mirror of
https://github.com/nhammer514/textfiles-politics.git
synced 2024-10-01 01:15:38 -04:00
413 lines
31 KiB
HTML
413 lines
31 KiB
HTML
|
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
|
||
|
<head>
|
||
|
<title>marcheti</title>
|
||
|
<link rel="stylesheet" href="../CSSstyle.css"/>
|
||
|
<!--Fill in your link line for CSS and JS in the XSLT here! -->
|
||
|
</head>
|
||
|
<body>
|
||
|
<h1 id="title-index">marcheti</h1>
|
||
|
<div id="conspiracy">
|
||
|
<p>From the Illumi-Net BBS Decatur, GA
|
||
|
Conspiracy Theory Conference 404-377-1141</p>
|
||
|
<p>EX-<span class="ORG" title="ORG">CIA</span> OFFI<span class="ORG" title="ORG">CIA</span>L SPEAKS OUT: An Interview with Victor Marchetti
|
||
|
By Greg Kaza</p>
|
||
|
<p> This article is reprinted from Full Disclosure. Copyright (c) 1986
|
||
|
Capitol Information Association. All rights reserved. Permission is hereby
|
||
|
granted to reprint this article providing this message is included in its
|
||
|
entirety. Full Disclosure, Box 8275, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48107. $15/yr.</p>
|
||
|
<p>Full Disclosure: I'd like to start out by talking about your well-known book,
|
||
|
'The <span class="ORG" title="ORG">CIA</span> and the Cult of Intelligence.' What edition is that in today?</p>
|
||
|
<p>Marchetti: The latest edition came out last summer. Its the Laurel edition,
|
||
|
Dell paperback.</p>
|
||
|
<p>FD: Its gone through a couple of printings?</p>
|
||
|
<p>Marchetti: Yes. It was originally published by Alfred Knopf in hardback and
|
||
|
by Dell in paperback. That was in 1974 with Knopf and 1975 with Dell. Then a
|
||
|
few years later we got some more of the deletions back from the government,
|
||
|
so Dell put out a second printing. That would have been about 1979. Then
|
||
|
recently, during the summer of 1983, we got back a few more deletions and
|
||
|
that's the current edition that is available in good bookstores (laughs) in
|
||
|
Dell paperback, the Laurel edition.</p>
|
||
|
<p>Originally the <span class="ORG" title="ORG">CIA</span> asked for 340 deletions. We got about half of those back
|
||
|
in negotiations prior to the trial. We later won the trial, they were
|
||
|
supposed to give everything back but it was overturned at the appellate
|
||
|
level. The Supreme Court did not hear the case, so the appellate decision
|
||
|
stood. We got back 170 of those deletions in negotiations during the trial
|
||
|
period. A few years later when the second paperback edition came out there
|
||
|
were another 24 deletions given back. The last time, in 1983, when the the
|
||
|
third edition of the paperback edition was published, there were another 35
|
||
|
given back. So there are still 110 deletions in the book out of an original
|
||
|
340.</p>
|
||
|
<p>As for the trial, the <span class="ORG" title="ORG">CIA</span> sued in early 1972 to have the right to review and
|
||
|
censor the book. They won that case. It was upheld at the appellate court in
|
||
|
<span class="GPE" title="GPE">Richmond</span> some months later, and again the Supreme Court did not hear the
|
||
|
case. Two years later we sued the <span class="ORG" title="ORG">CIA</span> on the grounds that they had been
|
||
|
arbitrary, capricious and unreasonable in making deletions and were in
|
||
|
violation of the injunction they had won in 1972. We went before Judge Albert
|
||
|
V. Bryan Jr., and in that case, he decided in our favor. Bryan was the same
|
||
|
fourth district judge in Alexandria who heard the original case. He said that
|
||
|
there was nothing in the book that was harmful to national security or that
|
||
|
was logically classifiable. Bryan said the <span class="ORG" title="ORG">CIA</span> was being capricious and
|
||
|
arbitrary. They appealed, and a few months later down in <span class="GPE" title="GPE">Richmond</span> the
|
||
|
appellate court for the fourth district decided in the government's favor,
|
||
|
and overturned Bryan's decision. Again, the Supreme Court did not hear the
|
||
|
case. It chose not to hear it, and the appellate court's decision stood.</p>
|
||
|
<p>By this time, we had grown weary of the legal process. The book was published
|
||
|
with blank spaces except for those items that had been given back in
|
||
|
negotiations. Those items were printed in bold face type to show the kind of
|
||
|
stuff the <span class="ORG" title="ORG">CIA</span> was trying to cut out. In all subsequent editions, the
|
||
|
additional material is highlighted to show what it is they were trying to cut
|
||
|
out.</p>
|
||
|
<p>Of course the <span class="ORG" title="ORG">CIA</span>'s position is that only they know what is a secret. They
|
||
|
don't make the national security argument because that is too untenable these
|
||
|
days. They say that they have a right to classify anything that they want to,
|
||
|
and only they know what is classifiable. They are establishing a precedent,
|
||
|
and have established a precedent in this case that has been used subsequently
|
||
|
against ex-<span class="ORG" title="ORG">CIA</span> people like Frank Snepp and John Stockwell and others, and in
|
||
|
particular against Ralph McGee. They've also used it against (laughing), its
|
||
|
kind of ironic, two former <span class="ORG" title="ORG">CIA</span> directors, one of whom was William Colby.
|
||
|
Colby was the guy behind my case when he was director. In fact, he was sued
|
||
|
by the <span class="ORG" title="ORG">CIA</span> and had to pay a fine of I think, about $30000 for putting
|
||
|
something in that they wanted out about the Glomar Explorer. He thought they
|
||
|
were just being, as I would say, "arbitrary and capricious,'' so he put it
|
||
|
in anyway, was sued, and had to pay a fine. Admiral Stansfield Turner was
|
||
|
another who, like Colby when he was director, was the great defender of
|
||
|
keeping everything secret and only allowing the <span class="ORG" title="ORG">CIA</span> to reveal anything. When
|
||
|
Turner got around to writing his book he had the same problems with them and
|
||
|
is very bitter about it and has said so. His book just recently came out and
|
||
|
he's been on a lot of TV shows saying, "Hells bells, I was director and I
|
||
|
know what is classified and what isn't but these guys are ridiculous,
|
||
|
bureaucratic,'' and all of these accusations you hear. It is ironic because
|
||
|
even the former directors of the <span class="ORG" title="ORG">CIA</span> have been burned by the very precedents
|
||
|
that they helped to establish.</p>
|
||
|
<p>FD: What are the prospects for the remaining censored sections of your book
|
||
|
eventually becoming declassified so that they are available to the American
|
||
|
people?</p>
|
||
|
<p>Marchetti: If I have a publisher, and am willing to go back at the <span class="ORG" title="ORG">CIA</span> every
|
||
|
year or two years forcing a review, little by little, everything would come
|
||
|
out eventually. I can't imagine anything they would delete. There might be a
|
||
|
few items that the <span class="ORG" title="ORG">CIA</span> would hold onto for principle's sake. Everything that
|
||
|
is in that book, whether it was deleted or not, has leaked out in one way or
|
||
|
another, has become known to the public in one form or another since then. So
|
||
|
you know its really a big joke.</p>
|
||
|
<p>FD: Looking back on it, what effect did the publication of the 'The <span class="ORG" title="ORG">CIA</span> and
|
||
|
the Cult of Intelligence' have on your life?</p>
|
||
|
<p>Marchetti: It had a tremendous effect on my life. The book put me in a
|
||
|
position where I would forever be persona non grata with the bureaucracy in
|
||
|
the federal government, which means, that I cannot get a job anywhere, a job
|
||
|
that is, specific to my background and talents. Particularly if the company
|
||
|
has any form of government relationship, any kind of government contract.
|
||
|
That stops the discussions right there. But even companies that are not
|
||
|
directly allied with the government tend to be very skittish because I was so
|
||
|
controversial and they just don't feel the need to get into this. I have had
|
||
|
one job since leaving the <span class="ORG" title="ORG">CIA</span> other than writing, consulting and things like
|
||
|
that, and that was with an independent courier company which did no business
|
||
|
with the government, was privately owned, and really didn't care what the
|
||
|
government thought. They ran their own business and they hired me as their
|
||
|
friend. But every other job offered to me always evaporates, because even
|
||
|
those individuals involved in hiring who say they want to hire me and think
|
||
|
the government was wrong always finish saying, "Business is business. There
|
||
|
are some people here who do not want to get involved in any controversial
|
||
|
case.'' Through allies or former employees somebody always goes out of their
|
||
|
way to make it difficult for me, so I never have any other choice but to
|
||
|
continue to be a freelance writer, lecturer, consultant, etcetera, and even
|
||
|
in that area I am frequently penalized because of who I worked for.</p>
|
||
|
<p>FD: The government views you as a troublemaker or whistleblower?</p>
|
||
|
<p>Marchetti: As a whistleblower, and, I guess, troublemaker. In the
|
||
|
intelligence community, as one who violated the code.</p>
|
||
|
<p>FD: The unspoken code?</p>
|
||
|
<p>Marchetti: Right. And this has been the fate of all those <span class="ORG" title="ORG">CIA</span> whistleblowers.
|
||
|
They've all had it hard. Frank Snepp, Stockwell, McGee, and others, have all
|
||
|
suffered the same fate. Whistleblowers in general, like Fitzgerald in the
|
||
|
Department of Defense, who exposed problems with the C-5A, overruns, have
|
||
|
also suffered the same kind of fate. But since they were not dealing in the
|
||
|
magical area of national security they have found that they have some leeway
|
||
|
and have been able to, in many other cases, find some other jobs. In some
|
||
|
cases the government was even forced to hire them back. Usually the
|
||
|
government puts them in an office somewhere in a corner, pays them $50000 a
|
||
|
year, and ignores them. Which drives them crazy of course, but thats the
|
||
|
government's way of punishing anybody from the inside who exposes all of
|
||
|
these problems to the American public.</p>
|
||
|
<p>FD: Phillip Agee explains in his book the efforts of the <span class="ORG" title="ORG">CIA</span> to undermine his
|
||
|
writing of 'Inside The Company' both before and after publication. Have you
|
||
|
run into similar problems with extralegal <span class="ORG" title="ORG">CIA</span> harassment?</p>
|
||
|
<p>Marchetti: Yes. I was under surveillance. Letters were opened. I am sure our
|
||
|
house was burglarized. General harassment of all sorts, and the <span class="ORG" title="ORG">CIA</span> has
|
||
|
admitted to some of these things. One or two cases, because the Church
|
||
|
Committee found out. For example, the <span class="ORG" title="ORG">CIA</span> admitted to working with the IRS to
|
||
|
try and give me a bad time. The Church Committee exposed that and they had to
|
||
|
drop it. They've admitted to certain other activities like the surveillance
|
||
|
and such, but the <span class="ORG" title="ORG">CIA</span> will not release to me any documents under the Freedom
|
||
|
of Information Act. They won't release it all -- any documents under FOIA,
|
||
|
period.</p>
|
||
|
<p>FD: About your time with the <span class="ORG" title="ORG">CIA</span>?</p>
|
||
|
<p>Marchetti: No, about my case. I only want the information on me after leaving
|
||
|
the agency and they just refuse to do it. They've told me through friends
|
||
|
"You can sue until you're blue in the face but you're not going to get
|
||
|
this'' because they know exactly what would happen. It would be a terrible
|
||
|
embarrassment to the <span class="ORG" title="ORG">CIA</span> if all of the extralegal and illegal activities they
|
||
|
took became public.</p>
|
||
|
<p>The most interesting thing they did in my case was an attempt at entrapment,
|
||
|
by putting people in my path in the hopes that I would deal with these
|
||
|
people, who in at least one case turned out to be an undercover <span class="ORG" title="ORG">CIA</span> operator
|
||
|
who was, if I had dealt with him, it would have appeared that I was moving to
|
||
|
deal with the Soviet KGB. The <span class="ORG" title="ORG">CIA</span> did things of that nature. They had people
|
||
|
come to me and offer to finance projects if I would go to France, live there,
|
||
|
and write a book there without any censorship. Switzerland and Germany were
|
||
|
also mentioned. The <span class="ORG" title="ORG">CIA</span> used a variety of techniques of that sort. I turned
|
||
|
down all of them because my theory is that the <span class="ORG" title="ORG">CIA</span> should be exposed to a
|
||
|
certain degree in the hope that Congress could conduct some investigation out
|
||
|
of which would come some reform. I was playing the game at home and that is
|
||
|
the way I was going to play. Play it by the rules, whatever handicap that
|
||
|
meant. Which in the end was a tremendous handicap.</p>
|
||
|
<p>But it did work out in the sense that my book did get published. The <span class="ORG" title="ORG">CIA</span> drew
|
||
|
a lot of attention to it through their attempts to prevent it from being
|
||
|
written and their attempts at censorship, which simply increased the appetite
|
||
|
of the public, media, and Congress, to see what they were trying to hide and
|
||
|
why. All of this was happening at a time when other events were occurring.
|
||
|
Ellsberg's Pentagon Papers had come out about the same time I announced I was
|
||
|
doing my book. Some big stories were broken by investigative journalists. All
|
||
|
of these things together, my book was part of it, did lead ultimately to
|
||
|
congressional investigations of the <span class="ORG" title="ORG">CIA</span>. I spent a lot of time behind the
|
||
|
scenes on the Hill with senators and congressman lobbying for these
|
||
|
investigations and they finally did come to pass.</p>
|
||
|
<p>It took awhile. President Ford tried to sweep everything under the rug by
|
||
|
creating the <span class="PERSON" title="PERSON">Rockefeller</span> Commission, which admitted to a few <span class="ORG" title="ORG">CIA</span> mistakes but
|
||
|
swept everything under the rug. It didn't wash publicly. By this time, the
|
||
|
public didn't buy the government's lying. So we ultimately did have the Pike
|
||
|
Committee, which the <span class="ORG" title="ORG">CIA</span> and the White House did manage to sabotage. But the
|
||
|
big one was the Church Committee in the Senate which conducted a pretty broad
|
||
|
investigation and brought out a lot of information on the <span class="ORG" title="ORG">CIA</span>. The result of
|
||
|
that investigation was that the <span class="ORG" title="ORG">CIA</span> did have to admit to a lot of wrongdoing
|
||
|
and did have to make certain reforms. Not as much as I would have liked. I
|
||
|
think everything has gone back to where it was and maybe even worse than what
|
||
|
it was, but at least there was a temporary halt to the <span class="ORG" title="ORG">CIA</span>'s free reign of
|
||
|
hiding behind secrecy and getting away with everything, up to and including
|
||
|
murder. There were some changes and I think they were all for the better.</p>
|
||
|
<p>FD: So instead of some of the more harsher critics of the <span class="ORG" title="ORG">CIA</span> who would want
|
||
|
to see it abolished you would want to reform it?</p>
|
||
|
<p>Marchetti: Yes. Its one of these things where you can't throw out the baby
|
||
|
with the bathwater. The <span class="ORG" title="ORG">CIA</span> does do some very good and valuable and
|
||
|
worthwhile and legal things. Particularly in the collection of information
|
||
|
throughout the world, and in the analysis of events around the world. All of
|
||
|
this is a legitimate activity, and what the <span class="ORG" title="ORG">CIA</span> was really intended to do in
|
||
|
the beginning when they were set up. My main complaint is that over the years
|
||
|
those legitimate activities have to a great extent been reduced in
|
||
|
importance, and certain clandestine activities, particularly the covert
|
||
|
action, have come to the fore. Covert action is essentially the intervention
|
||
|
in the internal affairs of other governments in order to manipulate events,
|
||
|
using everything from propaganda, disinformation, political action, economic
|
||
|
action, all the way down to the really dirty stuff like para-military
|
||
|
activity. This activity, there was too much of it. It was being done for the
|
||
|
wrong reasons, and it was counterproductive. It was in this area where the
|
||
|
<span class="ORG" title="ORG">CIA</span> was really violating U.S. law and the intent of the U.S. Constitution,
|
||
|
and for that matter, I think, the wishes of Congress and the American people.
|
||
|
This was the area that needed to be thoroughly investigated and reformed. My
|
||
|
suggestion was that the <span class="ORG" title="ORG">CIA</span> should be split into two organizations. One, the
|
||
|
good <span class="ORG" title="ORG">CIA</span> so to speak, would collect and analyze information. The other part,
|
||
|
in the dirty tricks business, would be very small and very tightly controlled
|
||
|
by Congress and the White House, and if possible, some kind of a public board
|
||
|
so that it didn't get out of control.</p>
|
||
|
<p>My theory is, and I've proved it over and over again along with other people,
|
||
|
is that the basic reason for secrecy is not to keep the enemy from knowing
|
||
|
what you're doing. He knows what you're doing because he's the target of it,
|
||
|
and he's not stupid. The reason for the <span class="ORG" title="ORG">CIA</span> to hide behind secrecy is to keep
|
||
|
the public, and in particular the American public, from knowing what they're
|
||
|
doing. This is done so that the President can deny that we were responsible
|
||
|
for sabotaging some place over in Lebanon where a lot of people were killed.
|
||
|
So that the President can deny period. Here is a good example: President
|
||
|
Eisenhower denied we were involved in attempts to overthrow the Indonesian
|
||
|
government in 1958 until the <span class="ORG" title="ORG">CIA</span> guys got caught and the Indonesians produced
|
||
|
them. He looked like a fool. So did the N.Y. Times and everybody else who
|
||
|
believed him. That is the real reason for secrecy.</p>
|
||
|
<p>There is a second reason for secrecy. That is that if the public doesn't know
|
||
|
what you are doing you can lie to them because they don't know what the truth
|
||
|
is. This is a very bad part of the <span class="ORG" title="ORG">CIA</span> because this is where you get not only
|
||
|
propaganda on the American people but actually disinformation, which is to
|
||
|
say lies and falsehoods, peddled to the American public as the truth and
|
||
|
which they accept as gospel. That's wrong. It's not only wrong, its a lie and
|
||
|
it allows the government and those certain elements of the government that
|
||
|
can hide behind secrecy to get away with things that nobody knows about. If
|
||
|
you carefully analyze all of these issues that keep coming up in Congress
|
||
|
over the <span class="ORG" title="ORG">CIA</span>, this is always what is at the heart of it: That the <span class="ORG" title="ORG">CIA</span> lied
|
||
|
about it, or that the <span class="ORG" title="ORG">CIA</span> misrepresented something, or the White House did
|
||
|
it, because the <span class="ORG" title="ORG">CIA</span> and the White House work hand in glove. The <span class="ORG" title="ORG">CIA</span> is not a
|
||
|
power unto itself. It is an instrument of power. A tool. A very powerful tool
|
||
|
which has an influence on whoever is manipulating it. But basically the <span class="ORG" title="ORG">CIA</span>
|
||
|
is controlled by the White House, the inner circle of government, the inner
|
||
|
circle of the establishment in general. The <span class="ORG" title="ORG">CIA</span> is doing what these people
|
||
|
want done so these people are appreciative and protective of them, and they
|
||
|
in turn make suggestions or even go off on their own sometimes and operate
|
||
|
deep cover for the <span class="ORG" title="ORG">CIA</span>. So it develops into a self-feeding circle.</p>
|
||
|
<p>FD: Spreading disinformation is done through the newsmedia.</p>
|
||
|
<p>Marchetti: Yes. Its done through the newsmedia. The fallacy is that the <span class="ORG" title="ORG">CIA</span>
|
||
|
says the real reason they do this is to con the Soviets. Now I'll give you
|
||
|
some examples. One was a fellow by the name of Colonel Oleg Penkovsky.</p>
|
||
|
<p>FD: Penkovsky Papers?</p>
|
||
|
<p>Marchetti: Yes. I wrote about that in 'The <span class="ORG" title="ORG">CIA</span> and the Cult of Intelligence.
|
||
|
The Penkovsky Papers was a phony story. We wrote the book in the <span class="ORG" title="ORG">CIA</span>. Now,
|
||
|
who in the hell are we kidding? The Soviets? Do we think for one minute that
|
||
|
the Soviets, who among other things captured Penkovsky, interrogated him, and
|
||
|
executed him, do you think for one minute they believe he kept a diary like
|
||
|
that? How could he have possibly have done it under the circumstances? The
|
||
|
whole thing is ludicrous. So we're not fooling the Soviets. What we're doing
|
||
|
is fooling the American people and pumping up the <span class="ORG" title="ORG">CIA</span>. The <span class="NORP" title="NORP">British</span> are
|
||
|
notorious for this kind of thing. They're always putting out phony
|
||
|
autobiographies and biographies on their spies and their activities which are
|
||
|
just outright lies. They're done really to maintain the myth of English
|
||
|
secret intelligence so that they will continue to get money to continue to
|
||
|
operate. Thats the real reason. The ostensible reason is that we were trying
|
||
|
to confuse the Soviets. Well that's bullshit because they're not confused.</p>
|
||
|
<p>One of the ones I think is really great is 'Khruschev Remembers.' If anybody
|
||
|
in his right mind believes that Nikita Khruschev sat down, and dictated his
|
||
|
memoirs, and somebody -- Strobe Talbot sneaked out of the Soviet Union with
|
||
|
them they're crazy. That story is a lie. That book was a joint operation
|
||
|
between the <span class="ORG" title="ORG">CIA</span> and the KGB. Both of them were doing it for the exact same
|
||
|
reasons. They both wanted to influence their own publics. We did it our way
|
||
|
by pretending that Khruschev had done all of this stuff and we had lucked out
|
||
|
and somehow gotten a book out of it. The Soviets did it because they could
|
||
|
not in their system allow Khruschev to write his memoirs. Thats just against
|
||
|
everything that the Communist system stands for. But they did need him to
|
||
|
speak out on certain issues. Brezhnev particularly needed him to
|
||
|
short-circuit some of the initiatives of the right wing, the Stalinist wing
|
||
|
of the party. Of course the KGB was not going to allow the book to be
|
||
|
published in the Soviet Union. The stuff got out so that it could be
|
||
|
published by the Americans. That doesn't mean that the KGB didn't let copies
|
||
|
slip into the Soviet Union and let it go all around. The Soviets achieved
|
||
|
their purpose too.</p>
|
||
|
<p>This is one of the most fantastic cases, I think, in intelligence history.
|
||
|
Two rival governments cooperated with each other on a secret operation to
|
||
|
dupe their respective publics. I always wanted to go into much greater length
|
||
|
on this but I just never got around to it. Suffice it to say that TIME
|
||
|
magazine threatened to cancel a two-page magazine article they were doing on
|
||
|
me and my book if I didn't cut a brief mention of this episode out of the
|
||
|
book.</p>
|
||
|
<p>FD: How was this operation initially set up?</p>
|
||
|
<p>Marchetti: I don't know all of the ins and outs of it. I imagine what
|
||
|
happened is that it probably started with somebody in the Soviet Politburo
|
||
|
going to Khruschev and saying, "Hey, behind the scenes we're having lots of
|
||
|
trouble with the right-wing Stalinist types. They're giving Brehznev a bad
|
||
|
time and they're trying to undercut all of the changes you made and all of
|
||
|
the changes Brehznev has made and wants to make. Its pretty hard to deal with
|
||
|
it so we've got an idea. Since you're retired and living here in your dacha
|
||
|
why don't you just sit back and dictate your memoirs. And of course the KGB
|
||
|
will review them and make sure you don't say anything you shouldn't say and
|
||
|
so on and so forth. Then we will get in touch with our counterparts, and see
|
||
|
to it that this information gets out to the West, which will publish it, and
|
||
|
then it will get back to the Soviet Union in a variety of forms. It will get
|
||
|
back in summaries broadcast by the Voice of America and Radio Liberty, and
|
||
|
copies of the book will come back in, articles written about it will be
|
||
|
smuggled in, and this in turn will be a big influence on the intelligentsia
|
||
|
and the party leaders and it will undercut Suslov and the right wingers.''
|
||
|
Khruschev said okay. The KGB then went to the <span class="ORG" title="ORG">CIA</span> and explained things to
|
||
|
them and the <span class="ORG" title="ORG">CIA</span> said, Well that sounds good, we'll get some friends of ours
|
||
|
here, the TIME magazine bureau in Moscow, Jerry Schecter would later have a
|
||
|
job in the White House as a press officer. We'll get people like Strobe
|
||
|
Talbot, who is working at the bureau there, we'll get these guys to act as
|
||
|
the go-betweens. They'll come and see you for the memoirs and everyone will
|
||
|
play dumb. You give them two suitcases full of tapes (laughs) or something
|
||
|
like that and let them get out of the Soviet Union. Which is exactly what
|
||
|
happened.</p>
|
||
|
<p>Strobe brought all of this stuff back to Washington and then TIME-LIFE began
|
||
|
to process it and put a book together. They wouldn't let anybody hear the
|
||
|
tapes, they didn't show anybody anything. A lot of people were very
|
||
|
suspicious. You know you can tell this to the public or anybody else who
|
||
|
doesn't have the least brains in their head about how the Soviet Union
|
||
|
operates and get away with it. But anybody who knows the least bit about the
|
||
|
Soviet Union knows the whole thing is impossible. A former Soviet premier
|
||
|
cannot sit in his dacha and make these tapes and then give them to a U.S.
|
||
|
newspaperman and let him walk out of the country with them. That cannot be
|
||
|
done in a closed society, a police state, like the Soviet Union.</p>
|
||
|
<p>The book was eventually published but before it was published there was
|
||
|
another little interesting affair. Strobe Talbot went to Helsinki with the
|
||
|
manuscript, where he was met by the KGB who took it back to Leningrad, looked
|
||
|
at it, and then it was finally published by TIME-LIFE. None of that has ever
|
||
|
been explained in my book. A couple of other journalists have made references
|
||
|
to this episode but never went into it. It's an open secret in the press
|
||
|
corps here in Washington and <span class="GPE" title="GPE">New York</span>, but nobody ever wrote a real big story
|
||
|
for a lot of reasons, because I guess it's just the kind of story that it's
|
||
|
difficult for them to get their hooks into. I knew people who were then in
|
||
|
the White House and State Department who were very suspicious of it because
|
||
|
they thought the KGB...</p>
|
||
|
<p>FD: Had duped TIME?</p>
|
||
|
<p>Marchetti: Exactly. Once they learned this was a deal they quieted down and
|
||
|
ceased their objections and complaints, and even alibied and lied afterwards
|
||
|
as part of the bigger game. Victor Lewis, who was apparently instrumental in
|
||
|
all of these negotiations, later fit into one little footnote to this story
|
||
|
that I've often wondered about. Lewis is (was)... After all of this happened
|
||
|
and when the little furor that existed here in official Washington began
|
||
|
dying down, Victor Lewis went to Tel Aviv for medical treatment. He came into
|
||
|
the country very quietly but somebody spotted him and grabbed him and said,
|
||
|
"What are you doing here in Israel?'' "Well I'm here for medical treatment,
|
||
|
'' Lewis said. They said, "What?! You're here in Israel for medical
|
||
|
treatment?'' He said, "Yes.'' They said, "Well whats the problem?'' "I've
|
||
|
got lumbago, a back problem, and they can't fix it in the Soviet Union. but
|
||
|
there's a great <span class="NORP" title="NORP">Jewish</span> doctor here I knew in the Soviet Union and I came to
|
||
|
see him.'' That sounds like the craziest story you ever wanted to hear. But
|
||
|
then another individual appeared in Israel at the same time and some reporter
|
||
|
spotted him. He happened to be Richard Helms, then-director of the <span class="ORG" title="ORG">CIA</span>. He
|
||
|
asked Helms what he was doing in Israel, and he had some kind of a lame
|
||
|
excuse which started people wondering whether this was the payoff. Helms
|
||
|
acting for the <span class="ORG" title="ORG">CIA</span>, TIME-LIFE, and the U.S. government, and Lewis acting for
|
||
|
the KGB, Politburo, and the Soviet government. Its really a fascinating
|
||
|
story. I wrote about briefly in the book and it was very short. You'll find
|
||
|
it if you look through the book in the section we're talking about.
|
||
|
Publications and things like that. When I wrote those few paragraphs there
|
||
|
wasn't much further I could go, because there was a lot of speculation and
|
||
|
analysis.</p>
|
||
|
<p>Around the time my book came out, TIME magazine decided that they would do a
|
||
|
two-page spread in their news section and give it a boost. Suddenly I started
|
||
|
getting calls from Jerry Schecter and Strobe Talbot about cutting that part
|
||
|
out. I said I would not cut it out unless they could look me in the eye and
|
||
|
say I was wrong. If it wasn't true I would take the book and cut the material
|
||
|
out. But neither of them chose to do that. Right before the article appeared
|
||
|
in TIME I got a call from one of the editors telling me that some people
|
||
|
wanted to kill the article. I asked why and he said one of the reasons is
|
||
|
what you had to say about TIME magazine being involved in the Khruschev
|
||
|
Remembers book. I asked him, "Thats it?'' I had talked to Jerry and Strobe
|
||
|
and this was their backstab. This editor asked me if I could find somebody
|
||
|
who could trump the people who were trying to have the article killed.
|
||
|
Somebody who could verify my credentials in telling the story. I said why
|
||
|
don't you call Richard Helms, who by that time had been eased out of office
|
||
|
by Kissinger and Nixon, and was now an ambassador in Teheran. So this editor
|
||
|
called Helms to verify my credentials (laughing) and Helms said, "Yeah, he's
|
||
|
a good guy. He just got pissed off and wanted to change the <span class="ORG" title="ORG">CIA</span>.'' So the
|
||
|
article ran in TIME. I think you're one of the very few people I've explained
|
||
|
this story to in depth.</p>
|
||
|
<p>FD: Did this operation have a name?</p>
|
||
|
<p>Marchetti: It probably did but I was already out of the agency and I don't
|
||
|
know what it was. But I do know it was a very sensitive activity and that
|
||
|
people very high up in the White House and State Department who you would
|
||
|
have thought would have been aware of it were not aware of it. But then
|
||
|
subsequently they were clearly taken into a room and talked to in discussions
|
||
|
and were no longer critics and doubters and in fact became defenders of it.</p>
|
||
|
<p>FD: Let me make sure I am clear about the <span class="ORG" title="ORG">CIA</span>'s motivation...</p>
|
||
|
<p>Marchetti: The <span class="ORG" title="ORG">CIA</span>'s motivation was that here we have a former Soviet premier
|
||
|
talking out about the events of his career and revealing some pretty
|
||
|
interesting things about his thinking and the thinking of others. All of
|
||
|
which shows that the Soviet Union is run by a very small little clique. A
|
||
|
very small Byzantine-like clique. There is a strong tendency to stick with
|
||
|
Stalinisn and turn to Stalinism but some of the cooler heads, the more
|
||
|
moderate types, are trying to make changes. Its good stuff from the <span class="ORG" title="ORG">CIA</span>'s
|
||
|
point of view and from the U.S. government's point of view. This is what
|
||
|
we're dealing with. This is our primary rival. Look at how they are. And
|
||
|
Khruschev had to dictate these things in sec</p>
|
||
|
<p>X-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-X</p>
|
||
|
<p> Another file downloaded from: NIRVANAnet(tm)</p>
|
||
|
<p> & the Temple of the Screaming Electron Jeff Hunter 510-935-5845
|
||
|
Rat Head Ratsnatcher 510-524-3649
|
||
|
Burn This Flag Zardoz 408-363-9766
|
||
|
realitycheck Poindexter Fortran 415-567-7043
|
||
|
Lies Unlimited Mick Freen 415-583-4102</p>
|
||
|
<p> Specializing in conversations, obscure information, high explosives,
|
||
|
arcane knowledge, political extremism, diversive sexuality,
|
||
|
insane speculation, and wild rumours. ALL-TEXT BBS SYSTEMS.</p>
|
||
|
<p> Full access for first-time callers. We don't want to know who you are,
|
||
|
where you live, or what your phone number is. We are not Big Brother.</p>
|
||
|
<p> "Raw Data for Raw Nerves"
|
||
|
|
||
|
X-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-X
|
||
|
</p>
|
||
|
</div>
|
||
|
</body>
|
||
|
</html>
|