Church Committee Hearings - James Angleton
Church Committee Hearings - James Angleton
Church Committee Hearings of James Angleton Continued. September 9th 1975.
Church Committee Hearings - James Angleton
Senator FRANK CHURCH (D - Idaho). The Chairman [presiding]. Thank you very much. I want to thank Senator John Tower for taking over and presiding for me. I had to be at a meeting of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that is considering the Sinai agreements and for that reason I had to absent myself. Thank you very much Senator Tower for presiding in my absence.
Church Committee Hearings - James Angleton
Senator FRANK CHURCH (D - Idaho). Now let s see, we are now at Senator Schweiker, please. Richard Schultz Schweiker (R-Pennsylvania). Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Angleton, did you support the Huston plan in principle? At the time that this became a function of your decision making process, your administrative responsibility, did you support the Huston plan? James Angleton, CIA Counterintelligence. I did. Richard Schultz Schweiker (R-Pennsylvania). After the Huston plan was shot down, I guess by a combination of John Mitchell and J. Edgar Hoover, there were some other actions taken. First of all, John Dean was moved in and somewhat replaced Mr. Huston in his duties. Then he wrote a memo on September 18, 1970 [exhibit 24], within 2 months of the decision to abandon the Huston plan. And he set up a new committee. I quote now from his memo, "a key to the entire operation will be the creation of an interagency intelligence unit for both operational and evaluation purposes". You were a part of that new unit was that not correct? James Angleton, CIA Counterintelligence. I was present. Richard Schultz Schweiker (R-Pennsylvania). And as I understand it, the very first meeting of that unit was held in John Dean's office in the White House. Is that correct? James Angleton, CIA Counterintelligence. That is correct. Richard Schultz Schweiker (R-Pennsylvania). So in essence, by this move, did you not really begin to accomplish many of the objectives that Mr. Huston set out, but you did it in a way that Mr. Mitchell and Mr. Hoover did not strenuously interpose their objection. Is that correct? James Angleton, CIA Counterintelligence. I do not have any evidence of that.
Church Committee Hearings - James Angleton
Richard Schultz Schweiker (R-Pennsylvania). Well, on April 12, do you recall there was a meeting among Mr. Helms, Mr. Hoover, and Admiral Gayler to discuss loosening up or broadening, whatever way you want to call it, the information gathering techniques to the point where some of the elements of the Huston plan were being reconsidered. Do you recall such a meeting? James Angleton, CIA Counterintelligence. I know that that was something that was of concern to the intelligence community prior to and after the Huston plan. The Huston plan itself had no impact or did not impact on the meeting, the question of espionage assist to the National Security Agency. Richard Schultz Schweiker (R-Pennsylvania). Of the seven or eight individual elements of the Huston plan concerning new ways of getting intelligence more easily, weren't some of these similar to the proposals that were discussed at the meeting there as well as at the interagency meeting? Certainly you did discuss them, and did they not come up for consideration in different forms?