Full Examination Of C.I.A. Controls Urged

Press, Volume CV, Issue 31047, 30 April 1966, Page 15

Full Examination Of C.I.A. Controls Urged

(N.Z.P A. Reuter—Copyright)

NEW YORK, April 29. Ih e “New York Times” today called for a thorough examination of the political controls governing the operations of the United States Central Intelligence Agency. The proposal came in an editorial summarising the findings in a scries of articles on the agency.

In the first of these the “New ork Times” said the C.l.A.’s reputation around the world was “so horrendous and its role in events so exaggerated that it is becoming a burden on \merican foreign policy.”

The articles gave | chapter and verse of | C.I.A. activities. They disclosed that | the agency: Master-minded the coups that overthrew the Arbenz Government, in Guatemala and Mohammed I Moussadeq, in Iran. Contaminated a cargo of | Cuban sugar bound fori the Soviet Union.

| Provided 75 per cent of the staff in some American embassies. | Recruited one of President Nasser’s top advisers as a spy. | Used “spy-in-the-sky” satellites to eavesdrop on the | Kremlin, and bombers and pilots to assist white mercenaries in the Congo. ; In its editorial the newspaper said: “Espionage has

always been among the most sordid of professions, and the cold war has made it more so.” True Interests The newspaper's probing of I C.I.A. operations had provided “a chilling indication of the range of intrigue . . . into which the United States has been plunged by the need for countering Communist subversion." “The enormous scope of these activities and their explosive nature make it essential, though peculiarly difficult, for this democratic nation to assure that such activities serve its true interests. “The primary responsibility for controlling the Government’s clandestine arm

abroad clearly lies with the Administration itself. Reforms instituted since the Bay of Pigs disaster undoubtedly have led to a useful tighten-ing-up. “But the dimensions of C.I.A. operations and their secrecy make it difficult for normal checks and balances within the Administration to function properly.” The journal said that while prime responsibility rested with the Administration there was “little excuse for the complete abdication of Congressional responosibility that has characterised the intelligence field.”

Existing Congressional subcommittees which occasionally questioned C.I.A. officials “have functioned less to investigate or ‘control’ the C.I.A. than to shield it from its critics. The choice o-f members of these sub-committees, extraordinarily enough, has been substantially influenced by the C.I.A. itself. ‘Clear Neetl’ “There is a clear need to add knowledgeable Congressional experts to these groups ... a permanent Congressional ‘watchdog’ committee . . . has frequently been proposed. . . . Perhaps broadening the present subcommittee structure represents an adequate substitute. “But this and many other questions about the American intelligence community deserve thorough examination. A small, select committee of independent-minded members of Congress is needed to investigate the problem,” the “New York Times” declared.

Flags Burnt.—Demonstrators burnt three American flags outside the United States Embassy at Santo Domingo yesterday in a protest against United States military intervention in the Dominican Republic.—Santo Domingo, April 29.