Charles B. Seib fAa • 2- 7 5

The Prouty-Butterfield Flap The Alexander ' Butterfield-CIA story, which flared and then fizzled tions to be sure, and far from identify- out in one brief week, provided a good ing Butterfield as a CIA spy. But in —but not reassuring—ease nistory of the context, the implication was clear; enterprise journalism as it is practiced Butterfield was the CIA's man right on on television today. There was a shoot- the edge of the Oval Office. from-the-hip quality to it and a disturb- Neither network provided a response ing disregard for a man's reputation from Butterfield or verification from and for the public's need to make any other source. NBC did couple a sense out of the' strange doings in flat denial from Mrs. Butterfield with Washington. - the Prouty charge. CBS put Prouty on The story had its beginning In an ef- the air without any denial, direct or in- fort by two -congressmen to defend direct, but a half hour later reported their turf—namely the Houie inveiti- that Mrs. Butterfield said the charge gation of the CIA. Reacting to a move was "ridiculous." Both networks say to kill or restrict the investigation, they tried. hard to locate Butterfield they committed a little leak. They told before the, broadcasts, but without suc- reporters that they had learned of a cess. CIA practice of "infiltrating" the,exec- The story hung there for 21/2 days. utive agencies to the extent a placing Prouty elaborated on his charge, and it an agent high on the Nixon White , was widely carried in the print press, House staff. - usually coupled with a CIA denial and The result was predictable. CIA Di- with emphasis on Prouty's statement rector William Colby called the story that he was not calling Butterfield a "vicious nonsense." Ron Nessen, the, Then Butterfield, who had not been reached by reporters, astutely ac- Mr. Seib is an associate editor of cepted an invitation- to appear -on the The Post, serving as an internal popular CBS show, "60 Minutes," that Sunday evening. There, before a prime ombudsman. From time to .4ime he time audience of around 20 million also writes a column of press viewers, he indignantly denied Prou- ty's story. "Not a shred of truth," he said under questioning by Mike Wallace. At and President's press secretary, said a other point in the interview: "I have mountain was being made of a mole- never been their designated contact hill. And reporters set out on the trail man. That is absolutely false." Later: of the alleged part-time spook on the "I had no contact whatsoever with the old Nixon team. CIA." And later: "I never did deal The next day, JulY 11, shortly after 7 with the CIA in any way." a.m., the two top network morning (Wallace says that Butterfield was shows—the CBS Mcfrning News and the NBC Today Show—came up with a name—the same name. They produced former Air Force Col. Fletcher Prouty, not paid to appear on "60 Minutes," live on CBS and taped on NBC. Prouty but his and his wife's fares—his from said the high Nixon official with CIA the West Coast and hers from Wash- - ties was none other than Alexander ington—and their hotel bills were paid Butterfield, who in 1973 started Rich- by CBS.) ard Nixon's slide toward disgrace by Since then, Hunt has denied he told disclosing the White House taping sys- Prouty that Butterfield was a CIA con- tem. Butterfield was a CIA "contact offi- tact, and Sen. Church, who heads the Senate CIA investigation, has said no cer" in the White House, Prouty said. His source: E. Howard Hunt, a long- shred of evidence has been found to time CIA man who later was sent to support the charge. Nevertheless, the prison for his connection with the Butterfields feel that hia job search Watergate burglary. Just what is Butterfield supposed to The News Business have done for the CIA? That didn't come clear. On the CBS show, Prouty said Butterfield's function was "to (he was eased out of his 'post as head open doors for CIA operations." On of the 'Federal Aviation Agency last -the NBC show he assented to a de- March) has been seriously hampered. scription of Butterfield as a "man with And it is a. fact of life that undoub- CIA connections." Imprecise descrip- tedly there will -be -some who will say, years from now, when his, name comes any doubts about that. up: "Oh, yes. He's the guy who scut- At the end of the segment, Rowan man's reputation and of an important. tled Nixon for the CIA." did note that Prouty said he did not and complex story. Not only does Wag; Prouty claims that he did not de- think that "Butterfield or any CIA pear that unjustifiable harm was dons fame Butterfield—that be, after all, man assigned to the White House" was to Butterfield, but a great disservice only called him a "contact officer." It asked to spy on the President. was done to the public in that the But- is true that nowhere in the network Now, if Prouty was merely saying terfield story drew attention away transcripts is there the charge that that Butterfield was a contact man, the from a very serious question: Just_ Butterfield was a spy or an infiltrator. man the CIA dealt with when it had what has been the nature and extent But consider this exchange between something to take up with the White of the CIA's involvement in the opera- CBS reporter Daniel Schorr and House (Butterfield's denial rejects tions of other government agencies? Prouty: That question is going to be hard SCHORR: Colonel Prouty, I enough to answer. Such distractions at guess you have no way of knowing the Butterfield caper don't make the whether President Nixon knew Al- job any easier. exander Butterfield, who worked Schorr and Rowan were asked for in his office, was a CIA man? their afterthoughts on the Prouty PROUTY: I think that's one of broadcasts. Schorr defends the use of the big problems. I would doubt 'Prouty without supporting evidence as Nixon or anyone else really knew the ground that in an earlier situati#. it. Prouty's information stood up. Rowaia. A strong implication that Butterfield defends his broadcast on the ground that he had received some support for Prouty's story from several otheg sources. Conceding those points, one must still ask why they didn't take the time to check on Prouty's story more fully or at least wait for Butterfield's sponse. Schorr said that although CBS learned the evening before the.broEkl- cast that NBC also had Prouty, compet

Alexander Butterfield was more than a contact man came again later in the CBS broadcast when Schorr and Bruce Morton of CBS were recapping the Prouty charge. Morton stated the question: "Did the CIA infil- trate the White House and other gov- ernment agencies7" A tape of Colby's "vicious nonsense" denial was run, and then Morton said: "But earlier on this retired Air Force officer broadcast, a Col. Fletcher Prouty o' who handled liaison with the CIA told Daniel Schorr that a high-ranking itive pressure was not a factor in the White House aide during the Nixon ad- even that role), why the rush by CBS decision to go ahead. In fact, he said,. ministration was a CIA man. And and NBC to get the story before the that decision was made before, he then he and Schorr went into the public first thing Friday morning? And found out that Prouty had talked to Prouty material. why the presentation of the Prouty Rowan. He noted, however, that Thum- pn the NBC broadcast, reporter revelation, if it can be called that, as a day was a dull news day and that the Ford Rowan developed Prouty's asser- big development in the story about' Morning News people were happy to tion that during Butterfield's military high-level CIA "infiltration" of the fed-, , get a good lead story for Friday morn-, career he was processed for assign- eral establishment? ing. ment to CIA, which led to this In retrospect, it is clear that all con; Rowan conceded that competition exchange: cerned—Prouty and CBS and NBC-4, was a factor in his pressing to get the ROWAN: Is there any doubt in were careless in their handling, of 4' story on the air. He said he didn't your mind that Alexander Butter- know that CBS had Prouty, but he field was a man with CIA connec- thought ABC might have him. "In T. tions, who went to the White situation like this," he said, "my House staff and his CIA connec- thought is to get it/on the air and see tions persisted at the time he was how it flies." on the White House? This one appears to have crashed. PROUTY: No, I've never had