Sorensen Withdraws As Nominee for CIA 11 Fl(Arter's First Defeat Succumbs to Controversy by Robert G

Sorensen Withdraws As Nominee for CIA 11 fl(arter's First Defeat Succumbs to Controversy By Robert G. Kaiser By Lee Lescaze W•thingion Poet Staff 'Writer Waahlaston PDat Staff Writer The forced withdrawal of Theodore C. Sorensen's Theodore C. Sorensen succumbed yesterday to the nomination to be Director of Central Intelligence—the sudden controversy surrounding his nomination as Di- first defeat of Jimmy Carter's still-unborn presidency— rector of Central Intelligence by withdrawing from was a painfully public display of Carter's limited in- Senate consideration. fluence on Capitol Hill. His dramatic action came at the opening of his con- Carter's associates tried quickly to minimize the po- firmation hearings after he and President-elect Jimmy litical significance of Sorensen's withdrawal. It was Carter apparently counted votes in the Senate Intelli- argued that Sorensen's personal liabilities were sub- gence Committee and concluded that his nomination stantial, so his rejection was not simply a slap at Carter. for the nation's top intelligence job would not be ap- But the President-elect did try to save Sorensen, with proved. After reading to the end of a strong defense of his News Analysis past actions against what he called "scurrilous and un- founded personal attacks," Sorensen added his startling public statements of full support and with private tele- final four paragraphs in which he said phone calls to key senators on the Intelligence Com- "It is now clear to me that a substantial portion of mittee. the United States Senate and the intelligence community Perhaps the most revealing aspect of the enure tale is not yet ready to accept as director of central intelli- was Carter's inability to convince at least four senators gence-arroutsitier-who believes as I believe ... " of his own party to give him and Sorensen the benefit In Plains, Carter called Sorensen's action "character- of the doubt. istically generous and unselfish, designed to spare the This could be an omen of the political realities in the administration and the country the effects of a divisive first months of the Carter administration. The Demo- and emotional controversy." • ' cratic members of Congress—most of whom ran ahead That controversy would have dragged on through of Carter in their home districts last fall—feel no spe- Carter's inaugural. Senate Minority Leader Howard H. cial debt to the President-elect And thus far he has not Baker (R-Tenn.) and GOP National Chairman Bill Brock See IMPACT, A9, Col. 4 See SORENSEN, A9, col. 1 , • ; 14'Z' • Assadfiled Preen Sorensen, back to camera, Is hugged by Carter aide Jack Watson after Hill hearing. His wife, Gillian, la at right. -:',..7v6e,7YaN.P.1.-4:.,-..mwyaove.mtntro)!N•amwr-tvoyoF•MArloWM"141.qt,Y47w4rAllp.-rvatazawl.^7....wrp,t-pa:m. Sorensen, in Face of Opposition, Withdraws as Nominee for CIA SORENSEN, From Al cases involving the publication of the quickly bad several committee mem- Pentagon Papers. bers not had doubts about him before had been leading the attack on Soren- The defendant in one case was The the affidavits took center stage. sen which mushroomed over the week- New York Times and in the other was Sen. Birch Bayh ID-Ind.) stated this end. Daniel FlIsherg, who gave the classi- baldly after Sorensen's withdrawal, Sen. Charles McC. Mathias (R-Md,) fied Pentagon Papers to The Times saying.: "Some of the people are out to said he had been undecided on the for publication. get you not because of the affidavits, nomination but added: -I think Mr. but because they don't want a clean Sorensen made a wise decision. What- Sorensen's affidavits said his ac- broom at the CIA." ever the facts may prove to be. there tions were not unusual., and he said yesterday: "My handling of classified Sorensen told reporters that the at- was going to be a bitter and prolonged information was at all times in accord- tacks on his past appeared to have controversy which would have weak- originated with the American Con- ened him and weakened the CIA." ance with the then-existing laws, regu- lations and practices." servative Union, the Liberty Lobby Over the weekend, following criti- and the John Birch Society as well as He reminded the committee that other conservative groups. Many con- cism of Sorensen's past handling of President Ford, at his confirmation classified information and his regis- servative spokesmen were waiting to hearing, acknowledged using classi- testify against Sorensen. tratien for non-combatant status with fied documents to aid preparation 'of his draft board, a number of Demo- his book on the Warren Commission. After Sorensen announced his with- cratic committee members spoke with drawal, a number of committee mem- Carter on the telephone. None of Sorensen's critics spelled bers whose attitude toward Sorensen out what damage his actions had done All, including two of the most lib- had ranged from neutral to cold made to the national security, but the affi- short statements praising him. eral members of the committee, Sen. davits became a rallying point for Joe Biden Sr. (D-Del.) and Sen. Wil- them_ And the controversy that Chairman Daniel K. Inouye (D- liam Hathaway (A-Maine), expressed swirled up around the affidavits Hawaii) made public for the first time reservations about Sorensen. that the committee had received an doomed the nomination, it appeared, FBI report giving Sorensen "a four- The committee's senior Republican, because controversy is something Sen. Sake Garn (Utah) said after the star rating," which means he could he many senators made clear they want considered for any position handling withdrawal that he was confident the divorced from the Central Intelli- nomination would have been defeated. classified material- gence Agency. Sen. Robert B. Morgan (D•N.C.). Garn said he knew that there was who opposed Sorensen, said there The role of the intellegence commu- never any question of Sorensen's hon- were probably 10 "no" votes on the 15- nity in stirring opposition to Sorensen esty or integrity. was not clear. Sorensen told member committee, "The burden of "I hope you will not leave this room proof had shifted by this morning," he reporters: with bitterness," Inouye said. said. "it's become apparent to me that According to committee sources, the That Carter was dealt an unusual some individuals in the intelligence committee investigation of Sorensen rebuff by having one of his nominees community wanted someone of a dif- showed there was no substance to two fail at the start of his administration ferent philosophy." other charges made against him in re- and that there was widespread ani- lie refused to elaborate and said cent days—that a conflict of interest mosity toward Sorensen were clear. only that "one senses these things" -existed because of his representation but the reasons for the animosity when, asked for his evidence, He said of foreign governments and multina- were complicated. he had no intention of condemning tional corporations and that he had Thomas B (Bert) Lance. Carter's the intelligence community and that knowledge of CIA assassination plots choice to head the Office of Manage- some of Its members had been very as a result of his position as special ment and Budget, told reporters that supportive of his nomination. counsel to President Kennedy. the withdrawal wasn't politically dam- Sorensen accused his attackers of Baker said he hoped Sorensen un- aging to the President-elect. "It's not fastening on the affidavits and his derstood that it was the nature of the like he had brought the nomination [registration for non-combatant status American process to have "a frank, out and had `been defeated," Lance while hiding their differences with open, candid appraisal" of nominees. said. him over whether an outsider like Only Sen. Gary Hart (D-CoIo.) Most of the anonymous and attrib- himself and a man with his record of pointed out that there hadn't been uted criticisms of Sorensen over the advocating less government secrecy, any public apPraiial. He criticized his weekend went to his taking seven more government accountability and colleagues, saying Sorensen's ease boxes of classified material home with the use of covert action only in emer- -was prejudged at the outset" Hart him when he left the White House in gencies should head the intelligence added: "He didn't have his day in February, 1964, and his use ce these in community. court." his book, "Kennedy." It seemed clear the the storm that Washington Post Staff writers Spen- Sorensen described these actions in arose and demolished Sorensen's nom- cer Rich. and Edward Walsh contributed affidatlts he provided in two court ination would not have spread so to this asticle. Painful Evidence That Carter Has and C. Smith, also a Washington law- Limited Hill Clout' yer, who was the leader of the Ameri- can delegation to the Strategic Arms IMPACT, From Al ' Limitation Talks (SALT) in the early generated the kind of popular sup- 1970s. port that might convince the Congress All four would fit the description of the type of person the President-elect, he is too popular to take on. according to his press secretary, still Carter's unusually ardent courtship seeks in a director of the CIA: of Congress durin gthe transition per- "'someone . from outside the intelli- iod suggests a realization that his gence community, someone with a de- gree of independence but with experl- position needs strengthening. His de- ente." cision not to fight harder for Soren- Several members of Washington's sen may be a sign of strategic political foreign policy establishment specu- tractability.

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