ADVICE FOR THE CIA

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP91-00901R000600390001-2
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 7
• Document Creation Date: December 19, 2016
• Document Release Date: December 2, 2005
• Sequence Number: 1
• Publication Date: November 27, 1987
• Content Type: NSPR

Approved For Release
The Washington Post STAT
The New York Times
00394QQa1s9gton Times
The Wall Street Journal
The Christian Science Monitor
New York Daily News
USA Today
The Chicago Tribune
Date 1 y_V41 L9~
ADVICE FOR THE CIA: New CIA Director William
Webster must rid the intelligence agency of its renegades.,
said ex chief Stansfleld Turner. "It's clear that some of
these people lied to their own inspector general and Con-
gress" in the Iran-contra affair, said Turner, CIA head from
1977-81. Those who didn't lie hid facts, saying they couldn't
remember - grounds enough "to be fired in any event."
Page -7?
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 Approved For Release 20
New York Daily News
USA Today
The Chicago Tribune
Date 1__> 17
Letters
Stansfield 7icrner scores Times `VEIL' review
The Oct. 12 Times contains an ex-
ample of writing as flagrantly irre-
sponsible as I have ever read.
Edward Epstein, in his review of
Bob Woodward's new book, "VEIL,"
writes, "As Mr. Woodward makes
crystal clear, Adm. Turner provided
him, astoundingly enough, with data
about one of the most closely held
secrets in American intelligence....
Writes Mr. Woodward, `Turner ex-
plained in detail the submarine
cable-tapping operations ..: "
Any reader would quite naturally
conclude that Mr. Woodward is say-
ing that I explained this secret op-
eration to him.
If you read the actual quotation on
page 87 of "VEIL," Mr. Woodward is
describing a briefing which he says
I gave to President-elect Ronald
Reagan. What he is asserting is that
I told Ronald Reagan about this se-
cret operation. Nowhere does he
claim I told him, and I did not.
"Dishonest" is the only word to
describe Mr. Epstein's misuse of this
quotation.
In addition, Mr. Epstein writes
that I gave Mr. Woodward a "copy of
a transition team memo on the CIA"
which is "still classified `code-word
secret: " I have never even seen this
memo, which was prepared by the
Reagan transition team, not the CIA.
It is most irresponsible to publish
such misleading writing.
STANSFIELD TURNER
McLean, Va.
Page
The Washington Post
e New York Times ___ STAT
01 R00060039040e Arashington Times
The Wall Street Journal
The Christian Science Monitor
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 Approved For Rel
The Washington Post
03 Yrk Times
The Washington Times
The Wall Street Journal
The Christian Science Monitor
New York Daily News
USA Today
e Chicago Tribune
Date
mL V
Bush is said to have asked
Carter to keep him at CIA
By Michael Kelly
and Mark Matthews
Washington Bureau of The Sun
WASHINGTON - The man who
replaced George Bush as CIA direc-
tor said yesterday he was told by
President Carter that Mr. Bush had
asked Mr. Carter to let him keep the
Job, in exchange for Mr. Bush's
promise to forswear future political
ambitions.
At a breakfast meeting with re-
porters, Stansfield Turner, the for-
mer Carter administration CIA direc-
tor, said Mr. Carter told him that
after the 1976 election Mr. Bush
traveled to Plains, Ga., to visit Mr.
Carter and that he asked to be al-
lowed to remain as CIA director, a
position he described as "the best job
in town."
"Carter was approached by Bush
to stay on, with Bush saying he
would eschew any future political
ambitions," Mr. Turner said. "Carter
told me that he had nothing against
66Carter was
approached by Bush to
stay on, with Bush
saying he would
eschew anyfuture
political ambitions. 99
STANSFIELD TURNER
Bush as an individual but he just
could not keep that Republican an
individual in that sensitive a post.'
Mr. Turner's account of the dis-
cussion between Mr. Bush and Mr.
Carter during the transition between
administrations seems to contradict
statements by Mr. Bush in his re-
cently published official autobiogra-
phy, "Looking Forward, An Autobi-
ography."
2.j -
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 Approved
FILE ONLY The Washington Post
The N nrk Times
CIA-RDP91-00901 R0006003q
angton Times F
Poet laureateship allows
Wilbur `best of all worlds'
By Ann Geracimos
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
The U.S. poet laureate, Rich-
ard Wilbur, stands on a bal-
cony of the Library of Con
gress like Midas before
treasure, seemingly reluctant to ac-
knowledge what his power bestows.
That may be because nobody else
can either. The poet laureate - Mr.
Wilbur is only the second, after Rob-
ert Penn Warren - invents the job
as he goes along.
Right now Mr. Wilbur needs a
copy of Aristotle's "Rhetoric." It
wasn't on the shelves at Smith Col-
lege near his home in rural western
Massachusetts. He figures he won't
have that trouble in the world's larg-
est storehouse of human knowledge.
Nor does he expect trouble from
outfits such as the FBI and the CIA,
which have monitored writers sus-
pected of "subversive" views, al-
though he often has been critical of
government policies."[H]istory, that
sure blunderer, ruins the unkempt
web, however silver," he wrote in
"Speech For the Repeal of the
McCarran Act." When former Am-
herst fraternity '-Gr other Stansfield
Tlirner was CIA hector he re-
ceive a letter that, fin-effect, "reas-
sured me that I was a loyal citizen in
good standing."
Some time ago he got in trouble
with the feminist sensibilities in
Canada's Anglican Church about a
hymn he had written. "They wanted
the line 'Stony Hearts of Men'
changed to 'Stony Hearts Remain.' I
wrote back a militantly stodgy letter
saying, in effect, that whoever
doesn't know what is meant is pre-
tending not to know"
Mr. Wilbur is more bemused than
shy. This tall, handsome master of
dramatic and lyric verse has accu-
mulated many of the great prizes for
creative endeavor - Pulitzer, Gug-
genheim, National Book awards, to
name a few. He has published or ed-
ited at least 12 books of poetry. Crit-
ics have judged his translations of
Racine and Moliere to be superior to
the original, , and he has written
words for cantatas and musicals.
Teaching at Harvard, Wesleyan,
Wellesley and Smith for nearly 40
years was "hard," he says; but as a
poet acclaimed early in his career,
he got "a lot of time off here and
there." A college journalist turned
poet, he literally found his metier
while under fire in a foxhole during
World War II. That helped make it
easy later to hold his ground against
institutional busywork.
"I wanted to be a good scholar. I
was drawn to Milton and to French
dramatists and Baroque art in gen-
eral. . .. But I felt the need to write
poems. I was a scholar without it
having to exhaust me."
His "ivory tower" at home is a
custom-built silo 12 feet high and 24
feet round suggested to him'by play-
wright Arthur Miller. He has a
swimming pool, tennis courts and a
second home in Key West, Fla., in a
compound that includes writers
John Hersey and Ralph Ellison. He
likes such gentlemanly pursuits as
tennis, gardening, walking. He has
been married to the same woman for
45 years.
Royalties still roll in from his part
in the 1956 musical "Candide," in-
cluding the theme music from Dick
Cavett's TV talk show, originally
from that show. He was responsible
for "83.5 percent" of the lyrics in
that all-time talent blockbuster. Mu-
sic was by Leonard Bernstein, script
by Lillian Hellman and original lyr-
ics were by Dorothy Parker and John
Latouche. Staging was by Tyrone
Guthrie.
In 1986 he was picked to write
words to William Schuman's music
praising the 100th birthday of the
Statue of Liberty, because, he muses,
"I had already sold my soul to Broad-
way and got well out of the ivory
tower."
Like Candide, Mr. Wilbur lives in
the best of all possible worlds for a
contemporary poet. And like Vol-
taire's satiric meditatiott on the na-
ture of good and evil, Mr. Wilbur is
a conundrum. He eludes the com-
monplace while praising it. He is a
traditionalist with an adventurer's
soul.
In teaching, he says, "you settle.
for second-rate language all day ...
whichever words come to you. That
The Wall Street Journal
The Christian Science Monitor
New York Daily News
USA Today
The Chicago Tribune
erodes the soul if one is a poet;' but
he always "wanted to find out things
and tell things to people."
Worse, he is an optimist. He
thinks poetry has the power to
change things: "When it is striking,
powerful, it does take possession of
people. ... I once knew a merchant
of death who kept, on five-by-seven
cards in his pocket, an exceptionally
well-chosen anthology of largely
contemporary poetry. It could have
been schizophrenic behavior."
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow -
"a noble kind of Dear Abby who set
out to create myths for his country"
- drew sparks, but "the beat busi-
ness [of the '60s] had to do with
dressing. Hardly a poem came out of
it you would want to read again," he
asserts.
The Wilburs have three grown
children and a learning-disabled
teen-age son. A daughter is married
to the editor of Plowshares. One son
is an editor with Houghton-Mifflin
publishers. A third is a computer
software programmer, "inventing
something for lawyers."
What will this year's poet laureate
do to follow the standing-room-only
reading he gave Monday night?
The laureate post, officially the
Poet Laureate-Consultant in Poetry,
offers a stipend of more than $40,000
plus the use of an apartment. Duties
entail only a fall reading and a
spring program. The rest of the time
he is free to answer mail, if he likes;
and, under the legislative mandate,
he may promote poets and poetry
any way and any time he wishes.
Mr. Wilbur has scheduled talks li-
braries and schools in the Washing-
ton area. His next platform appear-
ance is Oct. 20 when he introduces
writer Peter Taylor for a reading.
But the library isn't much con-
cerned about how he interprets the
job.
"It's good for them [poets] to have
a break every once in a while;' said
a library spokesman.
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 ARTICLE APPF.AUD
ON PAGE
Approved For Release 2005/>3~iA--RDP
24 August 1987
^
e ines
of August
The threat from Iran prompts a Western
buildup in and around the Persian Gulf
navy is an unwieldy weapon to erations in the gulf, and when
use against terrorism. But that it belatedly came out that a
A was the challenge that the Amer- Navy fighter had fired at an
ican fleet in the Persian.Gulf Iranian warplane on Aug. 8-
faced last week. Armed and the first hostile act by Ameri-
trained for high-tech warfare, the sailors can forces since the gulf opera-
h
d
'
a
to cope instead with I
iiti ti b
rans prmveonegan-the Pentagon had
seaborne guerrillas, who dashed about in J to admit that its missiles had
fishing ships and lightly armed speedboats missed. Experts suggested a va-
and dropped antiquated mines into sea riety of ways in which the Navy
lanes that the U.S. Navy was pledged to 1 could carry out its mission
keep open. So far, the'result was a frustrat- ; more effective) "So far "
y
Terrorism at see: The tanker Texaco Caribbean lists witl
con-
?ing standoff. The Navy safely escorted one i ceded one U.S. official, "our competence
convoy to Kuwait and had another one pre- has been questionable."
pared to run Iran's gantlet out of the gulf. A The guerrilla war against tankers spilled
new scare developed, however, when mines out of the Persian Gulf early last week. At a
began to bob up in previously safe waters supposedly safe staging area in the Gulf of
just outside the Persian Gulf. One of them Oman, the American-owned Texaco Carib-
damaged an American-owned tanker, and bean hit a mine that tore a hole in its hull,
another sank a small supply ship. spillingoil thatcame, ironically, from Iran.
The mines of August drew a crowd of Pentagon spokesman Robert Sims said the
Western warships to the area. The helicop- mines "almost certainly" had been laid by
ter carrier USS G
d
l
l
ua
a
cana
was due on
station this week with eight minesweeping
Sea Stallion choppers. Also en route were
the battleship Missouri and the dock ship
Raleigh, which carried three small, wood-
en-hulled boats-among the few operation- 1
al minesweepers in Ronald Reagan's 600-
ship Navy. After rebuffing American calls
for help all summer, Britain and France
decided to send seven minesweepers to the
region. The old-fashioned Iranian mines
had Western naval officers thoroughly
spooked. The Pentagon estimated that 50
of them had been deployed and that Iran
had nearly 1,000 more in reserve. "It would
take 50 minesweepers to keep the channels
of navigation in the gulf open permanent-
ly," said a French admiral. "The Iranians
have us at their mercy with only a few
hundred mines."
First shots: At times, however, the U.S.
Navy seemed to be its own worst enemy.
The fleet was haunted by a series of snafus,
including the Stark tragedy last May and
the command's failure to anticipate the
need for minesweeping. The Pentagon also
took some flak for withholding news of op.
Iran. Similar mines were found off the
coasts of Saudi Arabia and Bahrain. Then
the Anita, a 156-foot supply ship owned by a
Swedish-based company, hit a mine in the
Gulf of Oman. The ship blew up and sank;
one crewman was listed as dead and five
1 others as missing.
Democratic Sen. Patrick Leahy com-
plained that the Navy "is being brought to
a virtual halt by off-the-shelf mines. I think
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Continued
~4
 The Iranians have us at their mercy': A mine in the Gulf of Oman
PHOTOS BY D. 1fUDs0N__syG MA
hole blown in its hull, apparently
by an Iranian mine
a low threshold for pain and Iran would not violate international rules
that eventually American pub- of navigation by placing mines in open-
lic opinion will force us out.,, , water channels. At best, the Navy is poorly
Mines may be only one form equipped for minesweeping, a task left to
of Iranian harassment. A Pen. I its allies in the European theater. But
tagon official said Iranian vol- when the British and French minesweep-
unteers were being trained for ern arrive, they won't be much help. The
suicidal missions in speed- French ships don't plan to enter the Per-
boats. Robert Lamb, a State De- sian Gulf at all, and the British will steer
partment security official, was clear of U.S convoys.
quoted by the Los Angeles Intruding warplane: "Mining is a form of
Times as saying that Iranian terrorism, says a White House official,
agents were casing U.S. embas- "and terrorism is the hardest kind of thing
sies in the gulf states for possi- to fight, particularly for the rrigular mili-
the Iranians, provided they don't overstep Saudi Arabia's terrorist Per attacks
o et a du onge tary." The scrape with an intruding war-sian Gulf
two
weeks
came
natu-
a bit more and fire a missile, can sit there and harass explosion damaged a natural-gas complex rally to the Americans. The incident began
us and frustrate us almost as much as they late in the week. Saudi officials called it an
want," said Leahy. Administration offs- industrial accident, but to other experts, off from Urom.S. the radars Iranian air detectedbaasplanee a Bandartaking
cials believed that the Iranians intended to the blast looked suspiciously like sabotage. Abbas. The radar "signature" suggested
harass the U.S. fleet, rather than confront Until its minesweeping boats and heli- that it was an American-made F-4 fighter-
it head-on. "Lebanon is the Iranian model," copters arrive, the Navy's defenses against bomber, a judgment that later was con-
said a State Department hand, referring to 'I Iranian mines will be thin. In preparing for firmed by satellite photographs of the plane
Iranian-inspired attacks on Americans the Persian Gulf operation, Navy planners on the ground just before takeoff. The F-4
there. "They believe that Americans have underestimated the danger, assuming that flew toward a U.S. P-3 Orion radar plane pa-
Air cove: An F-14 firing offa missile
ship battle group in the Arabian Sea a news eaked
out it refused to publicly confirm the story.
Brltaht: 2 warships, 1 fleet tanker, 4 It also stopped divulging operational plans,
minesweepers and a supply ship 1 such as the departure time for the convoy to
Friaco: 3 minesweepers, 3 escorts 1 Kuwait. There were valid security reasons
antisub ship, aircraft carrier Clemen- for buttoning up, but critics complained
ceau, 2 frigates all in the Gulf of Oman that the secrecy also was designed to play
AUct"ih down the Navy's snafus and to avoid the
impression that U.S. forces were involved
U.S.: Over 100 on the 2 carriers, in. ~ in a combat situation, which could force
eluding 24 F-14s and 8 Sea Stallion Reagan to invoke the War PnwP,Q a,.+
trolling over the gulf. The Iranian was in-
tercepted by two Navy F-14 Tomcats, one of
Be which fired a pair of Sparrow missiles at
long range. The American pilot had little
The allies will soon have a formida- hope of scoring a kill, given the distance; he
ble armada in or near the gulf. may have fired early in order to be sure of
Ships protecting the Orion. The Iranian presum.
ably was able to detect the Tomcat's radar
U.S.: Over 30 vessels, including the 9- "locking on" to him. The F-4 quickly turned
ship Middle East Force, USS Guadalca- and escaped.
nal, USS Raleigh with 3 minesweepers At first the administration kept the inci-
in the gulf; USS Constellation, plus 6- dent secret, and even after th 1
~? .uo uepiuy-
Reintorcen A French minesweeper France: 40 warplanes aboard Clemen- I ' ments. Even some administration officials
ceau, including 12 Super Etendards thought the secrecy had gone too far.
"When something like this happens that's
going to leak out anyway," said a senior
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CoftiflU w
as
 Approved For Release 2006W12023e?'.CIA Ptg4n6OStl 8.000600390001-2
The gag order came from Defense Secre-
tary Caspar Weinberger, who on Aug. 5
circulated a memo reminding his subordi-
nates that "loose lips sink ships." Some
Navy men complained privately that deci-
sions by a snarled and top-heavy chain of
command were causing them trouble. They
griped that the commander responsible for
operations in the gulf is a Marine Corps
general based in Florida. They complained
that the Navy never wanted to get involved
in the gulf and that the decision to do so was
driven by Weinberger and Adm. William
Crowe, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of
Staff, for political reasons, such as keeping
the Soviets out of the region. The operation-
al confusion may reflect badly on Crowe,
who is supposed to be expert at blending
military needs with political imperatives.
'No flnoorprinb': Some critics of the admin-
istration complained that Was in on
wasn't bein tou h enou h. Former CIA
director titans a Turner, a retired admi-
ral, wrote in The New York Times that the
Navy sfioul more Iran's exc usion zone"
in the If, to 've itself more room to ma-
neuver aroun the mines. "TFe_n,-1TTr-an
persists on interfering with the ships we
are protecting," Turner wrote, "we should
mine Iran's harbors." Rep. Les Aspin,
chairman of the House Armed Services
Committee, wanted to match Iran's "no
fingerprints" mining campaign. "If an 'in-
visible hand' lays mines on the western side
of the gulf and hits our ships," he said,
"then another 'invisible hand' could cer-
tainly lay mines-and many more of
them-on the eastern side of the gulf."
Actually, American mines might dam-
age neutral or friendly ships, and they cer-
tainly would clash with the stated purpose
of the U.S. presence in the gulf: to preserve
freedom of navigation. American diplo-
mats also fear that harsh retaliation
against Iran would drive Teheran into Mos-
cow's embrace. Some critics charge that the
Navy already is resorting to overkill in
the gulf. "I don't think the Navy should
be there," says Norman Polmar, a private
naval analyst in Washington. "We should
send in the Coast Guard," he adds, ex-
plaining that "the Coast Guard, with
smaller, more nimble and less aggressive
forces, might be a more viable option." Of
course, the Pentagon is not about to with-
draw the Navy and replace it with a peace-
time agency of the Transportation Depart-
ment. The crux of the argument is that if the
United States is going to deal effectively
with the threat of Iranian terrorism on the
waters of the gulf, it may have to get down to
the terrorists' level, fighting a low-tech war
with limited aims and modest means.
RuSSELL WATSON with RICHARD SANDZA,
TIMOTHY NOAH, MARGARET GARRARD
WARNERand DAVID NEWELL in Washington,
CHRISTOPHER DICxgYinthegulf
and bureau reports
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C~ 6