NPACT coverage of Church Committee Hearings - Assassinations
NPACT coverage of Church Committee Hearings - Assassinations
Program moderator Paul Duke in tv studio, holding a copy of the Church committee report. Duke introduces topic of the program, to review the report and the committee's findings.
NPACT coverage of Church Committee Hearings - Assassinations
Program moderator Paul Duke introduces U.S. Senator Frank Church (D-Idaho), who is off-stage in an interview section of the studio.
NPACT coverage of Church Committee Hearings - Assassinations
Program moderator Paul Duke reports that CIA Director William Colby is upset that the Church committee report was made public and wants to have 12 names stricken from it. U.S. Senator Frank Church (D-ID) says there is good reason to keep the names in the report.
NPACT coverage of Church Committee Hearings - Assassinations
In Senate hearing room. U.S. Senator Frank Church (D-ID) explains the committee's reason for not removing the 12 names in question from the public report. "Precautions eliminating references that could, in the judgment of the committee, endanger any person. We took the same precautions to avoid any references to sources that that might betray or undermined out intelligence capacity abroad. And in the process of considering various names, we cooperated with the agencies, applying our own criteria, and we eliminated some 20 names from the report, or 20 references, because we thought the argument was justified. With the respect to the remaining names, the committee felt the arguments were not justified. And after a full hearing, from Mr. Colby and the agency and all other spokesmen for the executive departments, the committee chose to retain those names in the report. Now I want you to know what the names were. One example had to do with Mr. Dearborn who was the ranking US official in the Dominican Republic where the assassination of Trujillo occurred. He was in close and continuous contact with the assassins even transferring weapons. And has identified himself publicly by writing a letter to the editor of the Washington Post on the assassination. That was one name."
NPACT coverage of Church Committee Hearings - Assassinations
U.S. Senator Frank Church (D -ID) continues discussing the committee's decision to not remove 12 names in question from the public report. "A second name that they demanded to have stricken from the report was Mr. Conein. He was the contact with the assassins in another country. And his role was fully publicized when the Pentagon papers were published. In fact, this was South Vietnam and had to do with Diem and it was necessary in the committee's opinion to include his name to make it clear that the United States never at any time intended, planned, plotted, or desired the assassination of Mr. Diem. Three other names, those of Harvey, King, and Tweedie, were high ranking CIA officials who helped develop detailed plans for assassination plots. And two of them held policy making positions. Two foreign persons, Mr. Vio and Mr. Valenzuela, Chileans, were convicted by military tribunals for their roles in such plots in their own countries. And now a government favorable to them has been restored to power. Then the three others were Mr. Robert Maheu, who was the CIA s contact with the mafia. He not only testified before the committee and his appearance was not only widely reported in the press, but he held a press conference himself in which he gave details concerning his role. The next name was Mr. John Roselli, who was the mafia leader contacted by Maheu at the CIA s request to locate Cubans through his gambling syndicate in order that contracts could be made to assassinate Castro. His appearance before the committee was highly publicized and his role in the plot has been the subject of numerous newspaper articles. And finally the name of Santo Trafficante who was a mafia chieftain with gambling interests in Cuba who was used by Roselli and Maheu to locate Cubans to carry out the assassination plot. Now those were the names we listed, and to suggest that the committee in so doing was in anyway imperiling the lives of legitimate agents or employees of the CIA is in my judgment absurd."
NPACT coverage of Church Committee Hearings - Assassinations
Program moderator Paul Duke closes segment about the names in the Church committee report.