MEMORANDUM THE WHITE HOUSE WASHINGTON SEGRE MEMORANDUM FOR THE RECORD SUBJECT Cabinet Meeting September 17 1974 - 11 00a m President A number of news stories have appeared and I commented last night on the Chile deal It is my judgment and I think that of every President tha the prime consideration is the national interest of the United States We need a CIA and we need covert operations This has been done sine 1948 J' Henry could you give the details 1 Kissinger ' There are three aspects of the problem What is the 40 Committee What was the Chile situation What did we do overtly and covertly We face over the world threats to democratic institutia°ns and we need covert action to d al with them By their nature we don't talk about· these So how do we deal with the leaks Britain is certainly a democracy yet a British paper couldn't print this stuff ' i ''i Every President has existed all this time os proJeC s are c ec e v -i t t e merican m ass mvo ve • roJects are circulated and if they are minor they are signed off and go to the President for approval The Assistant to the President doesn't decide he presides as ·the representative of the President If there is disagreement - - which happens rarely - - or if they are major matters there is a meeting and either a meeting is held or an options paper goes to the President After six months there is 2utomatic review of each program The chairmen of the relevant committees are briefed · Covert operations are those which can't be done in any other way If they are leaked we cannot conduct this policy Not much is being done but what is is being done because they are import nt and can't be dorle in any other way ' DEC ASS FIED o JSL SECRE1' k % c ' nor Auihonty 5 B 11 NARA Oat --------l c - g c J b LJ s-c 1 PHOTO COPY FROM rcnu r Ct ' ' jOQ' Y C 2 SEGRE1' On Chile the procedures were very regular following those established under Truman One can argue that Allende wouldn't have won if we hadn't reduced the aid levels under Kennedy and Johnson What was the situation in Chile In Chile elections are won either by a popular majority or if there is no majority an election in the Parliament Allende got only 36% of the vote and then proceeded to try to turn it into an irreversible dictatorial regime On his left he had a group led from Cuba which accused him of not being extreme enough This required that he concentrate on anti-US policies The effort of the 40 Committee was not to overthrow Allende but to preserve the democratic system for the 1976 elections There was one famous newspaper they tried o put out of business and they tried to throttle the opposition Is this destabilizing Sure to a dictator The coup was produced by Allende's attempt to turn the regime into a Communist dictatorship and the military eventually rebelled Last there is the claim we waged economic warfare against Allende President Nixon did say we should be careful about aid to him but the fact is that Allende nationalized American companies and defaulted on the · obligation to give' compensation We did the minimum possible We didn't give any new aid but continued what was in the pipeline and PL 480 IDB loans and humanitarian programs The World Bank cut them off bec·ause they were in default '·i I i ' j t l 'l is' We did the same t h i n g - There might have been proclivity for 1 '- Cb u economic warfare but the issue never came up What happened was the I S- Cc result of his ·misman agement and his nationalization and expropriations Besides we were ·cutting down on Chile and before 1970 He actually got ' more in multilateral aid than Frei ' C Remember he was an opponent of the U S and one can ask why shouldn't we oppose him President I wanted you all to have the story The decisions made were in accordance with the law I think it is essential for the government to carry out certain covert activities We will continue to carry them out 'SECRET ·1 ·· t I PHOTO COPY FROM · I GERALD R FORD llSR tqy ·- - · C • '1 - EGRET 3 i · I I will meet with the Leaders and see whether new procedures are needed In the House I was the beneficiary of-these sorts of briefings by Dulles and McCone We knew about the U-2 and the follow-up to the U-2 We will continue to carry on these operations Schlesinger Most of the current mone and is a ropriated funds It was decided the U S would use only appropriated • There are funds flowing out of the Soviet Union China Cuba - - all over the world If anything we do too little There is nothing wrong with spending money to support political parties Dr Kissinger did his duty and did it--very well The public expects two things - - that knowledgeable officials know of the use of appropriated funds and at the same time that_ they don't know about it This attack is an attempt to get at Henry _ C z 'l ' 1 '-iCblu l 5 c he Chilean problems due to external forces n no way ries leaked were based on Harrington's interpretation and wer e the facts known they would reflect credit on those involved Unfortunately the leaks are usually by those opposed and the intelligence people can't respond President The t eason I spoke so fully at the press conference was because I feel these operations are ess ntial and were properly handled In the future they will be continued and will be pro erly handled as they have been That is my responsibility When we got briefed in the Congress the CIA would sweep the room and there was the tightest security The five _of us were fully informed I · ' Morton Now that the press has taken it on can we at least get to the editorial level and get the straight story out and stop this vicious distortion and get at least some press educated to the importance of these and of restoring confidentiality •i President I don't think we should take on the press and the best weapon is the truth • · It is only a few Schlesinger Britain has an Official Secrets Act We don't have one We can't blame the press -- the fault is a Member of Congress who used the material in an irresponsible way -- S F C R E T --·1 ·--1 1 PHOTO COPY FROM GERALD R_fORO F8- Y f ·• I ' i ECRE I 4 -J President To show the different climate from the time we served we weren't even known as a conunittee It is changed now and apparently Harrington did have access to the transcript And Nedze has acted responsibly I will meet with the _Congressional people to see if they want any • • change in the procedure I ' Saxbe You spoke of the env-irorunent We suffer the same We are under attack for surveillance Wounded Knee the break-in of the Justice Department Ve are under attack for en forcing the law It is a new kind of ball game and right now we are not prepared to handle it President Our position is that the law will be upheld and we won't deal with these things on a political basis · r ' 0 1 -1 '€ 2 '-llblu i s-c I ' ' ' -BECRE'f' PHOTO COPY FROM GERALD R FORD l 8 A Y __ _