Urgit Homes the S Men E -President

WATERGATE burglar Frank. Sturgis revealed for the first time this week the-identity of the man he believes to be Deep Throat. "He is Robert F.. Bennett, a Howard Hughes executive and former C.I.A. agent," Sturgis told The Star in an exclusive interview. Sturgis also told in detail of the events that led up to the role played by Deep Throat in the destruction of Richard Nixon's presidency. Deep Throat was the code name given to the mysterious informant in the. Watergate investigation by Washington Post report- ers Bob Woodward and Carl W Bernstein. ater ate burglar According to the reporters, in _ their best-selling book ( and movie), All The President's urgitomes h the Men, Deep 'Throat corroborat- _ ed much of their findings and steered them to new and dam- aging .evidence against the Nix- on Administration. ' mys ter' man i n All Woodward, who dealt with • Deep Throat, has refused to dis- • The close the man's identity. For more two years, it has e -President s Men been one o Washington's big- • gest mysteries — and guessing games.. . - "Bennett was Deep Throat Star and he was acting on orders from C.I.A. boss . Richard Helms who was determined to exclusive bring Nixon to his knees," Stur- gis told The Star. by Steve Sturgis, 51, -a trained C.I.A. agent who was imprisoned for his role in the Watergate dra- Dunleavy ma,' claimed that Nixon was a DEEP victim • of an undercover attack by Helttis. ' • I "Howefer,--if Richard Nixon had - won his struggle with Helms and got his way there • would have been an awful can of worms opened up that would have exploded all over the world," he said. - • The initial clash between Nix- on 'and Helms came in 1971 when the President demanded THROAT to see vital files held by the C.I.A. "Helms reftised and it was for that reason that Nixon fired him. But the files were absolute PAGE 5 dynamite," he told The Star. THE STAR SEPTEMBER 21, 1976 "The files concerned Cuba, Castro and the Kennedy assas- 1101111.11Momm••••=m sination. "My information is that those one time or another had worked for The Company (the C.I.A.) "There was no problem until the President started talking about implementing the Huston plan, which was to be an inter- nal intelligence outfit that would haVe cancelled out the C.I.A. "Helms used to boagt that. he had been with the C.I.A. since was Vice Pretident when the its inception.. Bay of Pigs invasion was "He knew he was going to be planned,. had a- fair idea what axed but ',he- -was determined; was in those files. that neither Nixon nor anybody "Helms refuSed to hand them would get those files. Heads aver, actually ,putting himself would have roiled all over. above the President and warn- Those files show the most mon- ing him that the files were far strous cover-up imaginable. too explosive to be seen by any- "The Watergate break-in, one except him. which I took part in, gave • Enraged by Helms' arro- Helms the excuse, he needed. - gance, Nixon fired him in 1972 "He put the whole plumbers after the Watergate_ break-in, operation at Nixon's door. He said Sturgis'. "And that unfortunately was a big Mistake for the President. Nobody can beat the C.I.A.," said Sturgis. That is where Deep Throat came in. Robert Bennett, a 43-year-old files, and I'm sure they are still son of a Republican senator in existence, prove that John from Utah, was a loyal and Kennedy entertained thoughts dedicated C.I.A. undercover of an assassination of Cuban man. dictator Fidel Castro. "His front was the Mullen "And the files prove almost Corporation in Washington, certainly that Fidel Castro was . which had five employees and C.I.A. chief Richard Helms: involved in a plot to kill Presi- ten sedetaries and appeared to Kept files from Nixon. dent Kennedy. be a public relations outfit," kneiv what we were doing. said Sturgis. - "They also prove that the Knew everything about us but, Russians knew that a Kennedy "Well, of course, it wasjust. using Bennett to leak stuff to assassination plot was in the a C.I.A. front. Howard hunt Woodward, he painted Nixon as wind. worked there for about six the villain. "And they also show that months before joining up with "Think back to all of Wood- past administrations had acted the Watergate plumbers, the ward and Bernstein'S writing to cover up the whole assassi- break-in team. and recall -just what sort of a nation and Cuban mess. "Helms and the C.I.A. knew light Helms was shown in. "Richard Nixon, a man who of the plumbers as all of us at "Bennett was going to give them all the stuff they needed, but his job was to protect The Company and Helms." `CIA boss Helms was In secret testimony, before a House sub-committee, Bennett admitted that he had talked to Woodward on several occa- behind plot to bring sions. But both he - and the prize-winning reporters cate- gorically deny that Bennett was their furtive informant. Nixon to his knees' Before the Special.. Subcom-- Robert F.Bennett: The man named. He says: 1 Loyal undercover man. am a good friend of Bob Woodward'

friend of Woodward." mittee on Intelligence, headed However, one thing is signifi- by Representative Lucien Ned- cant. xi, Bennett admitted knowing reporter Bob Woodward very Woodward has never bothered well. to confirm or deny the many names mentioned as candidates He said: "Bob Woodward of for Deep Throat. His lone excep- the Washington Post inter- tion to that rule occurred when viewed me at great length on Bennett's name was first men- numerous occasions. tioned publicly. "I have told Woodward ev- erything I knew about the Wa- "Bennett," said Sturgis, "is tergate case, except the Mullen the only man that Woodward Company's tie to the C.I.A. took time off to absolutely deny was Deep Throat. He pro- "As a result I am a good tested too much." The files detailing plot and mander of the armed forces in was. There is a lot of money on Europe. the lecture circuit for him, and counter-plot to assassinate Cas- a lot of money waiting for him tro and President Kennedy. "Then there was Alexander Butterfield, the former deputy when he decides to write his have not been seen by Sturgis assistant to President Nixon. book. No, unfortunately I am in full. not Deep Throat." "For an allegedly loyal aide, "But I have contributed to he almost broke his jaw with Was the Mullen Corporation a much of them," he said, the speed in volunteering infor- C.I.A. front? "The truth is sim- It was Sturgis who two weeks mation about the existence of ply this. We provided a cover ago in The Star produced strong President Nixon's tapes, which for one agent overseas, and that proof that the Government in he knew would be damaging. is all. As the Rockefeller Com- mission correctly found, we 1964 had information that Jack "He was the man who dis- .Ruby, killer of Lee Harvey were a very legitimate public closed the tape business. Later relations organization. Oswald, had met secretly with he became head of the Federal Fidel Castro two months before Aviation Administration in "HoWever, give one man a the Kennedy assassination. Washington. They looked after cover overseas and you find Robert Bennett, a Mormon, their own. yourself spending the rest of now works for the Summa Cor- life explaining yourself, like I "Meanwhile, the Watergate am doing right now. poration in Las Vegas, which is seven went to jail and Howard the umbrella company running Hunt and Gordon Liddy are still "People keep on referring to the empire of the late Howard rotting inside." me as a rich coporation execu- tive. The truth is I am in Hughes. Sturgis credited President "Let's be frank, I'm on Nix- . charge of public relations, and Nixon with determination in his that's all. I am not a C.I.A. on's side. because I think he was quest to get the vital files. a victim, but I must confess agent or anything like it." "For instance, Jerry Ford A well-known author and for- that Bennett and Helms did a lmows better than to start look- superb job," Sturgis said. mer congressional investigator ing for there," said Sturgis.- agrees with Sturgis' revelation Sturgis said that he has infor- "He knows you just can't win mation from his contacts -that against them. of Deep Throat. He is Professor. Richard H. Secretary of State Henry Kis- "Perhaps if the timing had singer had full knowledge of the been a bit better, Nixon might knife job that Helms and Ben- have been able to get them. "I'll tell you this from what I know is in those files: it could have given Richard Nixon a very valid excuse to invade Cu- ba if he had wanted to. 'Both Helms and Bennett _ took' the -position that-President Nixon couldn't be trusted with the files. You can't set yourself above the President. It's crazy. "Before taking his stuff to Woodward and Bernstein, Ben- nett did a pretty good job on Frank Sturgis: "You can't other parts of the media. win against the C.I.A. "He convinced the reporters that the C.I.A. knew nothing Popkin, Professor of Philosophy about us. Jeez, I've been asso- at the Washington University in icated with Intelligence for 25 St-. Louis, Missouri, author of years. Helms had to admit that the best-selling book on the in the end. Kennedy assassination called "Helms and Bennett knew The Second Oswald, and a top they were playing with fire. I Source of information for Wash- mean they knew that a lot of it ington congressional commit- would rub off on the C.I.A. tees. He said: "But it's a little like an ele- - phant getting a jab with a pin. "Mr. Bennett served his mas- ters pretty well. nett were doing. "Let's look at The main thing was to destroy the record," said Sturgis. Nixon -and make sure nobody "He was obviously acting "Helms gets mixed up in the saw those files." under instructions. He , was in mess and suddenly Henry or- Reporter Woodward told The the field to protect the C.I.A. ganizes a fat job for him as the Star: "Bennett as Deep Throat and to protect the Hughes cor- Ambassador to Iran. is just not right. poration. "Bennett, whose cover was "I've talked to him on a num- "That Mullen Corporation blown, new has one of the big- ber of occasions in gathering which he ran very skillfully was gest jobs in Hughes' outfit. news, but the idea of him being an amazing organization. They "There are two others who Deep Throat is not logical." transferred huge amounts of were involved too. General Al- This week I spoke to Mr. Ben- money for the C.I.A. to finance exander Haig, although he nett at his Las Vegas office by their operations overseas. didn't take part in the job done telephone. I asked him if he "Yes, I'm convinced that Mr. on Nixon, knew about it. He is was Deep Throat. Sturgis is right. Mr. Bennett safe and sound as the corn- Mr. Bennett said: "I wish I was Deep Throat indeed." BOOKS PROVIDE FURTHER. EVIDENCE TWO books by authois associat- files on the Bay of Pigs investi- teur spy operation. The CIA ed with the Watergate investi- gation, when turned over to the chief then destroys an assina- gation support Frank Sturgis' Nixon White House, had vital Lion report in the CIA files, ar- allegations against former CIA documents removed from them ranges for a "safe man" to re- director Richard Helms. beforehand. place him in the agency, then Fred D. Thompson, minority John Ehrlichman, Nixon's goes off to become an ambassa- counsel to the Senate Watergate Chief of Staff, in his novel The dor. committee, documented in his Company, tells of a CIA direc- In real life, Richard Helms book At That Point In Time tor who resorted to blackmail became ambassador to Iran af-il many lies told by Helms. after, discovering that the White ter being removed as head of He also said flatly that CIA House had set up its own ama- the CIA.