EX-C.I.A. CHIEF CALLS REAGAN ORDER HARMFUL

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP99-00498R000200020005-6
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 20, 2016
• Document Release Date: March 23, 2007
• Sequence Number: 5
• Publication Date: December 16, 1981
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

:TAT ARTICLE AP
ON PAGE
d For Release 2007/03/23: CIA-RDP99-00498
NEW ,? ?~ -'11=
Y~i.c{ 11~J
16 December 1931
x-C.L.A. Chief CUs ea-- an Order l
WASHINGTON
Dec 15 Ph
. tat caused the C.I.A. to be severely,
President Reagan , 's recent order (Avin8
the CCriticized by Go+enimpnt irvP-Qt;*nt_
entral Intelligence A f
gencyreer
rein to carry on domestic operations will
harm rather than help the agency, the
man. who headed the agency under
President Carter testified today.
"I admire the intent of the new execu-
tive order," Stansfield Turner, the for-
mer Director of Central Intelligence,
told a house subcommittee. But he said
he believed the order, "is seriously
.flawed" and would eventually weaken
the agency's capabilities, ''much to our
country's detriment." ... yr f ; .
Mr'Turner told. the.judiciarv,Sub-
committee on Civil and Constitutional
Rights that while the order was intended
to improve the agency's collection of in-
telligence, it risked infringing on the
legal rights of Americans,. r > ;
"I believe it poses risks to our.intelli..
gence capabilities," he said.:f~:?
The new order, which replaces Presi-
dent Carter's 1978 directive, permits the
agency to collect "significant" foreign
intelligence inside the United States. It
also allows the agency, for the first
time, to Conduct Covert- actions in this
country, as long as those operations do.
not affect Government policies, politics
orthenewsmedla. .
Mr. Turner said that intrusion by the
agency into domestic Intelligence mat-
ters normally handled by the Federal
Bureau of Investigation "will strain the
1relationship between the-C.I.A. and t2he
F.B.I.," which "has-not always been a
good one" but is "verygood today."
He ,said ? C.I.A. officers had been
trained to operateoverseas with the aim
of accomplishing their mission. rather
than having to wprry about whether con-
sti*utional rightomust be respected.
Turning these officers. into domestic
operatives could result is the return of
such "harebrained schemes"' as drug
experlmelft.on- unwitting-Americans
were extremely damaging" to the
C.I.A. and no repetition must be hermit-
ted, he added.
Says Curbs Were No Hindrance
Mr. Tu.;:er said that while he headed
the agency from 1977 to 1981, "we did not
forgo significant opportunities to gain
intelligence because of the restrictions.
onnnnot intruding into the lives of Ameri-
In a joint statement presented to the
subcommittee, representatives of the
Ainer'can Civil Liberties Union said,.
that the Reagan order "represents a
grave threat to civil liberties" by going
well beyond the previous orders issued
-by Presidents Carter and-Ford, which
the group also found distasteful.
"In enacting the National Security
Act of 1947, it is clear that Congress, in
setting up the C.I.A., intended to pro.
hibit it from spying on Americans at
home," the statement said. "The execu-
tive orders have been drafted in total
disregard of that prohibition.'.,..
roved For Release 2007/03/23: CIA-RDP99-00498R0002000200a5-6