Rockefeller’s pledge

Press, Volume CXV, Issue 33753, 28 January 1975, Page 15

Rockefeller’s pledge

(N.Z. Press Assn—Copyright) NEW YORK, January 27.

Vice-President Nelson Rockefeller has said that the C.I.A. probably did engage in illegal domestic surveillance, and that his special commission will find out who authorised it to do so, and why. Mr Rockefeller said yesterday that the commission he presided over must first determine if there was domestic spying, and he added: “I think we are going to find that the answer is ‘yes’.”

“What we want to do is to find out what was this spying, how extensive was it, and who authorised it, and was this a direct Presidential cr Attorney-General order,

and what were the reasons for it?

“The problem is not too difficult, and I think we’ll do a good job.” Mr Rockefeller said that the commission did not need subpoena powers, or White. House tapes from the Nixon Administration, to make a thorough investigation. “The commission has had no problem whatsoever in getting people to come , and getting people to talk,” he went on.

“As far as tapes are concerned, I think we can find out what went on by talking to the people who were involved. I think we can find out all the answers, we can find out all the facts as to what went on, without listening to tapes.” C.I.A. domestic surveillance is said to have begun in the late 19505, under President Eisenhower, and continued

through the Nixon Administration. Tapes related to the Watergate investigation disclosed that President Nixon tried to use the C.I.A. in the cover-up.

Mr Rockefeller, who was being interviewed in the Columbia Broadcasting System’s “Face the Nation” programme, was visibly angered by a reporter who asked a question implying that the Vice-President’s friendship with the Secretary of State (Dr Henry Kissinger) might prevent his commission from “fingering” anyone in the C.I.A. or State Department. “Well, I have to say to you that, in your question, you question my integrity . . . I’ve taken the oath of office to support the Constitution of the United States, and to support this country against enemies from within and without.

“There is no conflict, as far as I am concerned, with anything or anybody. I am there to do the jobs that are assigned to me. and to do it without any prejudice or other connection. Therefore, wherever the facts lead us, we’ll go, and you can be assured of that.”

Mr Rockefeller expressed concern that the Senate and House investigations of the C.I.A. might jeopardise American security, by leaking covert operations not involved with domestic surveillance. “This is really a most interesting and difficult problem;” he said. “Can a large body, with a big staff, cope with these things? This is going to be the challenge to Congress.”