U.S. AIDS CONFIRM SINGAPORE CHARGE OF 1960 CIA PLOT

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP75-00149R000700100029-6
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 16, 2016
• Document Release Date: January 3, 2005
• Sequence Number: 29
• Publication Date: September 2, 1965
• Content Type: OPEN

AT
Approved For Relea
1df/b5 : CIA-RDP75-00~
2 SEPTEMBER 1965
it is inconsistent with the basic con-
,cepts of our democratic government to
allow a large and extremely important
agency, such, as the Central Intelligence
Agency, to avoid the scrutiny of the peo-
?-ple and their representatives by hiding
behind a veil of secr`ccy. 'The Congress
.both the 87th and 88th Congresses. dent" for which the Secretary has ask 'for- credit" ruled that no money would be given
I have consistently stated,. ever since glvencss. It was the. same3nCiderlt that .'under the counter." Compensation would*;
-Prime ~I was elected to the House in 1960, that inister Leo. was ,be given publicly Instead, as foreign aid, no
STAT
ing's New York ? Times contains news hours later from the State Department. Escorting reporters into his omce, he
which will surely shock most Americans. Robert J. McCloskey, the Department's ; angrily jerked out files stamped "top accret.'o
It confirms the tale of an attempted spokesmen, said yesterday: "First, we are Pressing the Rusk letter into an American
bribe of S3.3 million to the Pr.me Min- surprised at these statements attributed to correspondent's face, he said, "The Ameri-
rlm e 1?;:n s'e- Lee. With respect to sire- cans stupidly deny the undeniable."
:_:z 0: S.. ;,apor e. ^ :.::. Lee 1:1;3z Yew. ba -- or C:.t iarc:ve.:e. 1, we deny .hat LIIS.t 'COLr.S1-IGL1'
to cover up an unsuccessful CIA Opera allegation." i. ' "If the Americans go on denying," he said.
tion in 1p60. After Mr. Lee produced the letter from Sec- .; ..I will have to disclose further details, which
The story serves to reiterate the need rotaryRusk, dated April 16, 1061, and threat- may sound like James Bond and "Gold flnger"'.
for careful congressional oversight of the,. oned to broadcast tape recordings to prove only not as good, but putrid and grotesque
Central Intelligence Agency, a 'need his charge, an embarrassed. Mr. McCloskey' enough. It will do them no good and our
which I have recognized by introducing corrected himself. :,? future relations no good."
House Joint Resolution 649, to establish Those who were consulted yesterday were Prime Minister Lee's press secretary, Li Voi
not fully,awaro of the background of the in- . Chin, said the Americans' $3 million bribe
a Joint Committee on Foreign Informs- , cident, which occurred 4I// years ago;" he ? offer was made In January 1001, before Presl-
tion and Intelligence. This legislation is ? said, no acknowledged, Mr. Rusk's letter., Kennedy took cures. He said Mr. Ken-
similar to that which I. introduced in' without describing the 'unfortunate 'Iasi- . ":?ncdy had inherited the problem and "to his
man from New York [Mr. RYAN] is rec- Mr, Lee's recollection of the Incident drew SINGAPORE, Sept. 1-Washington's denial
ognized for 10 minutes, , mmediate denials from James D. Bell, .the of Singapore's charge against the CIA aroused
Mr RYAN Mr Speaker this morn- U S Ambassador to Malaysia and several ? Prime Minister Lea to anger today.
CHARGE OF 1960 CIA PLOT all of Malaysia, the federation from wnion SKntnyslnn federation, but officials termea sae
Singapore withdrew this summer, was $3,b , an inadequate explanation,
The SPEAKER pro teinpore. Under 'million in 1063 and $4 million in 1064.
-U.S. 'AIDS CONFIRM SINGAPORE CIiARCE Or
1060 CIA PLor-DENIAL Is LADELED AN L'g-
non A 'rEn PRIME MINISTER LEE DISPLAYS
., Ruai APOLOGY . .
(By Max Frankel)
The text of the story follows: 'suited yesterday before the denial was'issued. Besides the letter attributed to Mr Rusk,
i Minister dls 1a ed an accontpnn
me
.u P
Rules Committee to. conduct hearings in',' action, further dragged into calumny. They pre not
the near future on my bill and speed the "Sincerely yours, '?' dealing with Ngo Dinh Diem or Syngman
enactment of CIA oversight, that, is long DEAN RUSK. ,Rhea. You do not buy and sell this G'ouarn-
cident merely underscores the necessity, Governments. be greatly embarrassed.'
of such regulation. The new administration'takes a very'seri He added: "The Americans should know
oug view of this matter and In fact is review the character of the men they are dealing..
.McCloskey added.
"DEAR Mn. PRIME MINISTEa: I am deeply ' and documents relating to the incident, in-
u.b. Government .nave been round by your terrogations and mee,,in,gs.
Government to have been engaged in im- "If they continue denying it, I will play
I want you'''some of these tapes on Singapore radio," Mr.
proper 'activities in Singapore.
..
.to know .I regret very muoh that, this un Leo added. "If they continue to repeat the
fortunate incident had occurred to mar the ' denialI will have to disclose who thg In
ices of this Nation. This last sordid in- -Yriandly relations that exist between our two, termedinry was, and very high circles vrquld
p y
r
'Relatively now officials in the Far East Dl- o
vision of. the Department were. said to .have . tag note, said to be from W. P. Maddox, who
been unware of the case, and apparently"" ' was the -United States Counsul General In
then failed to consult the files. The' CIA 1061? Explaining his disclosure of the doou-
'apparently relayed the denial of wrongdoing L money, Mr; Leo said they were "open litters,'
that it customarily lssucs'to the rest 'of the open apologies, so. I released them.
.anci witndrew a denial or attempted espion-
'.'a.go and bribery, by the Central Intelligence similarly uninformed of the background, the
Agency in Singapore 6 years ago. Department spokesman said he had, No fur-
In effect, the Department confirmed a ther approaches were made today to' the
charge by Singapore Prime Minister, Leo 'Singapore Government. The case was' long
Kean Yew, that a CIA agent had offered him ago marked "closed" in the' Lies Hero, Mr.
a $3.3 million bribe to cover up an unaucoess-,' McCloskey added,
ful CIA operation in 1060, U-S rNCrDENT IS RECALLED
In the early months of the Kennedy ad- Trio. affair reminiscent of the 1000 case 1n
,.ministration, the Department conceded, See- , which the State Department denied that a
,xetary of State Dean Rusk wrote a letter. of U_2 reconnaissance piano had ventured deep ':
apology to Mr. Leo. The letter took "a belay into Soviet territory. Moscow denounced the
serious view" of the activities of the previoua intrusion without immediately. disclosing
Administration and indicated plans to .dip- that the plane and the pilot had been cap-
" clplino the offending'intclligence agents.,,tared. Later the United States was forced to
PENALTY IS tINDISCLOSED' -; admit a falsehood,
Prime spokesman refused today to say what ac- e Minister Lee's sudden public at-
tlon, if any, had been taken. 'tacks upon the United States are described,
It was Prime Minister Leo's disclosure of ,'hero as puzzling. In addition to the CIA
? the Runk letter that prompted the State Do- incident, he has complained about delays in
?'.partment to withdraw its denial, arranging for an American physician 'to at-''
Mr. Leo Initially made his charge yester- tend to a close friend-some suggest that the
.:.day in listing several grievances against the friend was his wife-and about a goneral
United States. He said that a CIA man had " "insonsitivity" of Americans in Asia.
been caught trying to buy information from - Mr. Leo declared yesterday that he would
Singapore intelligence of locals and that the "never lot Americans replace the British in
.'United States had then offered him 83,3 sail- ?,malntalning ?a military baso-In Singapore..,'
.,lion'for personal and political use if he would;' but the severity of his attack seemed to go .i
-conceal the affair. . beyond concern about the base_-; . ? ? .
The Prime Minniater said he had asked in- ,^....Somo?officiale suggested that ho might have. '
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