Al- assassinations.
bert picked him for the se- "Lit ci the people in-
lect corninittfe job. One voivec; :-..r.-:-.-..,
aide remarked that the at- He then listed John Kerne-
tack on Nedzi was "a re-. cly, former President
pudiation of the speaker,Dwialit D. Eisenhower, for-
really." mer Secretary of State John '
Church's committee has Foster Dulles, former CIA
called Robert Maheu, a for- Director Allen Dulles, for-
mer aide to billionaire - mer Secretary of State
McCone, nowAra.,..x..pagp.rnia Howard Hughes, to testify Christian Herter and
businessman, said-Ittl-WetligAQWelease plaffonv
p astro rt
? Publis e re
acc i nts 4P91-00901Rth'00e0rs800090012-3
at the time of lans to kill C. But.
alleged CIA-Mafia attempt".
to kill Castro have said ?
.1.11.JI1 V/Lt.11. .1.1.4-1,.
7 JUNE 1975
-
tse9200501/2132: IA-RDg91-00901R009
17-4.1 r__,77,7?:.,;?,,,,,,,,rar..
a '? l'i t 'Z.,.
0.il Vi ij Li 0 i...
. ?
- ?'..,-;.-' ??--33y.:PAUL HEALY And .JOSEPH VOLZ
. . ,Iira,shing-tori;..Nne 6., (News Bureau)-.---' Former'CIA Director JOhn...iNteCone --im, ?
pliectafter testifying.hefore Senate prober3Htoday:th4.--the CIA hadj.)cen up o1 in
plots to assassinate-Ciilian Premier Fidel Castro..? . . ' 1 .--the assassination angle because:.
"Certain. acts were plarined. ot I
ann the' earl' lti.ennecly'cl
a'inin-1 - "We didn't fill we could corn
.- ? d-i
undertaken, all of -which -were istiation. to a conclusion on partial in for. ?
aborted,". McCone told- reporters. He- said it would be difficult motion."
He was quizzed for three hours to determine who gave:the CIA. ? - "Important Document"
by the . Senate Intelligence Corn- the orders. because `most of the . Ford, ,poting approvingly that
mittee, headed by Sen. Frank people involved are dead." the commis-siores findings were
Church (D-Idaho.), . who has Me_Corie tic.iced of a list ? Pre- unanimous, remarked as he look-
charged that theagency was in- sients ? Eisenhower atTricennedy, ed at the report: "I think it's an
. volved In "actual- .attempts" to former Attorney General Robert important document. It Will give
kill foreign leaders. - ? -- .
:leade. .: ? ? -
. .. ..? .. , Ic..ennedy,' Former Secretary of us the basis for some firm
- Earlier, the Ro.thefeller? corn- ! State- John Foster Dulles and his recommendations to make sure
mission's 300-page report' on at- . brother, Allen, the fast CIA ...... make positive ? that we end
legations- of . CIA domestic ' director,- and Christian Herter, up with a . CIA and an intellie
spying was formally presentid who -succeeded . John Foster gence community that will do an
to President Ford ? without its ptillos? ' -- - '' - excellent job for the future of
_ unfinish-ed findings about the- al- As cameras recorded the cere- this country. and at the same
leged murder plots.- mony; .Ford. received . the ? blue- time ensure the privacy of indi-
V ire .I'r c?iacht Rochefellei: 'told
1 cov.eyed document from Rockefel- . victuals within the Constitution,
e- r in. the Oval Office and thank-
Ford in, .a. brief ,:prmatatio.hrules laws, ancl?so forth."
ed - hiin _ and the other seven ,
ceremony -that the cominisssion- memb the ers- At -another point he said there
f 'commission ?
-dtd not have time to deal With would be no question whatsoev-
five of '?'w tom - were present. ? er" that the CIA and sister
the assassination -allegatiOns. He for their five months of work. agencies would "livwithin the
said Ford would . receive those Ford appointed the commission law." The President added that
"materials" separately. in Decentber to investigate pub- ?
; the thick volume would provide
lished charged that the CIA over,
, Will Decide on Release ---, the years had been guilty of him with a l'a long weekend's'
o "
White House .Press- Secretary "massive illegal domestic reading, but he gave no hint on
Ron Nessen surprised reporters spying." The inwuiry later was whether or not he was thinkin-
li iee announcing that Ford. would broadened to include the assiissi-
gal making public,
i::?cide whether or not to make nation wuestion. Nessen ? . told reporters that
the CIA report public after Thanks Conunission . Ford's copy of the CIA. report-
:-eadinzt it over the weekend. was- the only one in the White
- Ncsen aicl. that tile data given
Ctminission sources irirl been House and Was in "page proof"
to Ford ?would. be turned. over to
telling reporters ter weetlitit. forni. In answer to questions, he
the chin?ch committee. Earlier stressed that : the. only --White
Reckeleller ?wanted ?the report- today, Church said .that alleged House ?official ?who has been
1-Ceasecl, and it had been a:did- CIA plots to assassinate foreign i keeping
oozed that the document would in touch with the coin-
leaders "were more than simply mission was counsel Philip Bu-
be made public on Si.indity. ?plans." Ile charged that the chen
Nessen . insisted there never , Rockefeller commission was .
ii s
had been any- advance ?co-ntre.i Meanwhile, on
.tl i apparently "ducking that. sordid ,i Rep. N
riint to make the'documeot nun-! ? 1). Lucien ed- Capitol hill,
zi (D-Mich.),.
:ie in'! angrily dent pd . any sag- ? ? . ? ? - ? chairman of the- House Intelli-
- But Church would not say in a ! gence Conunittee, ? said that he?
eiestion ,of ..a "covernp." But ! Chu television , interview ?whether he would go to the House floor to rch argued.that IrP"Pic ha television
meant the. CIA had been involy- save his job- as chairman. A
a rignt to r:now welat the gnv-? 1 ed in the 'actual murders of Ra- majority' of the ' :Democrats on
err:meet is doin.-e. I -just tlrin'ti feal Trujillo in the Dominican the panel want him to quit, con-'elelerste:nd the- footwork that.i Republic,
secrits to he Ci tal;tr p:a." ? ; ,-n. ? .
ratrice aintilittloa -in i tending :that he failed to take
in ce the Congo ad other leaders
action when he learned a - year eireh .sahl tleit he stil had Roc-lefuller told Ford that ! ago that the CI \. 'was involved
1I'lt.2 to 1,'..--?'1."111)? wli? there were' no conclusions about . in illegal activities, ?
et?vti?ninen'... IttIC:101'12C'd t'IC ;:ti- - .? ____.--
iC Zed CIA murder plots. MeCone, But Nedzi 'argued that it
ciei, director doming parts of the would . be a "healthy develop-
nun 3-0:iF:)11 n?bninis- ment" if his. 'detractors quit the
teat.en-, said. the': he ,Ii?I not committee, which meets in a
S seetee otheeiL7.."
showdown session on Monday.
- 'ell - (-:' ?:?
tvas givcri iit the. clete oi.
Eisenilower a Iministratimi ;
Y.1r7
Approved For Release 2005/11/28 : CIA-RDP91-00901R000600090012-3
Approved For Release 2005/11/28: CIA-RDP91-00(901R000600090012-3
WASHINGTON .POST
Itii
On Castro
Confirmed
? 'a
By George Lardner Jr.
WashInetocs Post 8tt Wri:er
Former Central Intelli- .
gence Agency Director John
A. McCone confirmed yes-
terday that the. CIA planned
and undertook some steps
to assassinate Cuban Pre-
Ca,--;tro n tl-,e
1;? a af 71,a
schemes "were aborted" and
that the principal effort was
st-opped soon after_ the Bay
of Pigs invasion in April, 1961.
He said he was not told of
the attempts on Castro's life
even after he became head of
the CIA seven months later.
Speaking with reporters af-
'ter three hours of ?closed-door
testimony before the Senate
intelligence operations com-
mittee, McCone said he be-
came aware of the efforts only
in the last few months upon
reviewing secret CIA files.
The committee chairman,
Sen. Frank Church (D-Idaho).
. added that Castro was not the
only target of CIA assassina-
tion schemes.
The committee is investigat-
ing reports and allegations of
indirect CIA involvement in
the assassinations of dictator
!?Rafael Trujillo of the Domini-
can Republic in 1961 and of
South Vietnamese President
? Ngo Dinh Diem in 1963.
The CIA, has also voiced
concern over charges that it
may have been connected with
the death of Congolese leacier
Patrice Lumumba who was
killed in January of 1961.
In an interview on the CBS
Morning News, Church said
that no actual assassination
took place with which the CIA
was directly involved." but he
said the agency did make
some actual attempt at assas.
sination and indicated that. it
ma Y have been indirectly tiedi
to others. that. Wiiiipprovedbkir Relea
McCone Said he ws quesT
tioned yesterday not only,
about Castro, hut also about
"the South Vietnam situation"
in 1963 when Diem was mur-
dered.
He indicated that he had not
been able to supply many de-
tails abotrt Diem because "I
did not expect ft to come up"
and had not reviewed his
notes on that. ?
Now a Los Angeles business
executive, .McCone said it is
still unclear to him, and ap-
parently to the Senate com-
mittee, who gave the orders
for the plans to kill Castro.
But he said they were ap-
parently handed down "both at
the close of the Eisenhower
:?.."
"The authority under7. which
these activities were carried
on was authority granted long
before my time," said McCone,
who was sworn in as CIA di-
rector on Nov, 29, 1931. "I was.
totally unaware of any at-
tempts on Castro!'
However, be said that in ie.-
vieWing various files within
the last few months, `!I have
been aware of certain actions
which were either planned or
some actually undertaken; all.
of which are of a minor na-
ture,"
McCone said the chain of
command for the assassination
schemes against Castro was
still murky "because the peo-
ple involved are dead," includ-
ing Presidents Eisenhower
and Kennedy, former Alva--;
ney General Robert F. Ken-
nedy, 'former CIA director Al-
len \V. Dulles, and former Sec-
retaries of State John Foster
Dulles and Christian Herter,
Castro's assassination, or
"liguidation or disposal, I've
forgotten the exact words,"
McCone said, was raised again
at ? a high-level meetirag on
-Aug,. 10, 1962, in light of re-
ports that Soviet-made nuclear
missiles were about to be in-
stalled in Cuba.
But, McCone said, "it was
disposed of immediately at my
insistence ... (It was) quite
outside the moral standards of
the United States. the CIA
and my own standards."
MeCone did not say who
91%1 00901 R000600090012-3
4acrar-e-tarr Defense Eoh.ert
S. McNamara, Secretary of ;
State Dean Rusk, and 7:4c-I
!George iiuncly, President Ken-!
nedy's ach.-iaer on natknA
curity affairs. A fifth member
,of the special high-level group,
JAttorney General .Kennedy,,
was absent. .
I Two days after the -meeting,
Gen. Edward G. Lansdale!
; has said, he draltad continai
igency plans for dea.ling with i
!Castro that "may" have
in-
cluded Castro's assassination
despite the decision at. the:
meeting. Lansdale has indi-
cated that the orders to draw
Up the r1ans came from .r-Z9b-
aa aa
option.
McCone described the.
memo as "erroneous" and said,
it was quickly withdrawn. ?
THE PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER
7 JI.TILE 191.5
Approved For Release 2005/11/2a. u DA-RP91-00901 000600090012-3
he Investigatdll
By SAUL FRIEDMAN
Inouirtrr Nozhinaton Bureau
? ?
WASHINGTON. ?L Battles erupted
yesterday among some of the investi-
gators . of the Central Intelligence
Agency and _other American spying
:operations.
Vice President Nelson Rockefeller
and his commission gave their report
on intelligence, activities to Presi-
dent Ford but, under pressure from
the White House and criticism from
Senate investigator Frank Church,
presented information on alleged CIA
assassination plots in a separate re-
port.
Church, the Idaho Democrat who
heads the Senate Select Committee
on Intelligence, promised that he
would investigate deeply and report
on the assaSsination allegations. And
his panel, continuing its regular
closed hearings, met Yesterday with
John McCone, who was CIA director
when several of the murders alleg-
edly sanctioned by the agency took
place. . .-
McCone acknowledged after the
meeting that there were U. Sesaac-
tioned plots against Fidel Castro in
the early 1960s, but he said they were
`!rninor" and ultimately were aban-
doned.
In Dark on Plots
Carefully avoiding the word "as-I
sassination," McCone said he knew
nothing of the Castro. plots *although
he was.CIA. chief at the time. But he
argued that the "hysterical criti-
cism" of CIA activities, in that era
should be tempered by a realization
of Castro's "violent" denunciation of
the United States and his efforts to
win all of Latin e America away from
the Western bloc.
Church said, however, that still-se-
c:et evidence showed the assassin-
problem was 'not confined" to
Castro.
Meanwhile, Chairman Lucien Nedzi
ID., Mich.) of the 'House Select corn-
uMttee on Intelligeoce, rejected an al-
most unprecedented demand from
fellow Democratic members that he
resign or be removed from the chair-
manship for allegedly being too close
to the CIA.
Nedzi said he was inclined to take
the battle to the House floor, hut
there weremdi_.ations that he and
perhaps other im-Pninvgtd Eginiieleast-ZiostrinEr :aCIALIVP9'1,00901R000600090012-3
might step aside for the sake of the sassinations and attemptedPolitical
invest' mtion. murders sponsored by the agency.
SSaSSill
? In another development, a group of
more than 200 former intelligence
agents scheduled a meeting in subur-
ban Washington last night to form
the Association of Retired Intelli-
gence Officers (ARIO) to help defend
the CIA and other such American
agencies.
Denies CIA Role
Former CIA operative David Atlee
Phillips, who helped direct the 1973
coup in Chile, quit the agency to
1` form the group. He insisted the CIA
had no offidial or unofficial connec-
tion with it.
Presidential Press Secretary Ron
Nessen acknowledged that the White
House had received the Rockefeller
commission's 350-page report.
Nessen explained that material on
the alleged assassination plots ms
separated because the commission
had been formed only to investigate
charges that the CIA, the FBI and
other intelligence agencies had en-
gaged in illegal domestic. spying. The
official report included that evidence
only, Nessen said.
Nessen also refused to say when
and in what form the report might be
made public. .He said only that "it
was never the. White House plan to
release the report until the President
read it."
Ford had ordered Rockefeller to in-
clude assassination allegations as
part of his investigation. And he
pledged that the report would be
made public.
Hints Conspiracg
Nedzi said he ?-?,-as "mystified" by
the sudden move against his chair-
manship, apparently led by Robert
N. Giaimo Ilse regu-
lar who had been competing with
Nedzi for control of the committee
Democrats.
Nadzi even hieiteLl that Ilk troubles
might be 1_,:t LI of ci.im;piratorial at-
tempts to discredit not only him hut
the House investigation as well.
"There .are strange things going
on," Nedzi said, "and I don't know
what's behind it." ?
Nedzi had beer. accused by other
Democrats of not having told them
about a briefing he got from the CIA
Ho
zih
an,
ch
ha
we
al
rei
ha
beret on the House Armed Services
Subcommittee on Intelligence Opera-
tions.
Taking his duties seriously, Nedzi
became more familiar than anyone
in Congress with the secrets of the
CIA and other intelligence agencies.
One-Man Quest
He insisted that his one-man quest
for information had resulted in more
openness on the part of the agency,
had uncovered some past abuses and.
prevented new ones;
But he said: "My subcommittee
was rather conservative, and I got.
the information from the agencies on
condition that it not become public.
Some of the information became pub-
lic, at my request. But some did not,
when I thought there were justifiable
reasons. Every member of the
Armed Services subcommittee had
access to the information, and during
the course of the current investiga-
tion the new select committee would,
have gotten it."
Nedzi added that he had been cho-7
sen as chairman of the select corn--
mitte.e. at least partly because "of the
briefings I had gotten and the knowl- ?
edge I had. Now I'm being attacked
for having gotten that knowledge:
am mystified arid wonder why it's.
happening."
Uainto, who had not been
es-ed in the CIA until recently, Was
the lender in the effort to take the
vestdOOrn MNEly from Nedzi 's
;t a new, select
He also sought the chairmanship, al-
Albert chose Nedzi.
(;i:iimo vetoed Neclzi's choices for
staff director of the sclect commit-
tee, and sy,..cessfully pressured Nedzi
)nto aporoying Searle Field,- from
Gaimo's home state, Connecticut.
5
FORTUNE
JUNE 1975
Approved For Release 2005/11/28 : CIA-RDP91-00901 000600090012-3
by Charles 1. V. Murphy
In the hangman's atmosphere that
currently envelops .the immediate pros-
pects of the Central Intelligence Agency,
an important point has been strangely
overlooked. Why was this agency, so rich
in intellectual talent, once full of ?n,
now gravely wounded, created in the
first place?
The all-but-forgotten answer is that
the CIA was brought into existence by
Congress in 1947, at President Truman's
request, for the straightforward purpose
of preventing another such shocking
lapse of vigilance as the one that made
possible the disaster at Pearl Harbor,
six years earlier.
An inquiry by a joint committee of
Congress that lasted through seven re-
crimination-laden months, from No-
vember, 1945, to May, 1946, elicited the
embarrassing revelation that all the es-
sential intelligence exposing Japan's
preparations for war, even the departure
of the Japanese fleet, had come into
American hands before the attack. The
failure to perceive what was in the mak-
ing was found, in hindsight, to have re-
No intelligence agency
unless it can keep its op
That's why the investiga
is so dangerous for U.S. security.
STA'
suited from the. fact that no agency in
the government had ever been charged
with pulling such intelligence together.
The fateful political and military
clues, in jigsaw pieces, had all been col-
lected by the State, War, and Navy de-
partments, each in its own parochial in-
terest, in the form of radio intercepts,
diplomatic dispatches, and routine mili-
tary intelligence reports. But no one
office or person had the authority, or
duty, to make a grand assessment for
the President, one sharp enough to com-
mand a siimmary alert.
A question of Soviet intentions
What makes the existing situation
strange is that the primary task laid
upon the CIA eighteen years ago?to be
the watchman of national security?has
never been more urgent than it is today.
For example, the Soviet Union has in
advanced development, even partly in
deployment, the most powerful array of
strategic nuclear weapons that the mili-
tary technologies have so far produced.
Secretary of Defense James Schlesinger,
a professional strategic-weapons analyst
not given to exaggeration, describes the
array as "quite awesome." It includes
four third-generation land-based ICBM
prototypes, plus a fifth that has lately
appeared on the test range; a bigger and,
faster missile-armed submarine; and a
supersonic bomber having an intercon-
tinental capability. Four of the five
ICBM's and the 4,500-mile submarine-
launched missile have all been. MIRVed
?fitted, that is, with from four to eight
independently targetable warheads.
If the deployments of these weapons
should proceed to the some 2,400ICBJ
launchers sanctioned by the SAIII
azreements of 1972 and 1974, and if ill;
U.S. stanc.is on the weapons it now has is
place, the Russians can be expected t;
end up, four or five years hence, with ;
superiority in nuclear throw-weight fiv,
times, perhaps even six times, greate
than the U.S. will have in its order o
battle-10 to 12 million pounds for th
U.S.S.R. to only two million for the U.F.
Weights and numbers in these magn1
tucks far surpass anything needed for
Approved For Release 2005/11/28: CIA-RDP91-00901R000600090012-3
ornatinUOd
Approved For Release 20M1 4MP91-00901R00
'61 MEMO IS CITED
t Id the
? The memorandum, one source the matter was "immediately
No Word on Assassination One source o
said, went on to note tl:zat dismissed," but the wire service!
ON CiArfilARIA TIE cthelv F.B.I.a fru? C.I.A.estd and re-. quoted two other sources who !
said that a memo was written '
Roselli. The memorandum, this pare contingency plans for the ,
source, . said, never mentioned "elimination" of Mr. Castro. I
the words "assassination" or Several highly placed sources I
"eliminate," a eupheiism for within the C.I.A. and other in-
c re es. u t e source sal-
e nineteen-sixties have said that
telligence circles of the early
assassination often used in spy
i I B t h
600090012-3
is Said to Have Told
Robert Kennedy of Link
to 2 Racket Figures
By NICHOLAS M. HORROCK
Speclat to The New York Times
WASHINGTON, May 29?
Robert F. Kennedy knew 'as
early as May 1, 1961, that the
Central Intelligence Agency
was secretly dealing with the
Mafia, according to a Federal
Bureau of Investigation memo-
randum now in ,the hands of
the Rockefeller commission
and the Senate Select Commit-
tee on Intelligence.
' The discovery of this new
memorandum increases the
mystery of whether senior
members of the administration
of President Kennedy, includ-
ing his brother the Attorney
General, ordered or approved
an alleged C.I.A. plot to kill
Cuban Premier Fidel Castro.
It is part of a growing pat-
tern of indications, mentioned
in press reports over the last
two weeks, that a plan to as-
sassmate Mr. Castro was dis-
cussed at the highest levels of I
the Government in the early
nineteen sixties and that, with
or without approval, the intelli-
gence agency recruited two
men with organized crime con-
nections to attempt one such
operation.
According to sources famil-
iar with the investigation. J.
Edgar Hoover, the director of
the F.B.I., wrote a detailed se-
cret memorandum to Robert
Kennedy in May, 1961, assert-
ing that during an investigation
of two racket figures, Sam Gi-
ancana and John Roselli, agents
had turned up an apparent
connection with the C.I.A.
about the agency's dealings two days later by Mr. McNarna- I
'with Mr. Giancana and Mr. ra directing the C.I.A. to pre-
'with
a as rea ent mvo ve
ing a matter of such impor-
tance to national security," he
added.
Another Capitol Hill source,
however, said the committee
had received some material
that would be "embarrassing
to the brothers Kennedy."
David W. BeIin, counsel for!
the Rockefeller commission; STAT
also declined to comment.
Mr. Hoover characterized the failed'
the Bay of Pigs invasion -
reported CIA. activities with failed, in April, 1961, there was
Mr. Giancana and Mr. Roselli a major effort to get rid of
The Memorandum is dated Mr. Castro. For instance, News-
as "dirty business." week magazine reported that
-
almost a year before Robert a source described this as an
Kennedy was given a briefing "effort of the Kennedy Adrni-
by the intelligence agency on nistration."
Authority Unclear
In that briefing, covered in
this same subject.
testimony before the Rockefel-
ler commission and in do-
cuments, according to reliable
sources, the Attorney General
appeared to learn of the C.I.A.'s coup d'etat would have been
dealings with the Mafia for brought to an operational level
the first time arid- admonished without the authority of the
the agency official briefing him Administration, but the public
that the next time the C.I.A. record is by no means clear.
wanted to deal with organized For instance, one source said -
that
crime it should come to him the top of the May, 1961,
Most intelligence sources of
the period appear to be anxious
to stress that no plan for either',
an assassination, kidnapping or
mernorundum disclosed this;
first.
r .? 0 week, a note had been jotted'
As a1962, briefing, the Attorney Ge- this May, ;in what he said was Robrt?
neral gave Mr. Hoover further Kennedy's4, handwriting saying,
Have this followed up vigor.;
details on the C.I.A. operation
and Mr. Hoover wrote a me- ?ousl.Y." and that the mernorane?
/dum bore the handwritten ini-I
morandum that was kept in
F.B.I. files and was known only tials "RFK."AL The band-
to select members of the top written note had apparently
echelon of bureau for many been retyped by someone in:
years.
the same period as the memo
Concern on Blackmail
was written, the source said,
TBat memorandum, authori- apparently to make the note
tative sources disclosed last
week, is also in the hands clear to readers. But there is
no evidence yet public that
of the rockefeller commission,
which is looking into Intel- it was "followed up vigorously"
ligence operations. It reported- or what action was taken, if
ly contained Mr. Hoover's cone any.
cern that Mr. Giancana could A spokesman for the Senate
"blackmail" the Uetidn States committee declined to comment
Government.% on whether the committee had
The Associated Press report- any specific evidence.
ed last week what appears to This has been the conunittees
be another piece of this puzzle. general response, But the
It quoted authoritative sources spokesman went on to pe'n'
who said the Rockefeller core out that the panel felt that
mission had obtained the ml- "these leaks are outrageous"
flutes of a meeting on Aug. and that the question of vv-he-
10, 1962, attended by Secretary ther there was a national policy
of Defense Robert S. McNama- to assassin.ate foreign leader-S.,
ra, Secretary of State Dean or a plot against A.Ir. Castro,
Rusk, John A. McCone. then should be investigated carefully
Director of Central Intelligence, ' and thoroughly.
and McGeorge Bundy, President ; "Any partial analysis of
Kennedy's adviser for national evidence is dangerous and
security affairs. The meeting. harmful," he said. TNe corn-,
the A.P. report said, included rnittees" investigation will non
a "discussion" of killing Mr. put "reputations in jeopardy'
Castro.
Approved For Release 2005/11/28 : CIA-RDP91-00901R000600090012-3
NEW YORK TIMES
21+ MAY 1975
Approved For Release.2005/11/28wMannimMtkirepeniVs, lo.ut. or, disapprove
.'62 CIA. C th
astro Plot Reported .Central Intelligence Ag pre- lam. ebr?"ert operations,
is source said, but the plan
pared ency! "contingency
r
iFollowincr Talks at
White House
not approved and did not
lte House Ps for te assassination of go forward.
Cuban Premier Fidel Castro as
lanh
This assassinationversion
Castro
ofthpelorterifrfteerds
a result of White Ilouse discus -
By NICHOLAS M. HORROCK
c.."...?1s Th.. VisW York Tiffin
Approved For Release 2005/11/28:
sions, former agency officials
have told the Rockefeller Com-
mission, which is looking into
Federal intelligence operations.
According to a former senior
intelligence official, the com-
mission was told that this "con-
tingency" planning included
"feelers" being put out to two
'organized crime figures, Sam
Giancana and John Roselli. The
plans. one source said, were
examined after top-level offi-
cials in the White House of
President Kennedy indicated a
, desire to have the question
of assassinating Mr. Castro ex-
amined as one possible solution
to the growing Cuban problem
in 1961 and1962.
McGeOrge Bundy, then assis-
tant tothe President for nation-
al security, affairs, told news-
men several weeks ago that
whi-e House officials did have
discussions of "how nice it
would be if this or that leader"
were not around any more:
The former intelligence offi-
possible illegal domestic oper-
cial, who declined to be identi-
ations of the C.I.A. Mr. Ford
fied, said this sort of informal
White House thought had re- later expandedi the role of the
commission to include an in-
sulted in "contingency planning quity-.. into alleged plots to kill
a--., C.I.A." ,
He emphasized that . what foreign leaders. .
White - House officials might One source said that several
of these men had given the
have regarded as informal re-
commission details confirming
that a plan to kill Mr. Castro
had been drawn up. What ap-
pears to be uncertain to the
commission is who in the Ken-
nedy Administration authorized
such a plan to be devised.
Earlier today, Senator Frank
Church, Democrat of Idaho,
warned that Congres might
pas a law to bar future assas-
sination plots against foreign
leaders even if they were or-
dered by a President.
Mr.. Church, chairman of the
Senate Select Committee on In-
telligence, said: "My own per-
sonal view is that it is simply
intolerable that any agency of
the Government of the United,
States may engage in murder.!
Demands Ban in Law I
"Therefore, if the facts were.
to lead the committee to con-
tempt, but that they were never dude that there had been ac-
!approved by anyone in author- tivitv of this kind, we will not
, leave it to executive decision,
ity and did not go forward.
, ? According to the source who but we will insist that the lav,-.s
ibe so written that such activiy
!discussed what the Rockefellerlnever occurs again."
commission was told, the agen-
Las Tuesday, The New York
Times reported that the Rocke-
feller commission had obtained
documentary evidence from
Justice Department files indi?
cating that the C.I.A. had em.
dent Kennedy participated intployed Mr. Giancana and Mr,
such discussions.
The details of the reported David W. Belin, counsel to
cWIVR14-"itibecapot!)
.. 1 , ? ? . ns- Asormmission, declined to
214.3on that report at the
54/12 Committee, a predeces-itime. Neither he nor commis-
sor of the 40 Commitee, a su-ision spokesmen were avaii!No
in emphasis from versions pub-
lished in several articles by
Jack Anderson, the syndicated
columnist. In those accounts,
the C.I.A. recruited Mr. Gian-
cana and Mr. Roselli. and Mr.
Roselli made two attempts on
the Cuban Premier's life.
s
According to the former ch-t
finial, the White House dis-r,
cussions involved "the highest
level" of the Administration
and would not have been hon-
ored otherwise. And he said, it
was "handled on the highest
level" at the C.I.A.
During this period. Mr.'
Bundy was the senior adviser
for national security at the
White House. The operational
command for covert operatIons
was held by Richard Bissell un-
til early 1962 and Richard
Helms after that. ?
All these men, with Mr. Mc-,
Cone, have testified before the,
Rockefellr commission, a blue-
ribbon panel appointed. by'
President Ford to investizaie
!marks would have been treated
ias a former request by the
!C.I.A.
I Reports Subject Dismissed
[The Associated Press
I quoted its sources as saying
i that minutes of a meeting on
Aug. 10, 1962, showed that it
was attended by Secretary of
. Defense Robert S. McNamara,
Secretary of State Dean Rusk,
John A. McCone, Director of
Central Intelligence, and Mr.
Bundy. "The subject of killing
Castro was raised and imme-
diately dismissed," one source
Iwho had seen the minutes
was quoted a having said.]
Mr. McCone, who was direc-
tor of the C.I.A. in late 1961
and 1962, has told reporters in
the past that plans were formu-
lated for an assassination at-
cy did not formulate these
plans "on its own" but was op-
erating as the result of White
House discussions, He declined
to comment on whether Presi-
rnrcnrept tyrn77e. nnl;r?vs -r-r? e _
MAY NIS
2r2g1nR000600090012-3
Approved For R .00
eilkifiEOXAMIC
e was ken bet
era: grand jury in 194
granted immunity but
fused to answer q4aesti
? Federal judge ordere
Giancana jaded andel
? contempt for the life
grand jury. Mr. Giancan.
Files Said to Link Mafia
O.!.A.Zn61 Castro Piot
By NICHOLAS 14. 1-1ORROCK
SPKiii Vie Ne gr 'COM Tyros
WASHINGTON, May I9?The ? According to Mr. Anderson's
Rockefeller commission has version, Mr. Roselli, with C.I.A.
heip. organized one attempted
assassination of the Cuban
leader in which agents were
armed with poison capsules
? learned of documents support-
ing the charge that, the Central
? Intelligence Agency contracted
with the Mafia in a plot in supplied by the agency. In anel
1961 to kili Cuban Premier Fi- other . attempt, these reports'
del Castro, authoritative sources -, said, the group tried to Mtn-
. reported. today. . trate rifle sharpshooters into
- According to these sources; Cuba to kill Mr. Castro during
a public meeting.
a former top official of the The sources familiar with the
existing files said they did not
know if the files went into such
detail. But they do confirm that
both Mr. Giancana and Mr. Ro-
sen! had been working with the
C.I.A. at the time, these sources
said:
One source said the file con-
tained a memorandum signed
Chicago rackets chief, and .John by S. Edgar Hoover. the late
Roselli, a soldier .of fortune. director of the F.B.I. in which
Mr. Hoover discussed whether
with organized crime connec-.
? Mr. Giancana's C.I.A. connec-
? tions, in a plot -to assassinate ? tions may have protected hint
i
Mr. Castro. from-the full weight of a Jus-1
? The existence of the dotal- tic:, Department prcaecution
Department of Justice during
the Nixon Administration has
itold the commission in secret
testimony that -department files
contain Federal Bureau of In-
? Vestigation. memorandums that
confirm that the C.I.A. was in
touch with Sam Giancana, a
. i
meras s the first public , in the raid-nineteen-sixties. An.
i Lion that there is written ma- other snurce said the files
I tenet to support a long-stand- showed that Mr. Rosen re-
ing allegation that the agency lationship with the intelligence
agency came up &ring art in.
conspired with organized crime vestigation of hirn ? by the JU:5-
!figures in such an assassination tire Department.
attempt.
The file, the sources sato,
has been found and is now in
the hands of John C. Keeney.
Acting Assistant Attorney Gen-
There is no information
available from present sources
whether the assassination at-I-
tempt was approved by Presi-
dent' :Kennedy . pr any other
high. Kennedy Adrninistratien
eral for the department's Crime official. Two former aides to
inal Division. - ? Robert F. Kennedy, Attorney
Mr. Keeney is expected to General at the time, Old the
transfer ' the documents to the ' New York Times several mon ihs
commission, which is looking . ? h,go that Mr. Kennedy told.them
- ? ?
113
dent Reckefellea also declined'
- f racket figures. ? ?
1 about the C.I.A. plotting with
Kennedy r told them he had i
sky and Pete Edelman said Mr. I
In interviews, AdamWolin. :
.. Plot 'Turned Off
. . :
Leto Government intelligence
operations. He declined to com-
ment on the matter. David w.
elin, chief counsel to the corn- _
mission headed by Vice Presi-
found out about the plot and 1
to comment. This has been "turned it off." .
standard practice for the come ? The alleged assassination j
:715.5100. 1 plots took place in 1961, ac- ;
As early as I967, Jack An-; cording to several sources and l
d.erson, ti':: i -:..ii,uted col :mr.-. Press reports.. . 1
In ? the mid-nineteen-sixties '1
.:sc. r d eport,: allegations thatl both Mr. Ciancani ar.d Mr.
Robert A. 2;,lahau, a former) selli were the subjects of ,4
I F.B.I. agent and manager of Las organized crime prosecuticris l
'
'gas propErcies for the billion- by the Justice Department in
aire licrx-7r.1 Ft. Huthhes. recruit- separate cases. Mr. Giancana
was the. subject of a big inves-
tigation by the United States
Attorney for ChiC3g0, then
Edward V. Hanrahan, and- the
fie;c1 oltice_of the F.R.L
Approved ior i?elease zu05/11 2
ed Mr. Giancana and Mr. Rosel-1
li in a p:ot to ?assessinate Mr.i
Castro. . I
. 12 months in the Cook
. jail as a resUlt. He raft
talk.
After his release, Mr.
ban recommended that
grand jury be called al
Glancana be given fm
and jailed again if he
? to answer questions. n
tice Department decided
wise and the proseetitic
? halted. Mr.. Glattcattft
? moved to Maxim
According to SOUrCes f
with the content of thi
Mr. Hoover Warne con
that Mr. Glaricana had ri
preferential treatment t
of his connection we
C.I.A. ?
1 Mr. Hemet .these
!said. noted in the me
dums that Attorney I
Kennedy had told him t.
? Giancana hed cooperate
the C.I.A. and that if the
put too much pressure
greatly he could corn;
the agency.
Nevertheless, several
said the C.I.A. connectio
not a factor in the midd,
decision to malt the prosecu-
tion. William Hundley, a Wash-
ington lawyer formerly. in
charge of the organized crime
section at Justice, said thf. deci-
sion not to bring Mr. Giancana
before a new grand jury had
been made purely because the
department felt this would be
harassment ard would rest on.
shaky legal ground.
lie said that at the time he
had no . knewledge of Mr.
Giancana's reported connec-
g dons with the Cd.A.: and that
U no one above him in the de-
partment had attempted to put
pressure on him.
? Rosen! Convicted
? It- was also in the mid-
ninety-sixties that Mr. Roselli
came under Justice Department
scrutiny. He was convicted of
failing to register as an alien
and of conspiracy to?rie card
games at Los Angeles' ?Friars
Club.
Mr. Roselli's lawyert at one
point sought to get clemency
for the foremr gambler on the
grounds of his cooperation withj
the intelligence agency. A
source said that files within
the Justice DePartment both
men coed the requiest for clem
ency nod confirmed the rola-
tionsliip between Mr. Roseili
and the C.I.A. This source said
there was no indcation that.
Mr. Roselli received clemency
for his work.
PA5FAVir. qtqlt"'00009001?9
8titeM r
/
TAT
[vane." a source. familiar Waft:
this sCenario saie.. Orgenited, ?
crime leaders would privately.
take credit. to support this!
story, it was said. .
? . Top Administration sources-
hive cautioned that it would
be very dangerous "to specu-
late on whether the plot to kill
Mr. Castro was ever approved. .
on the White. House level of
government. ?
'Several witnesses before Lhei.
Rockefeller commission have, .
said that assassinations picitsi
?may have 'been "discussed" alt.
various -levels of government
but were not approed. John A.
McCone, who. was the C.I.A.
director during this period, has
said that wheneer the assassi-
nativri of Mr. Castro was
brought up :It was rejected
immediately."
The Rockefeller commission
was assigned to investigate re-
ported plots to assassinae for-
eign leaders afer President Ford
became concerned about hi-
-
NEWSWEEK
Approved For RelecipMATIOS
Nom
On the job: An Ali-America cargo plane unloading at an airstrip in Laos, 192
_
Mothballs: Reserve planes at the intermountain Aviation field in Arizons
How the CIA Does
t began as a blend of patriotism ancl old have become more effective, the
1 school spirit. Back in 1961, an Arling- been a drastic cutback in the prop
ton, Va., lawyer named L. Lee Bean was network; significantly, NawswE.
contacted by a former classmate at the learned that the CIA's biggest
University of Virginia. The old chum had company, the Washington-based
an intriguing proposition: would Bean Corp., has trimmed 90 per centof:
help the U.S. Government setup several . since 1970. But given the CIA's
companies to de- special work in the and proclivities, there is no was(
P91-00901R000600090012-3
interest of national security? = the network couldn't expand again if it
? With the approval ofhis partners, Bean seemed useful. And in any case, the
agreed. Next he was directed to a promi- proprietaries are a fertile field for the
nent Boston lawyer, Paul Hellrnuth at multiple investigations of the agency's
-the firm of Hale and Dorr, who provided activities now gaining momentum on
the actual instructions on incorporation Capitol Hill.
and operation. In short order, Bean's furn
DESCENDANTS OF TIGERS
was a mailing address for two newly
minted concerns: Anderson Security In their heyday, the agency's proprie.
Consultants and Zenith Technical En- taries helped bomb villages in the Con-
terprises. Anderson provided security go, fly mercenaries and supplies into
services for various other U.S. firms Laos and train Tibetan guerrillas for
(destroying classified documents, inves- sneak attacks on China. They also pub-
iigating employees) while Zenith, bead- lished books, broadcast propaganda and
quartered in a deserted blimp base on provided "cover" for CIA agents in their
the campus of the University of Miami, own news agencies and free-wheeling
conducted a variety of anti-Castro propa- public-relations firms in the U.S. and
ganda and paramilitary operations. What around the world. Even with the current
both companies had in common?be- cutbacks, a hard core of proprietaries
sides Bean?was that they were wholly remains?including, NEWSWEEK has
owned domestic subsidiaries of the U.S. learned, a small news service in Europe,
Central Intelligence Agency. a company supplying technical services
Bean's case is just one example of how in the Middle East, and Fairways Corp.,
the CIA over the years built a a small Washington airline. And agency
multimillion-dollar commercial empire veterans suggest that the phasing out is a
of diverse and deftly disguised "propri- sign that the CIA is shifting to tactics that
etary" companies--owned by the ikency avoid the long-term costs of large pro-
. version and secret propaganda activities.
That office quickly attached itself to the
recently created Central Intelligence
Agency, where it was known officially as
the Plans Division and unofficially as the
"Department of Dirty Tricks." .
Over the next two years, the agency
took increasing control of an unusual Far
East airline?Civil Air Transport--
which had been formed by seasoned
veterans of Air Force Gen. Claire Chen- -
mules daredevil Flying Tigers. CAT's .
risky missions to harass mainland Com-
munists were financed at first by the -
Chinese Nationalists, then by the Ameri-
can Airdale Corp. Airdale soon meta-
morphosed?in the corporate records of
Delaware?into the Pacific Corp., subse-
quently revealed as a linchpin of OA
proprietaries.
Soon other proprietaries came under
the umbrella of Pacific Corp., including a
number of ostensibly independent firms
whose role as CIA covers was later
blown by a series of journalistic exposes
and books such as former agent Philip
Agee's "CIA Diary" and "The CIA and
"itself?to help carry out Apprtaoved trier liteiteaties2005414281fAl"-RDY,,,,}019v JAhl:d4.43151_.'W-6Muie- by John Marks
many of its most clandestine operations. may be the recently revealed sub-raising and A . NA- artirMit -Victor Marchetti.
In recent years, as embarrassing public- efforts by the mystery ship Glomar .Ex- Among the first proprietaries:
}Inc snread olorer?ooerated for the CIA by Howard a Air America, which grew from CAT's
WAS
Approved For Releasieiz
1W-RDP91-00901R0
Oswald and the KGB
Soviet Security -Vetoed His Return in '63
By Daniel Schorr
see= Zo wa...,1-...126&on past
On Feb. 4, 1964, ten weeks
after President Kennedy's
assassination, Lt. Col. Yuri
ivanovich Nosenko of the
XGI3 (Soviet state seturitY)
-defected to the Unit ed
States. ire Geneva. He said,
among other things, that he
had handled the file on Lee
Harvey Oswald since the ex-
Marine's arrival in Moscow
in 19.19.
Brought to the United
States by the Central Intel-
ligence Agenc y, Nosenko
was turned over to the FBI
onFeb. 26, 1964, for ;ev-
eral days of interrogation
about Oswald, who the War-
ren Commission said acted
alone- irt as.sassinatingeKeue
nedy in Dallas on .,N,ove
1963:__ The ir.terrOgatiottere--
port?part- of the Warren
Commission's sear et sne?
but never cited hr
many or in conclusions?has
been declassified. This- ac-
count is taken from Nosen-
ko's interrogation. _
Nosenko- painted a picture.:
ot Soviet security officers
so leery of Oswald, who-
they- considered mentally
unstable and possibly
"sleeper"_ American -agent,
that they :need to- get-Mm-
out of the country and veto-
ed his return when he ap-
plied in Mexico City in Sep-
tember, 1963.
The security officer said
that art inspection of the
Soviets' file after the Dal-
las murder started a Krem-
lin flap that reached as high
as Premier Nikita S. Khrush-
ciaev when a notation -was
found indicating that a- KGB?
officer in Minsk, in violation
of instructions, might have
tried to recruit Oswald be..
fore his return to the United
States.
Accordint: to Nosenko, it ,
was With relief that it was I
finally concluded that the !
cetry was a self-serving lie
by a bureaucrat, who was ig-;
norn nt of the im plicatIons.
Noseitko', ?filer to testify
in secret i)efore the Warren .
Commission was declined.
John McCune. then director
of the CIA. told this re-
0600090012-3
-ligence officers suspected Deciding that Oswald -s-via I ' The inv
Nosenkoeraight be a plant. to "of no interest to the KGB" eluded that the KGB "had
exonerate the Soviets a and "somewhat abnormal." no personal contact with Os-
STAT
conspiracy. ?
: When McCone appeared
before the Warren Commis-
sion with his deputy, Riche'',
ard Helms, -in June, 1964,.
they said that there was "no
evidence" of a Soviet con-
spiracy in Kennedy's assassi-
nation. But they did not say
.they might have evidence to
the contrary.
Rep. Gerald R. Ford, a
Nosenko had the Intourist weld and had not attempted
guide advise Oswald that he ? to utilize him in any man-
would have to leave when , ner." The entry about trying
his tourist visa. expired. s! to "influence Oswald" was
After slashing his wrist in ; attributed to the KGB In
2 Moscow hotel, Oswald was Minsk, "unaware of the in-
taken to a hospital, where ternational significance of
an evaluation of "mental in- ', Oswald's activities . . . re-
stability" was made; Despite ? porting their endeavors to
-0- swald's finTat to try sue. influence Oswald as a self-
cide again if he had to leave serving effort to irapress the
the. country, the KGB ad- KGB enter "
1 vised. his expuLsion, but later Nosenko said "the Oswald
member of the Warren Com-
mission, asked, "Is the Cen-1 learned that some other au- affair was a source of great
e for KGB headguar-
tral Intelligence Agency
continuing any investigation
into this area?"
McCOne replied, "No, be-
cause at the present-time we- Minsk. - -
have no-informatietrier -our- es ...The KGrafilessetrOswahl - --
liaadOswaki as an agent". _
filesn__ that we' have: not. ex e transfen-ede to; Minsk . Schorr- is a CBS. News-
, 'aaestivelY.-?inveeftatet atittelfwith-a cover-letter' contain- ? Ciserespendente - -
disposed of ,to our satisface t jag instructions that the __-
lien- . ? ? ICGR. there "take. me-action..
Today; McCone-Isays- that concerning Oswald except ta.
Nosenko's bona fides ?-"suire." "'passively' observe his activi-
? sequently were proven' ties to make sure he was not
f the CIA' that. the-iir, agent tempoearily,dormant2!
and that "it isnoday the posq a 'United States intelligence
Rion o
is formation. s giveten: by Nce- ..- The next.. tieneeNosenkte
senko was-- correct.? Within- heard...of Oswald was in Sep-
the agency, it is understoode4 tember, 1963., .when. Oswald
that is still. a--subject. of. di se applied for a re-entry visa at
the-Soviet embassy' in Alex-.
ice- City. An exchange of me-
nios between the foreign In-
telligence and domestic in-
tethgence directorates of
the KGB resulted in a deci-
sion that Oswald "not be
granted permission to re-
turn to the Soviet Union."
Two hours after Kenne-
strongly worded. dy's assassination, Nosenko
Not only did Nosenko was called into a KGB office
deny any Soviet conspiracy, . and asked about Oswald. He
but he said he knew of "no telephoned Minsk for a sum-
Cuban involvement in th-i- mary of Oswald's file. The
assassination,'r summary contained a .nota-
The account contained in tion that the KGB in Minsk
three interrogations of No- had tried to "Influence Os-
seek? by the FBI can be wald in the right direction."
summarized as follows: I That stirred further inves-
As deputy chief of a KGB ligation, and the entire file
counterintelligence section was flown to Moscow by mil-
dealing with American and itary plane. Vladimir Semi-
British tourists, Nosenko re. . chastny, chairman of the
calved a report from an In- KGB, v,-as obliged to report
tourist guide. after Oswald's to the party central commit-
arrival in Moscow. saying tee and to Khrushchev.
thority?the foreign minis- ters, where a large staff was
try or the Red Cross-.-per- assembled.and records were
mitted him to stay in the So- reviewed "to make certain
viet Union and sent him to that the KGB had not uti-
pute.
Whether:- the Nosenko
port would have affected
the conclusions of the War-
ren Commission is hard to
judge. Some former staff
members said the conclu-
sion that there was "no evi-
dence" of a conspiracy
might have been more
Oswald wanted to stay per-
manently and become a So-
viet citizen,
STAT
p:Jrter that his counterintel- Approved For Release 2005/11/28 : CIA-RDP91-00901R000600090012-3
r,
Approved For ReUEOX
... ?
?
Kissinger Denies Involvement
In Domestic Spying by
By NICHOLAS M. HORROCH
t 'MAY V.8
awr??-00901R0u06000uuu12-3
"
Spedal to The New York Times outside Of the National Security-r'
WASHINGTON, May 5--Sec- -.Council and that these channels!
retary of State Kissinger said from 1970 until 1973 as an.could have included President,
today that he and the National
Security Council had had no
involvement in any domestic
operations of -the Central In-
telligence Agency and that he
had never "transmitted" to the
agency any feeling of concern
About domestic s,ecurity an the
port of President Nixon.
His statement was made to
,reporters after he testified be-
fore the Rockefeller Commis-
sion, which is investigating the
C.I.A.
Richard Helms, former direc-
tor of Central Intelligence had
said in January that domestic
erations were conducted in
raponse to Presidential con- i
cern that foreign influences
were Controlling the domestic
antiwar movement. 1
Mr. Kissinger's statement,
raised the question of whether
the C.I.A.'s operations were
outside the chain of command
suggested by the National Secu-
rity Act of 1947, which calls
upon the C.I.A. to -"peitorin
such other functions and duties
related te inelligence affecting
ithe national security as the
!National Security Council may
from time to time direct."
The present C.I.A. chief,
William E. Colby, said in Janu-
'ary that the agency conducted
domestic intelligence gathering
outgrowth Of Presidential con- Nixon himself.
Mr. Kissinger also disavowed
today any knowledge of alleged
assassinations b ythe C.I.A.
Each of the day's other wit-
nesses?a former C.I.A. chief,
John A. McCone, Secretary of
Defense James M., Schlesinger,
and a former White House aide,
Walt Rostow --- were asked
about assassinations.
All denied direct knowledge,
Mr. McCone said that during his
term of office there was "abso-
lutely no assassination DIU 07
authorized, assassination plot
against Castro by the Cuban
Prerriier, [Fidel Castro] or any
other foreign leader."
Today's session was one of
the last two In which the com-
mission will hear witnesses. It
has begpn to prepare its report,
which is scheduled to be given
to President Ford on June 6.
Mr. Schlesinger said what he
recalled, from his internal in-
vestigation of C.I.A., indicated
that what authorizations came
in the summer of 1971 came
through "channels other than
the N.S.C."
The concern of . the Nixon
Administration with domestic
radicals was synthesized in a
plan written by John Charles
Huston, then a White House
aide, in the summer of 1970.
The plan had been contributed
to by members of the major
intelligence agencies. It would
have authorized, with Presiden-
tial approval, the use of bur-
glaries, mail covers and elec-
tronic surveillance, to gather in-
tellegence about the domestic
radical movement..
The plan was in effect for
five days, but was rescinded
when the late J. Edgar Hoover
. refused to allow the F.B.I. to be
!involved. It was not the only
period in which the C.I.A. has
conducted domestic intelligence,
;according to Mr. Colby, the
!agency head.
cern over radical activities.
This concern was expressed!
in the so-called Tuston plan,
a proposed attack on radical
movement that included bur-
glaries, electronic surveillance
and mail covers, which was
prepared in 1970 but not im-
plemented. The C.I.A., Mr.
Colby has said, continued to
gather information !and main-
tain files on Americans even
though the plan was not
adopted. ?
The National Security Coun-
cil, a national security advisery
body, and the 40 committees
are the 'normal conduits for
commands to for in-
stance, covert activity abroad
is conducted either with the
express approval of the 40
Committee or under the power
of executive orders issued
through the council. (The 40
Committee includes representa-
tives from the Major agencies
of .the intelligence community,
Mr. Kissinger and members of
the council.
But today, under questioning,
Mr. Kissinger said that "since
I have been in Washington., the
National Security Council or
the National Security Council
staff .or the Assistant to the
President for National Security
Affairs did not concern them-
selves with domestic intelli-
gence or were not informed
about domestic inteligence.
Mr. Kissinger has directed
the council since 1969 and his
tenure covered the years 1970
until 1973, during which Mr.
Colby sai dthat part of the
domestic intelligence operation
took place.
Vice President Rckefeller said
today that there were other
,channels of cammand between
the White House and the C.I.A.
?
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.0 MAY lair
Approved For RelearekhOT51140ERZIMiti'91-00901R0006000uum 2-3
Kissir er denies links
to an
CIA death nIots
Washington (AP) ? The Se.
cretary of State, Henry A. Kis-
singer, yesterday denied having
any involvement in alleged
Central Intelligence Agency do-
menticspyir,g or foreign assas-
sination plots.
"Since I have been in Wash-
ington, the National Security
Council or the National Securi--
ty Council staff or the ? assistant
to the President for national se-
curity affairs did not concern
themselves with domestic intel-
ligence or were informed about
domestic intelligence," Mr. Kis-
singer told reporters after a
two-hour-closed-door session
with the Rockefeller commis-
sion.
Asked about allegations of
CIA assassination plots, Mr.
Kissinger chuckled and :said,
"None of those allegations per-
tain to any period of which I
have personal knowledge."
The Defense. Secretary,
James It Schlesinger, who
headed the agency briefly in
173, also testified and later
told reporters that "as-
sassination has not been used as
a tool by the CIA at any time."
However, Mr. Schlesinger
said he would have "no com-
ment on allegations regarding
Rhe assassination of) foreign
leaders" and added that "there
are questions here that the
commission and the appropri-
ate congressional bodies may
wish to review."
Asked whether the CIA had
undertaken domestic surveil
lance in response to White
House pressure, Mr. Schlesin-
ger said, "My recollection ... is
that indeed there were expres-
sions of interest on the part of
senior officials of the govern-
ment."
Asked if .these expressions
came from Mr. Kissinger, who
ordinarily would direct CIA
covert activities, Mr. Schlesin-
ger indicated that the requests
for domestic surveillance
"came through channels other
than nationnl security chan-
nels."
Vice Prcsidcnt Rockefeller,
the commission chairman,
'briefing reporters on the day's
!session, confirmed that "there
were many channels from the
!White House to the CIA" but
refused to supply details or
state where requests for domes-
tic surveillance had originated.
Walt W. Rostow, Mr, Kissin-
ger's predecessor as national
security adviser, also appeared
before the commission but -
I declined any comment on his
!testimony. ? -
John A. McCone, the central
intelligence director during the
early DSO's, also testified be-
fore the eight-member commis-
sion investigating allegations of
CIA domestic wrongdoing.
Mr. McCone later told re-
porters he had to "plead ignor-
ance" in response to questioas
about alleged plots against the
life of Cuban. Premier ? Fidel
Castro. "During my term of off-
ice, there was no, absolutely no.
assassination plot or authorived
assassination plot against Cas-
tro or any other foreign lead-
er," McCone said.
Mr. Kissinger was asked by ?
repoilers about the future of a
former CIA director, rtichard
M. Helms, now Ambassador to
Iran. "Helms will ruoain am-
bassador to Iran," Mr.Kissinger
said. "I have complete confid-
ence in him."
Last January, Mr. Helms ac-
knowledged publicly that a spe-
cial counter-intelligence unit
was set up within the CIA in re-
sponse to presidential concern!
that domestic unrest was ;Attu-
from abroad.
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C
WASHINGTON STAR
Approved For Release629,(151111?2it : CIA-R0P91-00901R0006 0090012-3
0
By Jeremiah O'Leary
Wasturtaron Star Staff Writes'
. The finality of Defense '
Secretary James R. Schles-
- inger's declaration that the ,
? CIA has never resorted to
assassination could be con-
strued as reinforcinF the ,
contention of administra-
tion sources that the agency
discussed and knew about ,
political murder plots but ,
never was involved in a suc-
cessful one.
Schlesinger made his
statement late yesterday
after, testifying before the
Rockefeller commission
, investigating illegal domes-
tic activities of the CIA.
He emerged from his
closed-door appearance
? and, unlike some former
CIA officials, appeared al-
most eager to set the record
straight. He said, "Let me
make it very clear now that
assassination has not been
Analysis
He as
Schlesinger refused to
comment directly on re-
ports of CIA involvement in
plots to assassinate foreign
leaders, but he said appro-
priate review bodies such
as the Rockefeller commis-
sion and the congressional
committees will want to re-
view those issues.
THE SUM of Schiesing-
's d
strongly supportive of state-
ments to The Star by White
House and CIA officials that '
, the agency knew of, and
even discussed, political
murder but never was in-
I volved in a successful one.
This leaves open the
implication that the CIA
may have had direct in-
volvement in plots for politi-
cal murder that did not suc-
ceed -- for example,
perhaps plots against Fidel
Castro, whose death was
certainly desired by many
Cubans. It is even more
suggestive that the CIA
'knew of such plots but was
used as a tool by the CIA at not directly involved.
any time, and I don't think
that applies prospectively
any more than it does retro-
spectively."
THE FORMER CIA
. director was even more em-
phatic in denying CIA in-
volvement in the slaying of
President John F. Kennedy.
"The suggestion of any
CIA involvement is prepos-
terous," Schlesingtr said.
"It is psychologically and
intellectually impossible
-that the CIA could in any.
?way be involved in the
tragic event."
He said any such sugges-
tions could only emanate
from sick imaginations. The
agency's whole role, he ?
said, has been to serve and
protect the United States
and its leaders.
Commission officials said
yesterday that the group,
appointed by President
Ford and headed by Vice
President Nelson A. Rocke-
feller, is nearing the end of
the labors it began last
February. The hearings
will be completed Monday,
and then the commission
will begin writing its report
and recommendations for
the President.
THE REPORT is to be
handed to Ford on June 4
and will be releasedWiEliC7-
ly soon after that. At that.
stage. the Senate Intelli-
gence Committee, headed
by Sen. Frank Church, D-
Idaho, will commence its
hearings into the activities
of all American intelligence
agencies. Its House coun-
terpart is almost totally.
dormant.
0
111
ass] e
denied having any knowl-
edge or involvement in ei-
ther alleged CIA domestic
spying or foreign assassina-
tion plots.
-Since I' have been in
Washington, the National
Security Council or the NSC
staff, or the assistant to the
president for national se-
curity affairs (ICissinger's
other title) did not concern
themselves with domestic
intelligence; nor were they
informed about domestic
intelligence," Kissinger de-
clared.
Asked about allegations
of CIA assassination plots,
Kissinger said none of those
allegations pertain to the
period of_ his service in
Washington from 1968 until
the present.
ANOTHER WITNESS
yesterday, former CIA
Director John A. McCone
(19614965) said, "During
my term of office, there was
no, absolutely no assassina-
tion plot against Castro or
any other foreign leader..
McCone Said such plots
were not consistent with the
moral values of the United
States or the CIA.
Also testifying yesterday
Approver4vEgrfithssasey2a015$1108 : CIA-R0P91-00901R000600090012-3
Henry A. Kissinger. He
PENTHOUSE
APRIL 1975
Approved For Release 2005/11/28 : CIA-RDP91-00901
000600090012-3
STAT
TO OWN THEM IS TO KNOW THEM--
NELSON ROCKEFELLER ON THE CIA
When Gerald Ford chose Nelson Rockefeller
to be his vice president, he was quick to point
out that his nominee would come in handy.
Rockefeller, Ford assured the evening news,
was a man of many talents. The president told
no lies. Nelson Rockefeller comes in handy
just about anywhere he's used.
Less than a month after his confirmation
the new vice president found a ready outlet
for his skills. The Central Intelligence Agency
was accused of spying stateside, and Rocke-
feller was called upon to head the Blue Rib-
bon Commission to Investigate the CIA. Ford
was sure that Rockefeller was just the man to
sort the charges out. A few folks have cried
foul, pointing to the former New York gover-
nor's five-year stint on the committee that
oversees the agency he is now to investigate.
But Rockefeller views his appointment differ-
ently. His prior job was, he explained, all part
of hs "working knowledge of intelligence,"
and a central resource bra man conducting
investigations such as the Blue Ribbon Com-
mission. That kind of working knowledge
shouldn't be squandered.
If itweren't for his family's business, Nelson
Rockefeller might not know nearly as much
about intelligence as he does. The Rockefel-
tars' business is money--its management and
its accumulation. In three generations the
family has bought control of 250 billion dol-
lars worth af corporations. It has also cor-
rere.d one-half of the total of American private
:nvestments in Asia, Africa, and Latin Amer-
:a. Inevitably, the ClAand the family business
orpssed paths early in the agency's career.
;wen Dulles was appointed airector of the
CA in 1953-1"e cane to government service
st.ra.ght from a ;.ci as.a Rockefeller lawyer.
That same year, tne CIA, worried that the ex-
.isting Iranian government might nationalize
foreign investments, engineered a coup and
*replaced the premier with a former Nazi. Short-
ly thereafter, Standard Oil, the foundation of
the Rockefellers' family business, began to
tap Iranian oil reserves. In 1961, the same
script Was acted out in the Congo?Patrice
Lumumba, that country's premier, was mur-
dered by his own army and replaced by a sol-
dier named Mobutu. In the aftermath of the
Congolese revolution, David Rockefeller,
chairman of Chase Manhattan Bank and Nel-
son's brother, led ari expedition of business-
men into Mobutu-land to explore the "invest-
ment climate," It must have been good. Using
Rockefeller financing, Pan Am acquired the
local airline, AT&T built a subsidiary. Esso
drilled for oil, and Standard of Indiana went
into the copper business.
The next CIA director, John McCone, took
over the reins of intelligence after working as
a Standard Oil attorney, Following McCone's
appointment the familiar pattern of CIA inter-
vention in foreign governments recurred. Sal-
vador Allende, the first Communist president
in Chile's history, was overthrown by a CIA-
financed coup in 1973. The year before, Al-
lende had expropriated the Anaconda copper
mines, an important wing of the Rockefellers'
family business.1-1E;nry Kissinger?chairman of
the security council that approved, and may
even have ordered, CIA intervention in Chile
?is a longtime Rockefeller family employee.
With a background like that, Nelson Rocke-
feller is establishing a whole new level of ex-
pertise in government service. He is also in-
suring himself of a lot of work in the future. It
will be nearly impassible to convene any more
commissions without calling on Nelson
Rockefeller's mass of -working knowledge."
The commission on high interest rates will
certainly need the counsel of a man whose
Approved For Release 2005/11/28 : CIA-RDP91-0090
family controls 20 percent of the banks in the
United States. It would be foolish to pass over
his experience. And the commission on gas
prices is a natural, too. The Rockefeller family
has controlling interests in Standard, Mobil,
Amoco, Arco, Esso, American, Citgo, Exxon,
arid Humble oil companies.
If Gerald Ford decides to take on the insur-
ance companies, we can all rest easy knowing
he has expe.rt help. The Rockefellers have
their hands on one-quarter of all the life in-
surance sold in this country.
After that we can look forward to the Blue
Ribbon Commission on Consumer Prices.
With Nelson Rockefeller in the adininistratiori.
Gerald Ford has the inside track here as well.
The vice president is one of the owners of
Mazola Corn Oil, Karo Syrup, Kleenex, Nue()
Margarine, Kotex Sanitary Napkins, SkipPY
Peanut Butter, Best Food Mayonnaise, Orange
Crush, ansd the American Sugar Company.
It's hard to imagine that tha commission on
corporate taxat4en would get far without the
man whose company, Standard Oil of Ohio.
earned SO6 million lastyear and Paid no taxes.
Or that the commission on the distribution of
wealth would be complete without the leader-
ship of a man whose family's personal fortune
is larger than the total worth of 100 million
Americans. And just think how useful the vice
president could be to the commission on ur-
ban renewal and safer neighborhoods. The
Rockefeller Poeantico Hills estate, which is
staffed oy five hundred servants and protect-
ed by thirty-five armed guards, covers five
square miles and is surrounded by electric
barbed wire. Living like that must have taught
Nelson Rockeje;ler a fot It s a shame not to
put his knowiedge to good use.
Gerald Ford made a shrewd appointment:STAT
whatever the sub.ect. Ne:son Rockefeller
knows it ICke he owns it.?Davia Harris
R000600090012-3
WASHINGTON POST " 17 PAR 1975
A
:, ?,,e6.'2,77,7:00 .
'red Foc Release49541,M87 if.-FDP91-00901 0600090012-3 _
c .1-'7 71 -,-1- .i.,.s, 7 t ii
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4. .4...
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ti/Lti Zi cdv-tr ?..,0 h .z. ..id. v.... ? .. .11 ,, :L--ii.,
..L.?
By Jack Anderson
? it.Z7 d Les V;7dtf en
The Soviet secret police had a
contingency plan to kill Richard
Nixon if he had been elected
Prelident in 1.S.C.0, a high Soviet
intelligence officer has told the
Central Intelligence Agency.
? The Nixon murder plot was
? described to incredulous CIA
agents by Anatol Golytsyn, a for-
mer KGB major, who defected to
the United States from his post
in Helsinki, Finland, in the
.earlyI9S0s.
He gave American agents
other valuable intelligence,
which has turned out to be accu-
rate. Our sources, therefore, be-
lieve his story about the Nixon
assassination plan.
Golitsyn's view was that the
plan, al:hough bizarre, was
deadly serious. He attributed it
to the late Nikita Khrushchev,
then eornmanding the Kremlin,
whom Golytsyn understood to
be scrne?a-hat deranged. In those
days, N:xon had the reputation
as an haplacabie foe of the So-
viet Unien.
The Soviet major also told
CIA agents that the hot-tem
peoed Khrushch.ev had talked
about eliminating the brilliant
ballet dancer, Rudolf Nureyev,
after he defected to the West
The worried Golytsyn tried to
warn Nureyev of the. possibility,
according to our sources, al-
though they don't know-whether
the warning ever reached Nure-
yev. . .
For years, Golytsyn's spectac-
ular revelations have been hid-
den in the CIA's files. But after
stories about the CIA's tISS255i-
nation attempts hit the head-
lines. CIA sources confided Go-
lytsyn's KGB assassination tales
tolls.
The former KGB officer was
one of the highest ranking So-
viet defectors in CIA history.
The ? United States paid him
S200,000 in compensation and
spent at least $500,000 more to
protect him, our. sources say.
Part of the money was spent on
an ingenious scheme to sneak
him and his family into the
United States. ;
By 'comparison, a far more
publicized defector, Peter Der-
iabin, was paid only S25,000. Our
sources agree, however, that the
taxpayers got their money's
worth from Golvtsvn.
Dering IS months of debrief-
ing. Golytsyn blew the cover on
one dangerous Communist spy
operation after another. Our
sources say he helped identify
-members of the notorious "Sap-
phire" Soviet ring, which be-
came the model, in part, for the
novel and movie "Topaz."
Britain's Kim Phil by and Swe-
den's Stig Eric ?Wennerstrom.
of the most celebrated So-
viet international agents, were
exposed with the help cf Golyt-
syn, as well as lesser spies in
Germany, France and NATO.
In time, the stromowilled Go-
lytsyn tired of CIA surveillan,
and decided to take his com-
plaints to the late Robert F.
Kennedy, then the Attorney
General. The defector was
housed within walking distance
of Kennedy's home in Northern
Virginia and visited with him
either at his home or in another
private place, our sources re-
call.
Golytsyn also drafted a long
letter laying out his problems to
Kennedy and expressed his pi-
que to John McCone., then the
CIA head. This upset the CIA
agents who had gone to such
longths to protect him as rent-
ing cars to visit him so the tag
numbers couldn't be traced
back to "security" cars.
Our sources say he was last re-
ported living in the United
aiates under a superb.y corned
fain identity.
Footnote: When a forest-fire
was reported near Nixon's Cali-
farina residence in the 19601;
CIA agents close to Golytsyn
thought at first that the KGB
might have caused it. A CIA
spo,:csman had no comment on
Golytsyn's disclosures.
Shan Connection?The color-
ful Shan guerrillas have made
another signed, secret offer to
sell most of the Southeast Asian
opium crop to the U.S. govern-
ment . at the prevailing black
market price. The sale would
dry up 20 per cent of the heroin
supply now reaching the United
States.
The Shan hillmen are willing
to back up their offer, moreover,
by attacking any other convoys
that tryto bring opium out of the
back country.
The offer has been relayed to
Washington through Rep. Les-
ter Wolff (D-N.Y.)? ch a irma n of. a .
House narcotics subcommittee
and the House's leading expert
on Burma-Thai-Laos opium pro-
duction.
It has been submitted to the
House Foreign Affairs Co nimit-
tee in a secret subeomm iltee re-
port, signed by Wolff, Rep. Met-
;an Murphy (D-Ill.) and Rep. J.
Herbert Burke (R-Fla,).
A similar offer was rejected
by the U.S. government in Au-
gue-t, 173.
(c) 1975, Uni:ed Feature SY17 dIcate. Inc..
STAT
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_
16 MARCH 1975
'limate of sti.?0tettfry RaleaSe4005711/28i.::,776, DTP6'10-9711-
The Oswal
3y Jim Squires
VASIIINGTON?A prominent Mid-
stern governor, respected for his in-
_igence and rational judgment pri-
tely expressed concern recently that
aestigations of the Central Intelli-
rice Agency might uncover, among
ler things, agencyjlinks to the asses-
eations of the Kennedys, Martin Lu-
.r King, and the shooting of George
allace.
"Do you really believe that?" report--
s asked incredulously.
"No," the governor replied, "but / no
enger consider it beyond the realm of
assibility."
'WHILE GOVERNORS are not neces-
arily more stable than anyone else,
liey generally should have more faith
ii the system and be less suspicious of
grand conspiracies. But it may be that
he mind -shattering experience of '
eVatergate has propelled all Americans
_a a new threshhold of insecurity about
Iteir government.
Perhaps the trail of punctured bal-
loons, broken pedestals, and fallen hee
zees has left us as skeptical as Europe-
ans, who generally tend to disbelieve
their government's official pronounce-
V% c now reed da-ity what- we onlisi."
pccted in the past: that Presidents lie,1
that J. Edgar Heaver was not a saint;
that the Central Intelligence Agency,,
won't even bother to deny it was in-'
volve4 in political assassinations
3broact. ? ' ,
In such, an htrnosphbre it is only nat-
ural that old questions about the na-
tion's most infamous crimes?political
murders at home?are again being ,
raised.
Conspiracy theories surrounding the:
deaths of John and Robert Kennedy,
King, and the attempted assassination,
of Wallace never died, even tho in
more recent years the debate has been'
imited to conspiracy freaks and ama-
eur sleuths.
-Haunting, unanswered questions still ?
inger around all four cases. But the -
310St fertile ground for conspiracy
:?,reeding is the first?the murder of the
'resident in Dallas in 1903.
WITHIN THE MONTH, another new
book on a worn topic has appeared, '
alleging that voice-stress evaluation
tests prove that Lece Harv , Oswald
vas not Kennedy's assassin. pproved
A skeptic of some stature, former
Democratic Sen. Ralph Yarborough of ;
Texas has called for the reopening of
the Warren Commission investigation.1
And, almost casuallii. the Reckefeller
? Commission investigating the CIA has
confirmed that it is Indeed examining
possible links between the agency and
Oswald.
Because Oswald once defected to' the
Soviet Union and then returned Oa the
United States, it was quickly and wide-
ly assumed that? such a relationship
existed. But on May 18, 1964, CIA Di-
rector John McCone swore before the
Warren Commission that the agency
had never communicated, directly or
indirectly, with Oswald; that be was not
an agent, employe, or informant and
the agency was never connected with
him "in any way whatsoever. ."
! In 1964,1a .Sworn declaration by such I
a high-ranking government official was,
'enough. In 1975, it is not. And now!
amateur sleuths, professional sleuths,
and journalists are plowing ttuv a lot ,
of dusty information in search of new;
clues that might link Oswald to the ?
nation's intelligence apparatua. ?
a WHAT THEY WILL find is fasclnat-.
. Oswald's potential for contact withf
the, CIA is great. But the actual con-
nections, if rny at all, appear restrict-
ed to rather tenuqus relationships with
three individuals, during his lifetime all;
of whom are suspected of having had,
ties to the CIA. .
The first is Clay Shaw, the late Newl
Orleans businessman who was a target ?
of District Atty. Jim Garrison's dis-
credited assassination investigation.
While Shaw had all the earmarks of a
CIA operator, Garrison, for all his ef-
forts, never proved a single link be-
tween Shaw and Oswald.
The best anyone can do in that re-
gard is that Oswald once passed out
pro-Castro leaflets in a building owned
by Shaw. And that the well-traveled
Shaw, in his role as international trad-
er, most likely passed information to
the CIA at one time or another.
The second relationship is hardly
more fruitful. Oswald considered as his
best friend a' man named George de
MohrenscIrdldit, a Russian-born petrole-
um engineer who came to the United
Stares in 192.3. He and his wife knew
the Oswalcis vs::ien they lived in Dallas.
For Release 2005/11/28 : CIA-RD
? ?
STA
000600090012-3
won tH
connect
The Warren Commission concluded
that de Mohrenschildt had no connection
with the assassination. But it did not
make the same claim about his rela-
tionship with the CIA.
IT SEEMS THAT tie talohrenschildt
and his wife took an eight-month hiking
tour from the U. S.-Mexican border to
Panama in 1960 and were in Guatemala
when the CIA launched part of its ill-
fated Bay of Pigs invasion from there.
The Warren report. said de Mohren-
sehildt later turned over films and a
full account of his travels "to the U. S.
government."
This fact alone has led many conspir
acy buffs to conclude that de Mohren
schildt was at least an informer for th
CIA and undoubtedly had told the agen
cy of his friend Oswald, who Was al
ready prominent in the files of. the Fed
eral Bureau of Investigation.
Researchers who suspect de 1?Iohren?-
schildt of CIA contact are far more
certain of a third man who was in a
position to cross paths with Oswald-- ?
Guy W. Banister of New Orleans. The
question is whether he ever did.
? In August, 1963, Oswald was arrested i
In New Orleans following a freeee with
anti-Castro Cubans upset by his distrib-
ution of pro-Castro leaflets. Oswald's
leaflets bore the-address of 544 Camp
St., an office he apparently never occu-
pied. ?
The Office at 544 Camp St. had been
used, however, as the headquarters for
an anti-Castro organization known as
the Cuban Democratic Revolutionary
Front, which was widely rumored to be
a CIA-funded operation.
IT WAS ADJACENT to a s-econd of-
fice [fronting at 531 Lafayette St_
around the corner) occupied by Bards-
ter, a former Chicago FBI azemt, ar,A
an ex-deputy New Orleans poice can- -
rnissioner who doubled as a private
detective and government contact w-ith
the community of Cuban revolirlonaries
in New Orleans. .
?More than one witness remembers
seeing boxes of rifles, ammunition, and
grenades in Banister's office. Alth-o
their credibility is not unchallenged,
they all profess a common belief: 'Ban-
ister was a CLA. or military inteUisenre
contact with a contingent of Cub-ens
being trained for the Bay of Pigs lava-
Ps9,100901R000600090012-3
'continued
Ag
45_,? filprpyit For RfireATIDE5?OritONAMISH-00901R00060009 012-3
.,-.4 ,,,--)..,71 ?-.rs? P ri 7. Ai ? 171' , . .
-4-? Ar-- -r."43 ? 4 ,-; p...- V,----..i .(1., -"Tell1/4v., tr'ts, ""..Z
: .--, ,s ...t. - to t... ...... . t_ ri--,.. , :,1_,,4 :_. p,
IL ' s.ij,,' :2_ kt..,1 tl ?1:42)_h_ 4.,____4_U__L_ `I. ..ii. L ',1_, H.,..,,,, *-_,111.
, A.
15 LIAR rfiS OTA-
By George Lardner Jr. not what he described as objections to the arranage- Premier Fidel Ca5tro or. any:
:tan Post 3taff. Write: i"particularly sensitive mat- meat. but it was not clear other , foreign 0.7fivini. .
: ters." . _whether h:.., and the CIA di- -To my Iznowled:e there's:
The Senate Select Cm
omit-
' For these, Colby said, rector were speaking on the. no'h;ng that was brought to.
te-e on Intelligence Operationsi "different procedures are ob-: same wave-I0r.::th. In a March Fry attpntion that involves!
voted yesterday to ask Presi-; viously necessary." In such in- :1.3 reply to Colby. Church any atten-.pt :....ftil!S-t Cu or.
dent Ford for the Central In-; stances. the CIA. director said agreed to join discussions any other 13;rsor, i.lurin2 nlY
tell rce 'Yenc s top-secret
agency employees would fa-st:whercver the inquiry touches: tenuce of offiee.'":,..:C.one s.J:d
i,,A Ay',
. propose ways of responding. to ansensitive unitters, hut the in a telephone intervieW. -I.
?repurt to him on allegations of the committee without expo.,:- s,,na' tur. defined ths, onlv in hac; frettzlent nicethy,:s with
illegal CIA domestic activities. int "sensitive details." It the tt?ms cf "the idenity of Cl. the President a:ifi Robert Nett:
. Committee ChairMan Frank: committee insists on diselo-? personnel. sources, of coop;:T-. nee:: and ....-ith others who
Church (D-Idaho) indicated sure:Colby said he was pro-.atin4.' organizations whose dis- were conc7rned :bout Cuba
:after a dosed, 90-minute meet- pared to negotiate with it over. closure could place persons in and . . . at nu time at .anY:
;
in; that the committee had de.. "the appropriate course of ae- actual. jeopzirdy." -of those -meetitrzs was no,?.._
icided to ask Mr. Ford at the: tion to be taken. ? Fe ring yesterday's scs. mention r.n.:.q.le of tile assasna-
same time for copies of any, . Elaborating on what he re- sion. Tower also announce.i don of Castro:*
i executive orders and National: garded as "particularly sensi,! appointment et the commit- McCune heac:ed the aunty
i Security Council directives as; tire," Colby set down a wide tee's minc,rity counsel, Alan- front I50t to 11-.'r.5. under Pr'..si-
. signing various tasks to the, range of categories, including: dna lawyer Curtis- II. Smith- dents Ken::(1:: and ,;0:10S::11.
'CIA and ether government in-, , ik"The identities of our sen- ens, 31, a former deputy assist- Iloi)ert F. KeTIC:r.::." was Attf)1"-.
, 1 whether he expected any' vurces. '
e
.7The material provid.cd to once
secretary of defnse and r .
.:-..? a1 clurin;, his broth--
?
time military trial. judge.
once the Army's youngest full- el's administrat:o.-. and during,
.T;,'Inott's first n?onths in ef.-
telligem:e agencies. sitie so
. Church declined to saY
!us by cooperating foreign in-
claims of executive Privilege. ? telligence services." Church sad he expected the 1.11--%'? .
! ?.I'ci. rather wait and let the ? p'"fhe details of tochnical. committee staff to ::egin intt-T- .nme magazine th:s week
i White 111.,us.... make the next1 device; and sys?teins and of op.:Vit.r.'.Th:.! s.,...11.P!?:---'7"4 Sil'.1r.,!:.-", !"!.: 7.-7?7-cl "er,,:di!--.10
1.11le-e." he Said*''llic. b...'AL.iseration"1. methods." . estrrated it v.-oulci .he t..vo to i:_, th? c!..? t,..i:,,...,...! ?.1..7s.
I no..v in that court" ! ??The identities of certain- thrc-e mont'os i)1.01..? ::?T,;,.._, _ .. .
?: The 11-member committee: of . our employees who eoldd Ile 1:;:ani:1-45 ..;.,,.]:c1 b:-.;1:-.. .0:;_-, - ? :
-? ., -,:: i 3.1,1, es. In .- -v e. at 101.-,t1,.-
. !votc.'d unarimouzly to request be targets of kidnaping or-aq- incItzi':::- whivi! ....ill also co'.-,:?:- '--1,':':;a1 att,=n1:11-s t?-? '.::II Ca?it:',",.'
the. documents. Sen. John G. i sassination." the FBI and c,ther government 1.3,.37.1-: before ar.(1 -.7`"??1.- -,-ter
iTowcr (L' 1c') the vice chair- fa-The identities of Ameri- inteliigence r.;encies.-,....i:l .ve Eay of. It In as ion in
I man saLl he thought the Pres?! can citinns and organizations undellaken. zt !east at ti,e,A.
1
inert would "bend every of- who have cooperated with U.S. set, by four staff tasl forc,--,- . ? -
Ifort to cooperate with us" and? intellienee:, ? They will explore foreign in- Two for:net. FiCP2'S to ROlIC-rt
- :thus avoid a protracted inves- ?-sorne additional matcr:. telligence ope: . ations. cloniE.,tic :;onnedy..kcia.nt "%'.-:?!n.,1,:y an?t
, ti;:ation. . : als the public discio-lure of? intril12.e1ce. ov.n.ctli(2ns. tile l'...;.::r .1.i. Edeiro:-:% ila,.-,: said
i Ti-se committee also" made which would create serious -exceut;;?C command ??;..:?..te- !;,.'nnedy told t.::,,:,,, he0;:ce
1 ,',
im.L,....;I:c an exchange of eorre-: foreign or national SCCUriZy 'Wee- ho;; the gx,?ernment*s 5.n- l;-_,arn?l of and s:,..;:p..d a CIA
:spondence with CIA Director' problems." tn111.4enc: community. and the ,-.":,._ zo 1:;e ti.!- !..:.:Th t:, kit
. William E. Colby that suggests Finally. Colby v.-1-0:..,,, military inteilh.zence a!:4encies. C:.-.0:1) 1:::!:..:: to '..:::.- Ilm- of
'some intricate negotiations Church. -we should also work
i
i ma:.- he necessary as tho Sun- together to protect certain E...v-CI.-1 Chief Denivs
; ate's CIA investigation moves- other information which. if .iNsas:.iitita;tm Plots
: forward. imorop-.'ily disclosed. r.-.
In a le-tter to Church dated inipitir the pi is acy ri,:z.lits c..:
March !I. Colby forn0.1':: ind;vicivals." .,.:r.-1. n? CrA l.Yr,..1..!(,:-
;17-reed TO let CIA eml,lul cos Speal-arig with rQportk.,rs tic'- %. .:'-ie',:cr..7 yes:erday (F?:.?7_
dis:::u..ss ciassified informat!on fore the curreL,pondence v.-as an: ;:n..v.-....-,::., of an i, :: -;1.-?,.
with Scr.ate investigators, but , handed out, Church voiced no pint to assass;nate Czt.u.
\ijnsaid he
v?.:1(,12ed l.d do-
:5very
and
? ? h::ve
to
;:?ii i:Tm of IP...! inc:Cent.
STAT
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NEW YORK BALLY NEWS
13 MARCH 1975
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?3 ',liliesar
CIA Kill Mots
By JOSEPH VOLZ
Washington, March 12 (News Bureau) ? John A.
McCone, director of the Central Intelligence Agency dur-
ing the Kennedy and Johnson administrations, denied
today any knowledge of alleged CIA plots to assassinate
Cuba's Fidel Castro or other foreign leaders.
"To my knowledge there's
er's administration and for a year
nothing that was brought to my under Johnson.
attention that involves any at- Two of Robert Kennedy's for-
tempt against Castro or any mer aides, Adam Walinsk-y and
other person during my tenure of Peter B. Edelman, have said that
bf flee," McCone said in an .A.sso- Kennedy told them he once
ciated Press interview. "I had learned of, and stopped, a CIA
frequent meetings with the Presi_ effort to ruse the Mafia to kill
dent and Robert Kennedy and Castro before the Bay of Pigs
with others who were concerned attack.
about Cuba and .. . at no time at But McCone, who insited "It
any of those meetings was any would have been the most natural
mention made of the assassina- thing in the world" for Robert
tion of Castro." Kennedy to have told him of such
McCone a Los Angeles indusL an incident, said that Kennedy
trialist, was named to head the never mentioned anything to him
about it.
CIA after the Bay of Pigs at-
tach in 1961, replacing the late He said he was basing his com-
ments on his own recollections
Allen W. Dulles, who was eased and on a search of his files that
out by President John F. Ken- he ordered following news reports
nedy. McCone continued to head of a CIA-Mafia link.
the CIA during the early years of McCone attributed the 'news
the Johnson administration, leav- reports of CIA involvement in
jag i n1965. Robert Kennedy was 'assassinations to disgrutitled for-
attorney general during his broth-1 mer employer of the agency.
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NEW YORK TIMES 11 MAR 175
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Senate Unit Seeks Tail Report' on C.I.A. Role i
STK
JOHN M. CREWDSON ; to concern itself with the agen.,1 Mr. Church added tLat while
-
?.ey.'s domestic activities, some the
WASHINGTON, March 12? or which. Mr. Colby has termed
,was not raised at today's meet-
question of assassinations
tp?n_. e.. t,rl? Nev Yeric tn,vs
of ' questionab._" legality. i?
Some. detail of the aeenc ,simg - of the committee, "we na-
The Senate Select Committee
domestic activities, c u ing!
in). dY' 'turally want to get to the bot-
on Intelligence Activities vo..ed
unanimously today to ask Pres-
ident Ford for the Central Intel-.the wiretapping of Unitecitorn of any charges relating
ligence Agency's written report states citizens, were containedto assassinations, and in due
on its .domestic activities, in testimony subsequently sup-,course we will be locking into
The vote, which had been ,,r"
plied and House aPpropriationsjIY."
ed by Mr. Colby to the Sen- those charges very thorough-
expected. concerned a reporc," --
M. Ford received While onicommittees, and made public.) - Plots Mentioned
a Colorado skiing vacation late: But Mr. Colby told a House l A number of published and
last Year from William E. Col-:subcommittee last week thatAroadcase reports .in recent
_ , unnamed
by tie Director of Cential In- h-i had discovered other "ques-days have quoted
tenigen-- !tionable" undertakings that soisources and former Govern-
The report has thus far beenfRir ha.d not been publicly ells-Tient officials in referring to
furnished by the President only.c.osad, but which presumably!plots by the agency against
to the commission on tha:were included in the "Vail re- as many as seven foreign lead-
C.I.A.'s domestic intelligence4'
activities headed by Vice Pres-1 'Oral Addendum' The New York Times d o re-
1dent P,ockefeller, and not tal There have been reports thatipocten Monday that Adam
.any Congressional bodies. iMr. Colby also supplied theiWalinsky and Peter B. Edel-
Senator Frank .Church, De-;President with an, "oral 'adden-!man, two former aides to the
ocrat of Idaho, the chairmanklum" to ? the report that ;late Robert F. Kennedy, stated
rn
of the select committee, said,touched. on the intelligencelthat Mr. Kennedy had told
them that C.I.A. agents had
following a two-hour closed,agency's activities abroad. andi
;contracted with the Mafia in
session in which the vote was included references to Pssible;an abortive attempt to murder
taken, that a letter would ho.C.I.A. involvement in schemes;Premier Fidel Castro of Cuba.
sent to the White House today :to assassinate foreign leaders.' Mr. Church told reporters to-
containing a formal request for; Asked whether the selectIday that he had "no informa.
"the document that Mr. Col": committee 'v.rould 3150 seek to !tion" about that report or about
placed . in the PresidenCs learn the contents of any oraljany others, and that he "would
hands." 'statement given Mr. Ford, Sen rather refrain from cornMent-
The "vail Report." as it has ator . Church replied that, al-!ina on anything as inflamma-
beconle kr.n after the FA; though to:jays letter related:tory as alleged assassinations."
resort w!lere M. Ford and Mr. only to the written report, "Wei However, John A. ? McCone,
Colby net. is believed to be expect to get all of the informa-jwho headed the intelligence,
about $0 pages in length and,tion." . 'agency. between 1961 end 1965
under Presidents Kennedy and
Johnson, was quoted in an in-
terview with The Associated
Press today as saying that he.
had no knowledge of assassina-
tion plots "that involved Castro
or any other person during my
tenure of office."
"At no time were any such
plans of either a constractual
arrangement with the Mafia
for] to assassinate Castro ever
discussed with me," Mr. Mc
-
Cone said, and he attributed
the reports to bitter former em-
ployes of the agency.
Had Issued Waiver
Mr. Church - today also re-
leased a letter in which Mr.
Colby disclosed his intention
that any discussion of certain
"sensitive matters" before the
select committee by C.I.A. em-
ployes would be subject to the
agency's prior approval.
Mr. Colby had previously
issucti, with respect to the
panel's investigation. a waiver
of the agency's "contract agree-
ment," a signed pledge in which
each of its employes promises
never to disclose any classified
information gained during the
course of employment. Mr.
Church. at the time. applauded
the waiver as a hopeful sign of
the agency's willingness to co-
operate fully.
TAT
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Approved For Release 20041448P&WAYA01R0006063aordo_3975
Former CiA head says he knows
within g a bid to Castro
Washington 011?John A.
McCue, a former director or
the Central Intelligence
Agency, flatly denied yester-
day any knowledge of an
agency plot to assassinate.
Cuban Premier Fidel Castro Or
any other foreign official.
"To my knowledge there's
nothing that was brought to
my attention that involves .any
attempt against Castro or any
other person during my tenure
of office," Mr. McCone said in
a telephone interview: "I had
frequent meetings with the
President and Robert Kennedy
and with others who were con-
cerned about Cuba and . . . at
no time at any of those meet-
jugs was any mention made of
the assassination of,Castro."
? Mr. McCone beaded the
agency from 1961 to 1965 under
the late Presidents John F.
Kennedy and Lyndon B. John-
son. Robert F. Kennedy \yes
attorney general during his would have been the most na-iformer employees of the
brother's administration and tural thing in the world" for 'agency.
the beginning of the Johnson
administration.
7'itne magazine this week
cited "credible sources" as
saying that "the CIA enlisted
the expert hired-gun help of
U.S. Mafia figures in several
unsuccessful attempts to kill
Castro both before and shortly
after the CIA-planned Bay of
Pigs invasion of Cuba in 1961."
Two former aides to Robert
Kennedy, Adam Walinsky and
Peter B. Edelman, have said
that the late senator told them
he once learned of and stepped
a CIA effort to use the Mafia
to kill Premier Castro before
the Bay of Pigs.
Mr. McCone, who took over
the agency following the Bay
of Pigs disaster, said he devel-
oped a very close relationship
with Robert Kennedy while
serving as CIA director and "it
the then-attorney general to
tell him of the incident.
"He never said that, arel he
would have," Mr. McCone.
said.
The former intelligence chief
said he was basing his com-
ments both on his own recol-
lection and on a search of his
files.
"At ? no time was any such
plan of either a contractural
arrangement with the Mafia or
any 'arrangement with the
Mafia or any other organiea-
tion to assassinate Castro ever
discussed with me," Mr. Mc-
Cone said, adding that he
thought it was unlikely that
such a plot could have e':i:ccd
Without his knowledge.
Mr. McCone attributed the
news reports of CIA involve-
ment in assassinations to bitter
Senators seek report
Washington (NI? The Senate
Select Committee on Intelli-
gence voted unanimously yes-
terday to ask President Ford to
turn over a secret report pre-
sented to the White House by
William E. Colby. director ,of
the Central Intelligence Agen-
cy, in response to charges of
illegal domestic spying.
The request, in the form .of
a letter sent to Mr. Ford, does
not include a demand for in-
formetion contained in an ad-
ditional verbal report Mr. Col-
by reportedly gave the Presi-
dent about alleged CIA involve-
ment in assassinations of foe-
eign leaders.
STAT
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WASHINGTUDI
13 MARCH 1975
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e Ienies Kr.wrn
I CIA Plot ttr K Castr
By David C. Martin
Asociated Press
Former CIA director
John A. McCone has flatly
denied knowledge of any
agency plot to assassinate
Cuban Premier Fidel Cas-
tro or any other foreign
official.
"To my knowledge
there's nothing that was
brought to my attention
that involves any attempt
against Castro or any other
person during my tenure of
office," he said yesterday
in a telephone interview.
"I had frequent meetings
with the President and
Robert Kennedy and with
others who were concerned
about Cuba and ... at no
time at any of those meet-
ings was any mention made
of the assassination of
Castro."
He headed the agency
from 1961 to 1965 under the
late Presidents John F.
Kennedy and Lyndon B.
Johnson. Robert F. Kenne-
dy was attorney general
during his brother's admin-
istration and during the
early Johnson years.
TIME MAGAZINE this
week cited "credible
sources" as saying "the
CIA enlisted the expert
hired-gun help of U.S.
Mafia figures in several
unsuccessful attempts to
kill Castro both before and
shortly after the CIA-plan-
ned Bay of Pigs invasion of
Cuba in 1961."
Two former aides to Rob-
ert Kennedy, Adam Wa-
linsky and Peter B.
Edelman, have said he told
them he learned of and
stopped a CIA effort to use
the Mafia to kill Castro
prior to the Bay of Pigs.
McCone, who took over
the agency following the
Bay of Pigs, said he de-
veloped a close relationship
JOHN McCONE
Denies involvement
with Robert Kennedy while
CIA director and that "it
would have been the most
natural thing in the world"
for Kennedy to have told
him of the incident
MCCONE said he based
his comments on his own
recollection andon a search
of his files made after news
reports linking the CIA and
the Mafia to assassination
plots against Castro. He at-
tributed reports of CIA in-
volvement to bitter ex-em-
ployes of the agency.
Walinsky and Edelman
said Kennedy told them in
1967 that while chief counsel
to a Senate committee
investigating organized
crime in the late 1950s, he
learned of the plot in ques-
tioning a Las Vegas
mobster.
"It was unclear whether
the arrangement had been
made by someone associat-
ed with the agency or
whether there was any offi-
cial sanction within the
agency," Edelman said.
Walinsky said Kennedy had
received "assurances in
writing" from the CIA that
the plot had been aborted.
BUT Kenneth O'Donnell,
who was assistant chief
counseil to the committee
and later White House chief
of staf, said he never heard
any mention of a plot to kill
Castro. And Carmine Belli-
no, a chief investigator for
the rackets committee who
said he was present during
all Kennedy's interviews
with gangland figures, said
he could not recall mention
of such a plot.
"Bobby had no secrets
from me," O'Donnell said
of his years on the rackets
committee. "I lived in his
house for two years" and
"there wasn't a memo that
went through the commit-
tee that I. didn't see."
"My knowledge is first
hand," O'Donnell said,
"and I would like to think
that ... you're going to con-
sider what I say as opposed
to Walinsky and Edelman.".
HOWEVER, he added:'
"To say that somebody in
the CIA didn't give some-
body fifty bucks and say
here go knock off (Domini-
can Republic dictator Ra-
fael) Trujillo, that I can't
do."
The late Allen Dulles
headed the CIA at the time
Kennedy was chief counsel
to the Senate committee.
His top aide, Richard Bis-
sell, said he never discuss-
ed a Castro assassination
plot with Kennedy and that
it was "inherently unlikely"
that the agency, then under
the control of a Republican
administration, would pro-
vide written assurances to a
Democratically controlled
committee that such a plot
had been aborted.
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..NEW .YORK TINES
FILESINGER SEES.1. ?
EIN C.I.A. LAPSES'::!;
Es Ford Panel the Number
I '1.1isdemeanors' in Last
?.0 Years Is 'Quite Small!,
000600090012-3
By LINDA CHARLTON
? Sped11 to Th, :kr:v York Timer
WASHINGTON, Jan. 13?The
esidential commission inves-
ating alleged domestic spy-,
g by the Central Intelligence
eency held its first meeting
jay and was told by Secre-
-y of Defense James R. Schles-
ger, a former C.I.A. director,
at the number of "misde-
eanors" by the agency was, t:
uite small."
Schlesinger, one Of three
p ? C.I.A. officials who ap-
ared before the eight-member
mmission, told reporters as
t left the meeting that "cer-
in things did come to light"
the review of the agency's
telligence activities that had
ten precipitated by ,the dis-
'very of the agency's involve-
-ant in the Watergate affair.
? 20-Year Period Cited
But, he added, "Over all, one
ust recognize that these bear
n the: entire history of the
-entral Intelligence Agency
-eer a period in excess Of 20
.,ars, and one must recognize
-tat the number of misdemean-
-rs in that period is, I think,
ulte
Mr. Schlesinger's remarks
onstituted his first public ac-
mowledgement of a basis for
he allegations about illegal
lomestic activities by the
igency that he headed for about
:ix months in 1973.
Vice President Rockefeller,
who heads the commission,
,aid at a news briefing in the
ate afternoon that Mr. Schle-
,inger, "made exactly that same
tatement" to the commission,
ut would give no details of
his or anything else heard. or,
Members of the panel investiga
left: Vice President Rockefeller
L. Lemnitzer,,Ronald Reagan, C
ting the CIA., fr'orrt the Connor, Erwin N. Griswold, Lane Kirkland and Edgar
I
, chairman; Gen. Lyman Shannon'Jr. Behind Mr. Shannon is a newsman. Memlre..
. Douglas Dillon, John T. of the panel held a meeting yesterday in Washingto
Words .were at variance , with j
what '??eas reliably reported to
be his extreme 'concern and dis-
tress on hearing of the agency's
alleged domestic. spying; .was
one of two former-C.I.A. direc-
tors to appear. He was followedt
by Richard Helms, who preced-
ed Mr. Schlesinger as Director',
of Central Intelligence.
William E. Colby, the present
director, who succeeded Mr..
Schlesinger in September, 1973, t'
was the first to go into the con-
ference room, entering with an
attach?ase and bulging note;
book at 11;20 A.M. and leavingt
about 4:30. He made no public:
? t
statement
Mr. Rockefeller and the seven
other members of the commis-
sion appointed by President
Ford were sworn in by Carrie
L. Gooding, a General Services.,
Administration personnel .offi-
cer, in Mr. Rockefeller's cream-
and-blue --office about 10:30'
A.M. The panel members then
walked through a small ante- ?.
room to the adjoining confer-e
ence room, where adjoining
sat t
around a boat-shaped table.
Mr. Rockefeller, in a brief,
statement, said that the corn-
mission had "but one objective'.t
. ?Ve are going to get to the bot-
liscussed at the day-long meet--! t:-)rn of this problem." .
ng, which continued until just- "We are going to conduct this
,ast 6 P.M. ? ? with determination and
Secretary Schlesinger,' ,whose' thoroughness, and we are
? ? going to get all of the facts," he
said. 'We 'can- have, and we
must have, an intelligence ca-
pability?which is essential to
our security as a .nation?with-
out offending our liberties as a
people." ?
Approved For Release 200
None of the three men whol-ployes. In response to a quese
appeared today were sworn tion, he Said that there were
but each signed a waiver allow- -."n-o restrictions on who we will
ing his words to be used by the r call."
commission. The nameplate in' However, in response to an-
front of the seat reserved for other question?as to whether'
witnesses said only: "Visitor,"
he could call upon past C.I.A.
David Belin, the 46-year-old
iemployes to come forward with
Des Moines, Iowa, lawyer !information about the agency's
whose appointment as execu- :domestic-activities?he said that
tive director of the commission "to go . out . with a dragnet".
will be announced by the White
House Wednesday, sat in on the
opening portion of the meeting:
and met after the session with..
Mr. Rockefeller.
He was not able to stayi
throughout the day, according
to Mr. Rockefeller's press secre,
tary, Hugh Morrow, because his
secilrity clearance has not been
completed.
Mr. Belin. who served_ as
counsel to the Warren Commis-.
sion, which, in 1964, investigat-
ed the assassination of Pres-'
ident Kennedy, Ianl have a staff.
of at least seven investigators. ?
The only money at the staff's
disposal at present, Mr. Morrowl
said, is $150,000 from Presiden-j
tial contingency funds.
'A Lengthy Report'
Mr. Rockefeller, at a newsi
briefing at 4:45 P.M., said that
would strain the resources of
the committee's "very small
staff and very small time."
Pressed as to whether the
panel intended 'to hear not only.
from top officials of the agency
butalso from "the ranks," he
said, "We will go down into the
ranks." ? ?
Less than an hour later, the
commission's staff issued a
statement saying that Mr. Rock-
efeller had taken up that ques-
tion with other commissioners
and added: -?
"The cortmission response
was that it would welcome-any
specific, factual information
from individuals, especially for-
mer or present members of the,
C.I.A., relating to domestic ac-
tivities of the C.I.A."
At his news briefing. Mr.1
Rockefeller was also asked ifl
Mr. Colby had "made a lengthy.. the committee would make itsj
'report. during which questions'. report publ:c. He replied. "Ii
were asked." H was followed: would think that would he the:
by Mr.. Schlesinger, and "again ? case." He added, however, that
questions were asked." ?,e he was not making a commit-
The. Vice President said that ment.
?
he thought. the panel's investi-: He said that he was "notj
going to go into the ,detailedj
: gation would "probably con-,
tsume a large part if not all of'
the three months". that the,
President had - alletted .for its.
. 254. id Clitilk-13P.Paltr9CifiEll R000600090012-3
j indicated his ivillingness to
thave the commission talk 'with
inrPC,Pllt and former C.I.A. ern,
YO ?
icLo nt i:aue
-e
lallellgpprotie
clifartWVellha
had been guilty of overstep-
51
votes spy
probe
Democrats
in Senate set
CIA, FBI quiz
By MURIEL DOBBIN
WasAinytaa Bureau of. The Sun
Washington ? The Senate
Democratic caucus yesterday
voted overwhelmingly, to set up
a special committee responsi-
ble for investigating alleged
misconduct on the part of the
Central Intelligence Agency
and the FBI.
The 45-to-7 vote, taken after
a three-hour meeting, was a
defeat for Senator John C.
Stennis (D., Miss.), chairman
of the Senate Armed Services
Committee, whose voice was
heard through the closed door
of the caucus room vigorously
opposing the proposed congres-
sional probe into the opera-
tions of intelligence gathering,
agencies.
No "massive" spying
Meantime, Vice President
Rockefeller, chairman of an
eight-member presidential
eommission set up to study
CIA activities, said initial in-
quiries did not support charges
of "massive" domestic spying.
However, he said he was
certain the special commission
would make recommendations
designed to close any loopholes
relating to domestic surveil-
lance in the intelligence agen-
cy's charter.
The Rockefeller commission
heard testimony in private ses-
sion from Richard M. Helms
and John A. McCune, both
former directors of the CIA.
Mr. Helms told newsmen that
he acknowledged concern on
the part of both the late Presi-
dent Johnson and former Presi-
ident Nixon regarding antiwar
!demonstrations. He did not ans-
wer a question as to whether
that concern had led the CIA
into domestic spying.
Mr. McCone insisted that to
his knowledge the CIA was
involved in no domestic spying
during his term as director
ifrom 1961 to 1965.
! ping its mandate by becoming
involved in domestic surveil-
lance already are under inves-
tigation iri House and Senate
subcommittees.
Senator Stennis had indi-
cated his concern that a
sweeping bipartisan inquiry,
which might involve open, tel-
evised hearings, could severely
damage the successful operas
tiori of the intelligence agency.
However, Senator Mike
Mansfield (D., Mont.), Senate
majority leader, who with Sen-
ator Charles McC. Mathias,
Jr., (R., Md.), co-sponsored an
earlier proposal for a CIA in-
vestigating panel, stressed that
the aim of such a committees
would be to carry out a
{{sober, not sensational" in-
quiry. ?
"We seek to cleanse, not to
destroy." said Senator John a
Pastore (D., R.I.), adding that '
the proposed committee should,'
be composed of eight senators!
who "had no ax to grind."
According to Senator Pas-
tore, -there should be no "po-
larization" of vtewpoint among
the- senators on the CIA panel.
Using such a criterion, men
such as Senator William Prox-
mire (D., Viis.), an outspoken
critic of defense and intellig-
ence polieies. would appear to
be as unacceptable a choice as
Senator Stennis or Senator
John L. McClellan (D., Ark.),
chairman of a Senate appropri-
ations subcommittee that over-
sees the CIA budget.
It seemed to be the feeling
lamong congressional observers
that the move to examine and
assess intelligence gathering
agencies represented the
,"fresh wind" now said to be
sweeping throegh Capitol Bill.
There were eeee'dictions that
the membeiehip of the CIA
panel would reflect the same
!housecleaning -zeal Congress
;displayed in the wake of the
IWatergate scandals.
' &ratter Stennis indicated
;that he would fight against
establishment of the select
committee when the -proposal
reaches the Senate floor later
this week. But informed
sources said the Mississippi
Democrat is more ilk
e1 t
y o
seek to maneuver members of
his liking enlo the committee
than to risk an even more
resounding rebuff in the Sen-
ate.
There- were reports that Sen-
ator Methias is a potential
.chairman of the committee.
Senator Frank Church (D.,
ApproviidhFbragetinster20051514/28 : CIA-RDP91-00901R000600090012-3
hart (D.. Mich.) were atse
r9280rIPAVgna9P941MR
the bipartisan panel.
Moreover', it was suggested
that freshmen senators are
likely to obtain a place on the
committee, with such names
mentioned as Senator Gary
Hart (D., Colo.) and Senator
'-John H. Glenn (D., Ohio). It
was noted that both these men
are members of the Senate
Armed Services Committee
and their inclusion might be
offered as a sop to Mr. Sten-
nis.
As Senator Pastore put it,
"fresh faces and new ideas"
are needed.
AS' outlined in the Senate
resolution creating the CIA
icommittee, the panel will have
la $750,000 budget, subpoena
power and a mandate extend-
ing through September 1. 'Me
selection of from 7 to 11 mem;
leers will be made by Senator
Mansfield and Senator Hugh
Scott (R., Pa.), Senate minority
lead
111 -----11111
- !, s ve
but would be respensible for;
outlining recommendations thaty
could be lead to stricter con-
gressional oversight of intellie
gence operations, especially in
the light of recent indications
that the CIA had been the tar-
get of , White House pressure.
The committee's inquiries!
would extend to the informa-
tion gathering activities of the'
FBI -which yesterday admitted
that its files- Contained infore
enation on the personal lives of
congressmen. Represeestatieez
Robert W. Kastenmeir (De;
Wis.) promptly accused thee
FBI of "a cover-up as insidie
ous as Watergate."
Also on the House side Of.;
Capitol Hill. there was a move' ;
yesterday to reduce passible'
bias on the part of congress-
men assigned to consider ine
'tell'gence appropriations,
The Mathias . plan proposed
that the committee be com-
posed of members of the For-
eign Relations Committee,
Armed Services Committee,
Judiciary Committee and the
Atomic Energy Commissien.
Its activities would net pre-
clude independent investiga-
tions by congressional eommit-
tees with ,oversight jurisdiction
over the CIA.
Congressional sources stress-
ed that there would be ..att ef-
fort to avoid the sensational in
the probe, like the leaked reve-
lations of the Senate Watergate
committee, Because of the
classified nature of intelligence-
gathering operations,, a perhaps
substantial portion of the. CIA
hearings would be in private.
Open hearings, even with
such witnesses as Mr.. Helms,
might be heavily weighted with
bureaucratic discussion, a-
spokesman for a Republicere
senator said.
Senator Pastore said in a
telephone ? interview, "This
would be an in-depth hearing
to ascertain whether there has
been abuse and what can be
done to remedy it. It is not
going to be a focus of the
television cameras, like Water-
gate."
The CIA committee would
STAT
STAT
_2
DEmoc3Ais yoiL p7reInsidea rnt elated it.lbeivueelorfbmbmt,:i riblvloena,n.
'1; Mr.
t Ford's
d commis
-s: 'A Broad spectrum
WE CIA, STUDY
BY SENATE PANEL
-Party Caucus, 45-7, -Urges
Bipartisan Unit Like One
in Watergate Hearings
A SETBACK FOR STENNIS
Rockefeller Finds No Data
-to Indicate Massive. and
Illegal Domestio Spying
. : By SEYMOUR M. HERSH.
52fta: co, The New Tot* rmes
? WASHINGTON, Jan. 20?The
Senate Democratic Caucus voted
45 to-7 today to set up .a bi-
partisan select committee, simi-
lar to the one established, after
the Watergate break-in; to in-
vestigate all aspects of foreign
and domestic operations of the
Central Intelligence Agency and
other Government intelligence
units.
A favorable vote had been
expected, but the overwhelm-
ing majority in favor 'of the
new commlttee was viewed as
a major setback for Senator
John C. Stennis, chairman of
the Senate Armed Services
Committee, whose traditional,
dominance of military matters
in the Senate had gone unchal-
lenged until this morning's
caucus meeting.
. The Senate Armed Services -
Committee, which he .heads,
had already begun hearings in-
to allegations of domestic spy-
ing by the C.I.A.
"What happened today was
a kind of revolution," said
Senator Frank Church, Demo-
crat of Idaho, who emerged as
a_ key spokesman during a re-
cent debate on the Senate's
oversight of intelligence mat-
ters.
A Nine-SI onth Task
Senate's Democrats spe-
clfically approved a resolution
providing, for the Senate leader-
ship to name sasen to 11 mem-
bers to serve on the selects, or
essecial, committee, which Will
ieitially have a $750.000 budget
and nine rnenies in which
complete its work.
rero9nYM iFI9rttRoleagaW
C.I.A.'s- domestic activities
heard its second day of testi-
mony today and afterward its
chairman, Vice President Rock-
efeller, said "the impression
left so far" was that the C.I.A.
had not conducted a massive
and illegal domestic spying op-
eration.
A number of Senators said
after the three-hour Democrat-
ic that no restrictions
had been placed on the make-up
of the panel, although there
had been general agreement
that those chosen should have
no biases in any direction on
riatianal- security.
It was this issue that direct-
ly led to Senator Stennis's re-
buff. He did not challenge the
apparent desire of the Demo-
cratic Caucus to approve the
'select committee, Senate sources
said, but instead argued that
? the committee should be com-
posed of Senators now serving
on the Armed Services, Approp-
riations or Foreign Relations
Committees.
Mr. Stennis was reported to
have made an impassioned pike
to prevent what he said would
be the destruction of the C.I.A. j
stemming from an inquiry into I
alleged domestic spying. At
times, his. booming voice could
be heard by newsmen waiting
outside the caucus room.
But Senator Stennis received !
only a handful of votes, from
some of the Democrats who
serve on his Aimed Services
Committee and other conserva-
tive Southerners. The Mississip-
pi Democrat hinted later to
newsmen that he might oppose.'
the special committee when it
comes to the Senate floor for I the late nineteen-forties, was surreptitious monitoring of
passage later this week, said by an aide to Vice Pres- 'mall.
Committee members will not ident Rockefeller, chairman of c,The details surrounding the
the Ford Commission to have
testified to provide background
dn the various intelligence telligence agencies in increased
agencies and functions. g !activities against antiwar
"He ittst knows about it," the groups and other dissidents.
aide said. "He's been in the The plan was known as the
business along time." ,Huston plan after its author,.
"We got a broad picture,"4Tom Charles Huston, a former
Senator Pa tore who
spun-
to set up
n
the bipartisa intelligence
director of central Intelligence
panel, told newsmen that he
from 1961 to 1965, and .1. Pat-
wanted "a broad spectrum of
'rick Coyne, former executive
secretary 'of the President's.
membership that isn't polarized
or sympathetic ? one extreme
Foreign Intelligence Adivsory
or the other. What I want Isl7
something new, ? something
fresh."
The Rhode Island Democrat
also took issue with Mt. Sten-
nis's argument that the special
inquiry would jeopardize the
C.I.A.'s ability to conduct its
intelligent-gathering operations.
"The same argument[was] made
with respect to Watergate," Mr.
Pastore said, "that an investi-
gation would destroy our Gov-
ernment. But it didn't It rein-
;forced our form of Govern-
ment."
Senator Church said in a
his election. "It was something telephone interview that the
he [Mr. Nixon] expressed to n'
caucus actiO "doesn't mean
me in person," Mr. Helms told that the Senate is about to
newsmen. "I don't know if
shuck the C.I.A. or any other
intelligence operation."
? "We're talking about a
.thorough investigation, of the
entire intelligence rnommunity
!as it works inside and outside
,the United States," he said.
i"This has never been under-1
:taken before, and it couldn't;
have been but for a tidal shift'
Presidential requests. attitude toward those ac-t
After testifying in 'secret for :tivities."
more than two hours, Mr. Mc- Along with the C.I.A. and its
Cone told newsnien that henactivitiee, the special commit-,!
knew of no domestic C.I.A. spy- 'tee will investigate the opera-
ing activities when he headed 1 tions of the F.B.I.
? The caucus also voted tol
give the committee responsi-;
bility to -look into the. follow-1
ing:
CThe cceerdinatio:n?or lack
or it?among intelligence agen-
cies.
CThe extent to which in-1
telligence units are governed;
by secret orders from the ex-'
ecutive branch.
flAny violation or suspected
violation of Federal laws by
any intelligence agency, includ-
ing illegal wiretapping and the
Board.
A third witness was Richard
Helms, the former C.I.A. direc-
tor, who is now Ambassador
to Iran. Mr. Helms, who testi-
fied for the second time before
the eight-member commission,
later told newsmen that former;
Presidents Johnson., and Nixon
had both expressed- concern to
him about possible'. foreign
connections with the antiwar
movement.
President Johnson discussed*
,the matter with him in 1967,
1 MA Helms said, and Mr. Nixon
brought up the same issue after
there was any written direc-
tion."
Helms Statement Recalled
In a statement made public
last week, Mr. Helms suggested
that the C.I.A. began its do-
mestic operations in the late
nineteen-sixties in response to
?the agency.
?-In a 45-page.- statement re-
leased last week, William E.
Colby, -the present Director of
Central Intelligence, told of two
domestic wiretaps undertaken
by the agency in 1963. But
those two wiretaps, Mr. Colby
added, were authorized in ad-
vance by Robert F. Kennedy,
then the Attorney General.
Mr. Coyne, whotegart his in-
telligence work with the Feder-
al Bureau of Investigation in
be named until after that vote,
Senate sources said.
Today's caucus result left
many Senators and senior aides
talking about "the end of an
era."
"This is really the first time ;
that John Stennis, has gone to ?
the mat and gotten decisively the Vice President was quoted 'White House aide.
,
'development of the 1970 White
,House plan to involve all in-
trounced," One taucus eyewit- ? by The Associated. Press as
nesse said. He added that Mr. saying, "and now we want to
Stennis's defeat could have start- working on details." '
plications for the Senate on
other matters nol-rnally domin-
ated by Southern conServatives,
such as the Pentagon's annual
budget.
Senate sources said after to-
day's Democratic Caucus that
key arguments in favor of a
wide-ranging select committee
had been made by Senators
Church, John 0. Pastore of
Rhode Island. Stuart Symington
of Missouri; Walter Huddleston
of Kentucky and Alan Cranston
of California.
! One Senator termed Mr.
Cranston:s speech a particular-
STAT
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uornestic
C.I.A. for its alieged
I al' V, 52M
As We See ft
TA-kJ i
[Editorial)
0Th, Central intelligence Agency, which obviously cannot
function efficiently in the glare of a spotlight, has been very
much in the news in recent months. We call your attention to
the article by John A. McCue, former Director of the CIA.-- In
this Issue. The article explains, as the newt reparts. have not,
why we have a CIA and how vital it isle our national security
There were, evidently, clear examples of wrongdoing by
some members of the Agency in recent years, excesses which
went beyond the, airthority granted the CIA by Congress.
These excesses were uncovered.-by. a Senate committee
headed by Son. Frank Church (0-Idaho) which,?despite pleas
from the White House, decided to expose thesecret informs-
tion to the Nation and the world. The purpose of Concuss-
- sional hearings is to develop information that Wit prompt
legislation. Certainly legislation to prevent future excesses by
? the CIA might have been drafted and passed by Congress
without publicizing our secrets, exposing America to ridicule
and discrediting our intelligence organization.
0 This is an election year. Senator Church is ambitious. His
insistence that the American people deserve to know all the
facts is an effective one?ordinarily But this is an extremely
;sensitive and critical area. The publieshould know how our
Government operates, but must we know everything about
everYthing? Can we maintain relations with other nations
under such circumstances? Can American intelligence Nen-
des collect information vital to our security-when foreign in-
formants are led to doubt our ability to protect our sources?
A hundred KGB agents working overtime for the Kremlin
could-hardly have undermined the CIA as effectively as Sena,
tor Church's committee did. It was a shocking and im-
measurably harmful blow to our national 'security
'6- .???
I A iv
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THE NEW YORK TIMES, MONDAY, JANUARY 19, 1976
Reprinted from the Jan. 10 issue Of TV Guide Magazine.
A former Director of the agency
puts television coverage of its
activities into historical perspective
By John A. MCCOne
(The Central intelligence Agency has been Much in the
news lateix as television news has covered Congres.
alone investigatioss of the agencYs actiVities. Toadd to
viewers' understanding of that coverage, we present
this article by John A. McCone, who was Director of the
OA during the Kennedy and Johnson Administrations,
1961-65. Before that, he was one of the architects of the
Department of Defense, and served as Deputy Secretary
Of Defense under James Forrestal.]
Any government, including even those which have
the most-alanuaritaci.iatausaLitanai etesectiatiweit4wwei
collect foreign intelligence. This pursuit of a special
kind of information?and Its refined product, which
Is knowledge?is an Indispensable function.
Vigorous nations depend on their leaders to
devise a strategy that will provide both for their
security and for their economic and political well-
being History teaohea us that leaders cannot Meet
this responsibility unless they learn the Political,
economic and military capabilities and intentions of
other nations.
Today, great nations are armed as never before.
And the leaders of great states must take heed of
the risk involved. Furthermore, in their economic life,
nations both large and small are interdependent,
one with the other?more now than ever before in
the past.
On the military side, the maneuvering of possible
hostile forces, the deployment of mass-destruction
weapons and?what could be of greater impor-
tance? ?the hidden development of even more ad-
vanced weaponry must all be discovered lflgobd
time and their possible effects measured On the
economic side, the task of Intelligence services that
provide information to safeguard the'Nell-bPing4
the state has lately been vastly amplified : constir-44
tia has appeared that seeks to geteairlomic advan-
tage by imposing quotas and exorbitant priceston
raw materials that heretofore have been in relatively
free international flow.. ? .,,
Walter Lippmann once wrote, "Foreign policy
the shield of the Republic"; and Sherman Kent, the
distinguished historian, has said, "Strategic in7-.
.telligence is the thing that gets the -shield to the
proper place at the right time.-It is also the thing that
stands ready to guide the sword."
What these men are saying is merely that sound
decisions designed to protect the security interests.
and the economic and political welfare of our counlk
try can only be made 'against a background of
knowledge. Without the knowledge gained from
.foreign-intelligence gathering methods, and the ap-
praisal of the significance of that 'knowledge
developed through careful and studious analysis of
the information, leaders can make no policy deci-
sions with reasonable assurance that the action,
they plan is a correct one.
All vigorous nations, large and small, support e
foreign-Intelligence epparatus. Invariably, .the
organization isciandestine. EvenlnopOnsocieties
practical -considerations demand that the-organizelt
tion-be kept out of public view andAtsvdric,rnade
known only to .the few who. need to know Usuall*
the authority granted to this organization and the
Control over it are both embedded at the topmost
echekin'of power. When you make public disclosure
of the intimate details of a foreign-intelligence ser-
vice you paralyze an otherwise effective operation.
It is no surprise that the so-called superpowers?
the United States and the Soviet Union?both main-
tain elaborate intelligence systems; but the in-
telligence efforts of other countries throughout the
world, some 40 in all, are also significant. Among
them all, the intelligence service of the United
was initiated and authorized legislatively?in our
case, by Congressional action after long and
thoughffutconsideration by both houses of the Con-
gress and with its operations and budgets reviewed
by CongrestiOnal committees.
We got into the foreign intelligence business fairly
recently. Between the two World Wars, the United
States maintained little in the way of an intelligence
community. To be sure, the Army and the Navy main-
tained separate intelligence units of their own,
specifically to meet their needs in times of war. The
Department of State kept a watchful eye on world
happenings, and ambassadors regularly reported
their observations. But, we had no organization in
existence to analyze the whole flow of information
and to study the dangers to American security In-
herent in the pattern of action reported from abroad.
Thus, an inquiry into our surprise at Pearl Harbor,
conducted after World War II, disclosed that our
98dt:it's government agencies had in hand?days
Prior to the actual: attack?all essential information
concerning Japan's preparations for war, including
k41880bly a ? parture of ;he Japanese fleet.
'State, War Departments had each
'eted:the info on, and each had used it for
Own.. ,special in *Ng* but?disastrously?no
branch of government then had the duty to put the
information together and alert the President of im-
pending danger.:
'Vitas to correct this gaping deficiency 1n our
goOrnineht machinery that the Central Intelligente
Agency was. created ?ritider the National Security
Act i;if:.1947;To,enSure,thaf it -would remain 'apart
from partisan attachments and parochial interests,
the -"CIA was developed essentially as a civilian
organization.
It was then recognized-that many departments of
government must, in the interests of their depart-
mental responsibilities and ,to broaden.the base of
all intelligence appraisals, continue their own in-
telligence efforts. I am Speaking of the intelligence
division of the State Department known as the
Bureau of Intelligence and Research?a thoughtful
organization that assesses information for the State
? Department; the Defense Intelligence Agency that
supporte.the Secretary of Defense and the Joint
Chiefs#4StafVcenrdinates the work of :the 'three
separetiiiervies)ntelligenCeunits and manages the
corps Of fakery; attaches; lholntel I igence. units of
the Army, Npts atid'AirfEorce Maintained: to Serve
their ,Chlefsel;ServiCisend to *vide ourrentjtech-
nicat intelligence information tii,field Commanding
the Intelligence units of the Treasury Department
and the Energy Research and Development Agency
(formerly the Atomic Energy Commission), both of
which contribute Important specialized information
on foreign developments; and, finally, the Federal
Bureau of investigation, which, in the course of its
extensive domestic operations, is constantly
unearthing information either originating abroad or
having a significant foreign connection.
At- the apex of this large,. complex community is
the Central Intelligence Agency. Its Director, as the
President's principal Intelligence officer, is charged
by Presidential directive with the responsibility for
the general direction of the community as a whole.
This function he carries out in his individual role and
as chairman of the United States Intelligence Board,
which is the -senior body of the community, and is
composed of the directors of several departmental
intelligence organizations.
The Central Intelligence Agency's respon-
sibilities, as established by law, range from the col-
lection of overt and covert intelligence by its own
considerable establishment to the correlation and
assessment of intelligence findings from all sources.
In addition, the CIA is charged with protecting in-
telligence sources and methods and with executing
tasks assigned by the President or the National
Security Council. Under this latter mandate fall such
essential activities as counterintelligence, which
means ferreting out, together with the FBI, the
covert activities of others. Also, the mandate covers
covert political action and covert paramilitary opera-
tions?the supporting or training and equipping of
third-country nationals who espouse our principles
of freedom and who are under attack by Communist
forces directed from the center of Communist power.
Unevaluated intelligence?raw, as it is known in the
trade?comes in many ways. Through the long
sweep of history, human contact, both open and
covert, has been the major source of intelligence.
Conversations between heads of state, reports from
ambassadors and military attaches, and articles in
newspapers and other publications all contribute to
the inventory of information. But the richest source
is usually the secret agent, a well-trained profes-
sional, concealed under disarming cover, who
usually moves in the highest and most informed cir-
cles.
The ethics of clandestine intelligence operations
have long been debated and some would do away
With them. The fact is that no international covenant
1976 Tram% Publications. Ine.
Preparing this body of literature in its various
forms is, in my opinion, the most important activity of
the agency. It is certainly the least publicized.
In the discharge of its duties, the United States In-
telligence Board gathers weekly at CIA headquar-
ters?and often more frequently?to review the na-
tional estimates prepared by the CIA analysts. This
review is made before the estimates are passed to
the President and to others by the Director. It is also
within the Board's purview to advise the Director on
how best to supply the intelligence needs of the Na.
tion's policymakers, schedule the flights of the
reconnaissance satellites and photographic planes,
fix the tasks of the National Security Agency, advise
the precautions that may be desirable for protecting
the Nation's intelligence sources and methods, and
maintaining a watch office to be constantly on the
alert for surprise hostile developments.
In the tempest?abundantly reported by televi-
sion and the press?that has been whirling over the
heads of the intelligence community and particu-
larly the CIA in recent months, the accusation Is fre-
quently sounded that our intelligence community is
an unsupervised, free-wheeling body?a law unto it-
self. This simply is not true. The President, himself.
exercises control in a number of ways: through per-
sonal contact with his Director; through the Office of
Budget and Management and a subcommittee of
the National Security Council that oversees covert
activities; and also through a civilian advisory board
that meets frequently, reviews the community's
operations and reports to the President. The House
of Representatives and the Senate have special
committees to oversee the community's' activities
and to review its budgets.
For all of this extensive oversight, recent accusa-
tions of wrongdoing?some imagined, others grossly
overstated, but still a few justified?have set up a
clamor for closer supervision of the intelligence
operations and especially the clandestine activities.
In my opinion, the noise has been so great and the
Image of CIA has become so tarnished that changes -
must be made to extinguish, as much as possible,
criticism, to restore confidence and to provide an
on-going dynamic foreign intelligence service. But
no changes will be useful unless the Congress, the
press and electronic media, and the public can feel
assured that the Nation's entire intelligence Service;
in playing its part to ensure the well-being of our Na-
tion, will always confine its operations to acceptable
moral and legal standards.
.Viseose?moreamemeliseesoweinelleilliFiePrw?rilgitrngersztr
y have for centuries. At least 40 nations today remedies 'TheInvolve h legisfative and execuffiel --
support clandestine services?no great state can action. As we seek change, we must take great dare
abandon them. ? not to damage the effectiveness of the intelligence
in the recent past, technology has enormously organization and we must accept the practical truth
lengthened the reach and sharpened the penetra-
tion of Intelligence. High-flying aircraft carrying
Sophisticated cameras, supplemented by orbital
Satellites equipped with even more advanced
cameras, have been able to look down into fortress
societies and recordin startling detail what is ac-
tually developing.
A correspondingly wide range of electronic sensing
and tracking devices makes it quite possible to ac-
curately deduce the yield of nuclear devices, ex-
ploded either in the atmosphere or underground, at
great distances; and to supply information on the
characteristics and performance of military equip-
ment that is being developed and tested beyond
otherwise impenetrable frontiers. Indeed, in the
event of a surprise attack, we would get our first
warning of the blow being prepared from these in-
telligence-gathering systems.
? Gathering the information is only the start of the
Intelligence process. The raw material, once ob-
tained, must be drawn together, analyzed and cor-
related And it must be evaluated before it becomes
useful knowledge. An estimate of the developing
situation emerges, and from this estimate a head of
state, consulting with his advisers, can chart a
course of action that will best meet the developing
situation. Without the intelligence itself and the
sophisticated estimate, the head of a government
would be groping toward a decision.
All raw intelligence entering the community flows
in one form or another to the ClA. From this process-
ing comes a digest of what it all means and an esti-
mate of what its consequences could be. The bits
and pieces of information from near and far are
studied by men and women of the highest
capabilities; political scientists, economists,
historians, linguists, engineers, physicists and other
experts.
Daily intelligence reports are sent to the President
and his principal advisers. Finally, there appears a
body of papers known as the National Intelligence
Estimates, presenting a continuing analysis of mili-
? tary, political -and economic situations that bear
directly-on our national security and well-being. All
are the product of the analytical process and are
prepared within the halls of the Central Intelligence
Agency, with a substantial oversight by the United
? States Intelligence Board.
that a foreign intelligence operation, to be effective
at all, must by its very nature remain "In privacy"?
its activities must be cloaked In secrecy. In a free
society, we find it difficult to accept this concept, btit
society must accept the "cloak:'
? The proximity of the Central Intelligence Agency
and its Director to the President and the National
Security Council should be made more con-
spicuous. Indeed, it might be advisable to identify
the organization as an arm of the National Security
Council and identify it that way by name. Its Director
would then be the Nation's principal intelligence
officer, with statutory authority over all of the ac-
tivities now conducted by the CIA and with general
supervision over the community as a whole. A sub-
committee of NSC with high-level representation
from State, Defense, Treasury and the White House
itself, could provide a watchful eye over all in-
telligence activities, not merely certain covert
operations as now is the case. The President's
Civilian Advisory Board should continue to provide
him with an informed viewpoint outside of the chan?
nels of government.
To strengthen Congressional oversight, I suggest
we create a single joint committee on intelligence,
with membership drawn from both houses and ade-
quately staffed. Such a committee should function
in the same manner as the Joint Committee on
Atomic Energy has functioned for almost 30 years.
The confidentiality of all that is provided to this
committee that I propose must remain within the
committee, as has been the case through the years
with our nuClear affairs. In particular, oversight by
such a joint committee must be accepted as over.
sight by the Congress as a whole.
In one way or another, risks of leaks and dis-
closures of sensitive operations must be lessened
or eliminated under severe penalties, authorized by
law.
Beyond this, anyone who has been seriously con-
nected with the responsibilities of national security
will hope that our prolonged and painful review of
the roles and missions of the CIA, and the work of
the Intelligence community as a whole, will end up
by preserving an organization that can serve our
security needs and yet rest comfortably within
American political philosophy. Our Nation would
hardly be safe.without such an establishment
This is what people are reading inn/ Guide-America's best selling magazine.
?
GUIDE
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WASHINGTON POST
8 JAN 1975
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Other Units Called Patsies'
New House Panel on CIA Is Sought
By Mary Russell
Washington Post Staff Writer
House Democrats dissatis-
fied with congressional over-
sight of the Central Intelli-
gence Agency will seek to cre-
ate a new House Select Com-
mittee on Intelligence_ when
the 291 House Democrats cau-
cus Monday and Tuesday.
Rep. Michael J. Harrington
(D-Mass.), author of the select
committee proposal, said,
"Every time I read that major,
independent congressional
committees are going to un-
dertake inVestigations at the
current allegations of illegal
domestic surveillance by the
CIA, I want to laugh. The day-
to-day record of those commit-
tees is replete with indications
that they didn't know or didn't
want to know what's going
.on."
Harrington charged that, in
fact. the committees had been
"willing patsies" for the CIA.
providirne; a "fictional cover"
of congressional approval.
In a latter to Democratic
Caucus Chairman Phillip Bur-
'ton (D-Calif.). Harrington
charged that last year the
?House Arnied? Services sub:
committeee on intelligence,
headed by Rep. Lucien N.
Nedzi (D-Mich.), "devoted
more time in hearings con-
cerned with the unauthorized
disclosure of classified infor-
mation than with widespread
accusations of improper
agency actions."
He said his proposed select
committee would look into not
only the current allegations of
domestic.surveillance but "all
facets of both CIA operations
and congressional oversight."
"Left in the hands of the
new presidential commission
and the existing oversight
committees, the CIA can be
expected to weather the cur-
rent controversy with little
change in its policy and opera-
tions," Harrington said.
A Senate Armed Services
subcommittee headed by John
C. Stennis (D-Miss) has juris-
diction over the CIA on the
Senate side, while the House
Foreign Affairs Committee
shares some.., jurisdiction on
the House side.
Nedzi has already an-
nounced plans to investigate
the current charges that the
CIA spied on Americans in
yesterday that formation of a
new panel would just
"duplicate efforts" of his com-
mittee. He said last year's
committee reorganizations
were intended "to streamline
committees and not prolifer-
ate them." ?
"Rep. Harrington's free to
charge whatever he desires,
but in the final analysis the
record will disclose we have
done an extremely diligent
and effective job since we
have been delegated the re-
sponsibility for the CIA, Nedzi
declared.
Nedzi said his subcommittee
wasn't established until late in
1971 and "didn't get organized
until 1972." By that time, he
said, allegations of CIA partic-
ipation in Watergate and
other domestic activities had
"all been known already."
Of the current allegations,
Nedzi said: "While we have
had some information on do-
mestic operations, it did not
correspond to the implications
recently printed in the press
and that's why we intend to
the . :United States and said hold hearings.",
Harrington --called his pro-
posal's chances in caucus
"probably pretty good." After
that would come a floor vote
by the full House.
Harrington said formation
of 4 special congressional CIA
committee?"an independent
investigatory mechanism"?
has already been endorsed by
former CIA director John Mc-
Cone .and Clark Clifford, for-
mer chairman of President
Kennedy's Foreign. Intelli-
gence Advisory Board:
Meanwhile, Sen. Lowell. P.
Weicker Jr. (R-Conn.) said he
will reintroduce legislation to
create a Senate-House over-
sight committee with "broad
powers to police the U.S. intel-
ligence community." A Senate
Government Operations sub-
committee held two,?daYs of
hearings last year on the pro-
posal, which Welcker said had
"the support of over one-third
of the Senate."
One function of the pro-
posed joint committee would
be to authorize the funding
:fur the CIA and the National
Security Agency, so that their
budgets could not be c(vAT
cealed in defense appropr -
tions bills, Weicker said.
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