HALPERIN ALLEGES 4 INSTANCES OF CIA EXPLOITING THE MEDIA

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP88-01314R000300120027-1
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 20, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 30, 2006
• Sequence Number: 27
• Publication Date: January 5, 1978
• Content Type: NSPR

Approved For Release 2006/08/31 : CIA-RDP88-01314R000300120027-1
WASHINGTON POST
5 January 1978
0
Aile uos
By John Jacobs
washizgtan Post Stag: writer
In at least four instances the Cen-
tral Intelligence Agency exploited its
relationship with foreign and Ameri.
can news media to improperly influ.
ence events and opinions in the
United States, a noted CIA critic testi-
fied. yesterday.
Morton H. Halperin, director of the
Center for National Security Studies,
a Washington-based organization crit-
ical of the intelligence community,
told a House oversight subcommittee
that, among other things, the CIA
gave a false briefing to a representa-
tive of Time magazine on Chilean
Marxist leader Salvador Allende and
the political situation in Chile around
the time of Allende's election as presi-
dent.
A CIA copy of the briefing paper,
portions of which Halperin obtained
under the Freedom of Information
Act, shows that it argued in considera-
ble detail that Allende and his Chi-
lean Communist Party sought to de-
.?stroy the free press there. This Sept.
:.18, 1970, briefing, Halperin said,. con-
sisted of the same Information the
CIA was disseminating to its Latin
American sources for use against Al-
lende.
Particularly objectionable, Halperin ?
said, were personal characterizations
of Allende as a supporter of violence
as a political necessity. It described
him as an "extremely ambitious, very
vain man . a symbol of sartorial
splendor and capitalist amenities."
"Speakiag before a disappointingly
small rally in - Santiago on Sept.
13," the paper said, "Allende told the
.audience that he and the Unidad Pop-
ular would paralyze the country if any-
one tried to steal the .'people's' vic-
tory.' The rally had obviously been
-called to intimidate those who. might
be thinking of blocking- AL'ende's sue-
-cession to the presidency, and his
.message of terror got through despite
the small audience."
Halperin said this briefing ; was
given even though other CIA analysts
were suggesting that "no U.S. vital in-
terests would be threatened by an Al.' lende regime." .- - . W_ ... ....
"Time requested a briefing," Halpe-
rin testified. "It was given a propa-
ganda document by an official vfa the
clandestine services. Such officials, in
my view, consider contacts with the
American press as 'operations' de.
signed to foster the objectives of
whatever covert activity they are en-
gaged in ... The image of Allende
closing down the free press in Chile
"The aim of this -dispatch," the di-
rective continued, "is to provide mate-
rial for countering and discrediting
the claims of the conspiracy theorists,
so as to inhibit the circulation of such
claims in other countries."
Among the methods to be used, the
directive said, "were to employ propa-
ganda assets to answer and refute the
attacks of the critics. Book reviews
and feature articles are particularly
appropriate..." The agency did rian-
age to plant one article in The, Specta?
tor, a British magazine that Halperin
said is widely read by Americans. The
CIA also included information it con-
sidered derogatory about some of the
critics.
depended on having that same image
presented in Time magazine."
However, Allende had allowed the
Chilean papers to publish. Within
hours of his 1973 fall from power in a
bloody military coup, the new ruling
junta permanently closed the papers.
The Oversight Subcommittee of the
House Intelligence Committee has
been holding hearings on the relation-
ship between the CIA and the news
media.
The other three cases of CIA manip.
ulation of American opinion through
the press, according to Halperin, were
CIA attempts to discredit critics of
the Warren Commission report on the
assassination of President Kennedy;
"CIA use of the murder of its Athens
station chief, Robert Welch, to
counter efforts to bring the CIA un-
der tighter congressional control, and
CIA efforts to discredit Elias Deme-
tracopolous, a Greek journalist and
business consultant who lives in
Washington and who was a persistent
critic of the Greek military junta.
Criticism of the Warren Commis.
sion conclusions, according to an
April 1, 1967, CIA directive, "is a mat-
ter of concern to the U.S. government, i
including our organization
" which
,
"itself is directly involved: among
other facts, we contributed Informa-
tion to the investigation."
viously reported, the CIA tried to link
his death with the publication of his
name in CourterSpy magazine. What
the CIA did not make public, Halpe-
rin said, was that the CIA had warned
Welch that he risked assassination un.
less he changed houses, because-his
house was well known as belonging to
the CIA's station chief.
"That the stories (in the U.S. press)
suggested that Counter Spy was re-
sponsible for his ? death," Halperin
said, "was the result of a deliberate
CIA manipulation of the American
press." ? . .
Apprpved For Release -2406/08/31 : CIA-RDP88-0131.4R100030020027-1