CIA LETS SUN IN BUT HOLDS ON TO SHADE
Document Type:
Collection:
Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST):
CIA-RDP99-00498R000100110028-1
Release Decision:
RIPPUB
Original Classification:
K
Document Page Count:
1
Document Creation Date:
December 20, 2016
Document Release Date:
August 20, 2007
Sequence Number:
28
Case Number:
Publication Date:
August 12, 1977
Content Type:
OPEN SOURCE
File:
Attachment | Size |
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CIA-RDP99-00498R000100110028-1.pdf | 110.56 KB |
Body:
Approved For Release 2007/10/19: CIA-RDP99-00498R000100110028-1
CIA a '~n in
By J.F. terHCRST
News National Coiumniat
WASHINGTON - Our boss spy has em-
barked on an intriguing endeavor. He
apparently intends to let enough sunlight
penetrate the windows of the nation's intel-
ligence apparatus so that once again the
public will trust it to operate in the dark.
On television, they would call that Mis-
sion Impossible. But here in Washington,
where they try the impossible every day,
that is the invisible-ink message of Presi-
dent Carter's directive giving expanded au-
thority.over all U.S. intelligence-gathering
to the new CIA chief, Admiral Stansfield
Turner.
BY CENTRALIZING more power than
ever in Turner, Mr. Carter is hoping to-
overcome some of the shortcomings of the
past - th e wasteful duplication of efforts
among the CIA, the Defense Intelligence
Agency, the National Security Agency and
the National Reconnaissance Office, their
jealous rivalry and absence of overall
direction.
. But the paramount reason is to prevent a
repetition of the abuses and illegalities of
the past; or, failing that, to at least make
somebody responsible if they recur. From
now on, the question of "who's in charge
here?" can be answered. It is Admiral
Turner.
Which is why Turner's modus operandi
becomes so interesting. His premise seems
to be that too much secrecy breeds too
much suspicion. His contraceptive is sun-
shine. In the five months he has run CIA,
Turner has done more to lift the veil than
anyone else since the agency was created
12 August 1977
off the record. Now CIA has an "office of
public affairs," headed by retired Navy
Capt. Herbert Hetu, an old Turner buddy.
CIA's phone, of course, is listed in the
phone book.
When Turner first toyed with holding
public tours of CIA, old agency hands were
aghast. The notion seemed even more out-
landish than the road signs on the George
Washington Parkway that point out CIA's
location at Langley, Va. But some of 'nose
who objected to the admiral's new spirit of
openness are not working there any more.
Not so long ago, the appearance of a CIA
director at a public hearing on Capitol Hill
was so rare that reporters flocked to hear
him. Nowadays, Turner shows up so often it
is getting to be a bore.-
Just this week, for example, Turner
voluntarily agreed to notify 86 universities
and corporations that they were involved -
sometimes without their knowledge - in
CIA's mind-control experiments of the last
quarter century.
The other day, when Turner came to
breakfast with a group of reporters, he
brought along copies of a 30 page CIA re-
port on Soviet economic prospects. The
document says the Russians are not doing
too well. Equally significant was Turner's
open distribution of it.
All these things are small acts, to be
sure, but they are clues to Turner's objec-
tive. He is trying to convince the public and
Congress that the intelligence community -
no longer is the "rogue elephant" Sen.
Frank Church complained about during his
CIA inquiry last year. Gone are the days,
we are told, when our intelligence agencies
trampled on citizens' constitutional rights,
30 years ago. invaded their privacy, drugged them - or
In former dayi`the'view of the CIA could covertly meddled in the affairs' of other
be obtained by a persevering reporter tele-
phoning a certain CIA aide at a certain
number. The opinion, of course, would be
countries a la, Cuba, Chile, Angola.
. "I'm like a salesman," Turner told us..
"I've got a product (intelligence data), and
STAT
I've got to get it to my customers (Mr.?
Carter, the National Security Council, con
gressional intelligence oversight commit-'
tees)."
But like a good salesman, Turner is not
baring all the secrets of his company. Con-
gress is still being notified after - not
before - a clandestine foreign operation is
begun. And when it comes to Congress' pub-
licly announcing the U.S. intelligence
budget (estimated at a mlt So ::ilionl, "1
won't object if they release one figure, out J
I'll scream if they release more than that,"
he said.
Turner likewise is turning edgy about
intelligence leaks that appear in print.
Media disclosure that Jordan's King Hus-,I
sein was on the CIA payroll, he says, was
damaging and has made it more difficult to
recruit top-level foreign informants and to
keep existing ones. To combat leaks,
Turnder disclosed the CIA is making sur-
prise security checks on firms doing busi-
with the agency. "'E
ness
SO, WHILE THE NEW BOSS of all U.S.
intelligence is out to let the sunshine in, he
clearly does not intend to let the secrets
hang out. Which raises some questions
about the purpose of the sunshine business.
?.Is it just a-public relations gimmick?
? A cover for what goes on in the back
shop?
That kind of thing worked for the FBI
during Hoover's heyday. But I have a
hunch the public would prefer to be told,
flat out, what it already suspects: Espio..
nape is a secret business and sometimes a
nasty business.
While the excesses of the past cannot bel
condoned and ought not to be repeated, thei
American public does not expect that the!
cloak has to be thrown out with the dagger. i
STAT
Approved For Release 2007/10/19: CIA-RDP99-00498R000100110028-1