BUSH PLANS TO REDUCE COVERT CIA OPERATIONS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP99-00498R000100040096-5
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 20, 2016
• Sequence Number: 96
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

STAT
Approved For Release 2007/06/21: CIA-RDP99-00498R000100040096-5
L -J li'EBKUARY 19-(b
bush plans to reduce
covert CIA o er ions
By CHARLES W. CORDDRY
W..?inngton Bureau of The Sun
Washington-George Bush;
the new head of the Central In-
te'iigenee Agency, said yester-
day the agency is going to cut, less use of covert activity." Mr
back on clandestine foreign op-f .Bush said yesterday.. "I think
erations like those spotlighted :there is an awareness now that
Ia a
ear of
o
i
l i
'
y
c
ngress
ona
n
vestigations.
He indicated doubts aboutil
t'ie secret course pursued in
Angola in supoo t of anti-Soviet
factions and implied that Presi-
dent Ford's intelligence re-
forms would prevent a future
CIA involvement like that in
the overthrow of Chile's Marx-
ist President . Salvador Al-
Ierrde.
Intervened on the NBC
beet the PI -_s3 program, Mr.
Bush defended the administra-
+on's new secrecy proposals,
designed to protect intelligence
data from unauthorized disclo-
sure. The proposals have been
criticized by some as potential
:means for covering up future
and analyzing foreign intelli-
:it
s much better to approve
things in public."
That comment came after
-Mr. Bush had described the se-
eret Angolan operation as a
demonstration of American
will in the -face of the, Soviet
Union-Cuban intervention, and
.a- questioner had said it was an
odd concept that "we. should
demonstrate lwilli in secret.""
"I can't- totally -argue with
your point," Mr. Bush replied
"I think it's.a very, "very valid
observation." He could not' say
in retrospect that open debate
on the Angolan, operation would
have been wrong. --
bir. Bush said the CIA must
be able to undertake covert op-
se
S
tates has an option "some-
Under Mr. Ford's-reforms,': where between sending in a
the only kind of-covert foreign; battalion of marines and doing
operations that are banned are ) nothing." But, said the new
"political assassination" at-director of central intelligence,
tempts. Other covert activities
have ranged - from pumping
-money into anti-Communist
political parties- in- Europe to
runrirg a secret war in Laos in
the 1960's
Since James R- Schlesinger
was CIA director, before Wil-
liam E. Colby; whom Mr. Bush
has just replaced. efforts have
STAT een made to concentrate more
on. the main job- of gathering
"to the degree my ju ggmen
counts on covert foperationsi,
we're going to be very, very
careful."
Asked what he would do
about an order like the one for-
mer President Nixon gave Ri-
chard. Helms, then CIA direc-
tor, in September, 1970, to en-
courage a military coup--in
Chile, Nlr. Bush replied, >'`I
wouldn't do it'."
Enlarging on that answer, he
said the new intelligence re-
forms would prevent such a
loose arrangement as formerly
existed. Decisions on covert ac-
tions are to be institutionalized
at Cabinet level and "now no-
body can say, oh, I wasn't there
or I got a phone call (about.
what was going to happenl. Ev-
erybody sits around and makes
a decision of this nature."
In the end, NIr. Bush said, it
comes down "to judgment, to
integrity" on the part of those
running. the intelligence .estab-
lishment. Laws cannot guaran-
tee there will be perfection and
no abuses, he said`
He was questioned closely
on Mfr Ford's plan to protect
secrets about intelligence
sources and methods, and about
other intelligence matters as
well, by having federal employ-
ees and contractors sign agree-
ments against unauthorized dis-
closures and by providing civil
and criminal penalties for vio-
lations.
Questions centered on the is-
sue of covering up abuses in the
guise of secrets. Disclosures of
CIA domestic spying and sur-
veillance operations led to the
year-long investigations of the
agency..
"We want to be darn sure;
the sins of the past are elimi-
nated, but equally sure that this
intelligence system can operate
with secrecy in the future," Mr
Bush said. He" said domestic
spying and electronic surveil)-
ance are specifically barred un-
der the new rules.
A questioner noted there are
some exceptions, permitting
certain CIA domestic opera-
tions linked to foreign intelli-
gence gathering, and asked how
exposure of wrongdoing could
be expected with oath-taking.
and criminal statutes standing
as deterrents.
Mr. Bush called that a "very
good question," but appeared
'confident- that new executive
branch oversight rules and siim-
ilar actions expected from Con=
gress would provide the neces-
sary safeguards "against the
kind of abuses that offended
you and that offended me."
..;;::.
Approved For Release 2007/06/21 : CIA-RDP99-00498R000100040096-5