can ww w ew 5- 3 3 MuWa n W4mmoicuss3 olbocs THE WHITE HOUSE WASHINGTON January 15 1976 Chairman Dear Mr I In reply to your letter of December 22 and in keeping with our agreement I have reviewed the House Select Committee documents on covert action I have concluded that the publication at this time of these documents would be detri mental to the national security It would be damaging to the effective conduct of foreign affairs if one branch of the United States Government offi cially and formally acknowledged a program that was conceived of and executed as a covert effort To establish the practice of revealing such operations would lead to a situation where they are effectively precluded in the future if only because no group or government would have any confidence in collaborating with the United States in clandestine programs many of which have been generally endorsed by the Congress and have proceeded for many years without serious criticism or objection The question of whether the U S should in fact r engage in covert action can be debated but it should not be resolved by a systematic exposure of past and current programs The fact that many details of the two programs in question have appeared in the press does not alter the principle involved There still is a serious difference between press speculation however informed and a Report issued by a Congressional Come mittee - I believe that the fact that the Committee has had access to considerable documentation on covert operations as well as expert testimony should enable the Committee to draw up an informed final report without revealing the existence of or details concerning programs that should in the national interestIr remain unacknowledged 42% Sincerely g e Honorable Otis G Pike l rxb airman pg Select Committee on Intelligence 3 U S House of Representatives i Washington D c 20515 so 12953 See r v mums 5 1 x qu rumor-1 p105 '3 plans um 4 2xQw f am z gnaw mgaw I rvt fill 3 Huh f niaqsf i m fi z 5 2a I 333 r                     National Security Archive    Suite 701  Gelman Library  The George Washington University    2130 H Street  NW  Washington  D C  20037    Phone  202 994‐7000  Fax  202 994‐7005  nsarchiv@gwu edu