Concern Over American Secret Service Methods

Press, Volume XC, Issue 27427, 13 August 1954, Page 6

Concern Over American Secret Service Methods

(From a Reuter Correspondent)

WASHINGTON. The Central Intelligence Agency, the global “cloak and dagger” organisation of the United States, has lately been responsible for worried frowns in Washington as well as Moscow. The C.I.A. is the youngest of the bigPower secret intelligence services. But the scope of its overt machinations are now reported to rival those of the spy agencies of Britain and the Soviet Union. It is an open secret in informed Washington circles that operatives of the C.I.A. helped topple the Communist regime in Giptemala, and this success is considered a major feather in the cap of the fledgling spy group. The C.I.A. came into being only seven years ago under special legislation, and today it straddles the world octopus-like, with a massive body in Washington and tentacles reaching into the heart of almost every other nation.

What has been causing concern in Washington lately are a number of reports concerning the C.l.A.’s methods of operation. Senator Joseph McCarthy (Republican, Wisconsin) has said that the C.I.A. is “riddled” with Communists. The director of the C.1.A., Mr Allen Dulles, has called these charges “false,” but Communism is such a “bogeyword” in American politics that many Congressmen would like to see the matter thrashed out in some sort of hearing. Other Congressmen have voiced concern about rumours of vast amounts of money that the C.1.A., is supposed to be spending. At the moment there is a motion before the House of Representatives that a Presidential Commission be appointed to survey C.I.A. operations. In the Senate, Senator Mike Mansfield (Democrat, Montana) has gathered a bi-partisan group which would like to appoint a joint Congressional “watchdog” committee, similar to that which oversees atomic energy matters. Special Investigation The Administration has* headed off congressional investigations of the agency—including one by Senator McCarthy—on the ground that such inquiries would lift the shroud of secrecy which covers the agency, and so impair its efficiency. But finally it has been agreed that the C.I.A. will be subjected to a special confidential investigation, guided by General Mark Clark. General Clark will conduct the investigation under the auspices of former President Herbert Hoover’s Government Re-organisation Commission, which has the task of recommending methods of streamlining the executive branch of government. None of General Clark’s findings will be made public, but many Congressmen have breathed a public sigh of relief now that there is going to be a check made of the operations of the powerful agency. One of the most titillating and frustrating tasks a reporter can set himself in Washington is to try to find out something substantive about the activities of the C.I.A. It is hard to tell where hard facts end and “Mata Hari”-type fable and conjecture begin. The legislative reference section of the Congressional Library—which probably is the best of its kind in the world—has only two thin brown folders with few cuttings on the C.I.A. This meagre reference compares with pounds of clippings and books on almost every other branch of govern-

ment. From the contents of these folders, it is possible to establish this much about the C.I.A.:—

(1.) The C.I.A. was established by Congress in July, 1947, and. succeeded the Office of Strategic Services, the American war-time spy-control agency. (2.) The Congress bestowed extraordinary powers on the C.I.A. Its administration and physical activities were granted freedom from normal inquiries and Congressional supervision. Not even the Atomic Energy Commission enjoys such privilege. (3.) The director of the C.I.A. today is Mr Allen Dulles, younger brother of Mr John Foster Dulles, the Secretary of State. Mr Dulles, a former O.S.S. man and credited with an organising role in the July 20, 1944, bomb attempt on Adolf Hitler, is 60, smokes a pipe, is scholarly and has proved tenacity. (4.) Mr Dulles’s deputy is Lieuten-ant-General Charles Cabell, former Chief of Intelligence of the United States Air Force, and said to have President Eisenhower’s profound respect for his keen mind. (5.) The United States Government Organisation Manual says of the C.l.A.:—“Purpose—for the purpose of co-ordinating the intelligence activities of the several government departments and agencies in the best interest of national security.” The facts begin to dry up at this stage. Several newspapers and weekly magazines, which normally have access to accurate information, are widely divergent in their estimates of the scope of C.I.A. The following figures represent a “boiled-down version” of published minimum and maximum figures:— The C.I.A. employs a working force of between 8000 and 30,000 in aadition to operatives in foreign countries. The agency occupies between 22 and 35 office buildings in Washington alone. The annual expenditure ranges from 200,000,000 dollars to 1,000,000,000 dollars. For the sake of comparison, if the C.I.A. employed 10,000 Americans, that would be twice the size of the Labour Department, but half the size of the Department of State. Also for comparison, the Department of State spent 268,000,000 dollars in the fiscal year 1953. Appropriations for the C.I.A. are hidden in bills drawn up for a dozen or more agencies. Only President Eisenhower and 10 or 12 members of Congress know how much the agency spends. The Congressmen have sworn not to divulge the information to any source. Mr Eisenhower is said to regard the C.I.A. now as the first line of defence against another Pearl Harbour. The operatives of the C.I.A. pry for the portents of attack where no radar screens can probe. One of the most vital tasks of the C.I.A. is to compile “national estimates.” 'These estimates are the essence of millions of words of reports, and they appraise in cold reason the strength of the United States friends and foes. From these reports Mr Eisenhower and the members of the National Security Council can glean a current estimate of any nation’s potential for war, its vulnerability to attack, or whether it would be likely to bow to certain diplomatic or economic pressures. The high policy of the United States is affected by these estimates. The C.I.A. also probably is responsible for counter-espionage, and the selection of targets for effective retaliation if the United States should be attacked. In effect, the C.I.A. is an organisation devoted to the principle of ‘know your enemy, and your friend.”