Agency doesn’t lie, just keeps secrets

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USA TODAY

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… army): There was a lot of other activity in 1970, which was stopped a very few months thereafter. It didn’t go on for very long, and the subsequent coup was conducted by the Chilean military without the CIA involvement.

USA TODAY: Congress has reported that the CIA helped plot the assassination of Belgian Congo leader Patrice Lumumba and conspired with the Mafia in an attempt to kill Fidel Castro. How large a role do assassinations play in CIA activities?

COLBY: None. Under presidential directive, the CIA is specifically directed not to engage in assassination activities.

The Senate committee that investigated the CIA in 1975 for a full year looked into every corner of the CIA’s activity. It concluded that no foreign leader had been assassinated by the CIA. That was not for lack of trying in Mr. Castro’s case. They included a contact with the Mafia. It was stupid. The action of Mr. Lumumba’s death came entirely without any CIA connection. This was stopped by the opposition of a CIA officer before the action ever got out of CIA channels.

USA TODAY: What about recent reports that President Reagan wanted to overthrow the government of Surinam and our involvement in coup attempts in Ghana?

COLBY: I don’t know anything about that. Charges occur all the time, partly because of the hysteria with which the subject was discussed here in America in 1975.

USA TODAY: Is it necessary to hide CIA operations in the congressional budget?

Date:
June 30, 1983
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