ws On Tape: 'We Protctad Lyle Denniston Waslungion Sur Suit Wruer It is somewhat after 10 in the Helms,' Nixon Told morning. June 23, 1972. In the Oval Office at the White House, presiden- tial assistant H.R. Haldeman is talk. ing — quite excitedly — to President Richard M. Nixon. Haldeman "You seem to think the thing to do is to get them to stop?" Haldeman asks, referring to the FBI investiga- The charmed life of Richard Helms — Part 3 tion of the Watergate burglary just six days before. -"Right, fine," Nixon answers. forced the president to resign. "They say," Haldeman says, "the probed by a variety of con- only way to do that is from White But the references to Helms may gressional committees. have meant something significant House instructions. And it's got to be Pages upon pages of to Helms and to — ah, what's his then. If ever explained fully, they committee hearings track name — ? Walters." He goes on: may mean something significant in back and forth over the the future. "And the proposal would be that Plumbers incident, CIA For the time being, however, they sponsorship of some of for- Ehrlichman and I call them in, and are merely in the record of history, say, ah — mer CIA officer E. Howard posing still lingering questions about Hunt's adventures, meet- He doesn't finish the scenario. Richard Helms and the Watergate ings that Helms attended at Nixon interrupts: ''All right, fine. scandals. the White House as the How do you call him in — I mean you Those scandals included, of course, Watergate case began to just — well, we protected Helms not only the burglary at the Demo- unfold, and .the variety of from one hell of a lot of things." cratic Committee headquarters at ways in which top Nixon Haldeman agrees. "That's what the Watergate complex, and the• aides leaned on the CIA. Ehrlichman says." "cover-up" of the White House role Still, it is uncertain that in trying to stop the FBI probe, but everything there is to be " THE "HELMS" they say has been also the use of the White House known about any of that has protected is Richard Helms, at the "Plumbers" team for a 1971 break.ir, .been disclosed. Some of the time the director of the CIA. at a California psychiatrist's °Moe CIA's own tape recordings His name comes up again that day during the White House-led investi- have been destroyed. Not et the White House. a few hours gation of the Pentagon Papers leak. all of the White House tape recordings have been dis- later. Again, Haldeman is talking It is one of the ironies of Helms' closed. about the plan to get the FBI to stop current problems that he and his as- There is no indication, the Watergate investigation, relying sociates believe that he was fired as though• that Helms faces on Helms to do it. CIA chief, and sent off to be ambas- legal problems because of The President says: "If it gets out sador to Iran, solely because he the scandals beyond the that this is all involved, the Cuba would not cooperate with Nixon and potential difficulty in the thing would be a fiasco. It would his aides on those scandals. Justice Department's year- make the CIA look bad, its going to "The word was passed around at old perjury investigation of make Hunt look bad, and it is likely the time," recalls a friend of Helms. some of his congressional to blow the whole Bay of Pigs thing "that Helms had not been able to get testimony. The whole mat- which we think would be very unfor- along with (Henry) Kissinger. That ter seems largely closed. tunate — both for CIA, and for the is totally false. The real reason is country, at this time, and for Ameri- that Helms had stood up against WHAT HAS come out can foreign policy. Just tell him to Nixon on the Watergate cover-up." publicly has raised, but not lay off. Don't you?" answered, at least these Haldeman agrees, and seems See HELMS, A4 questions about Helms and satisfied with the solution. "Yep. Continued From A-1 the scandals: That's the basis to do it on. Just leave PART OF the proof that • What did Nixon mean it at that." persuades Helms' associ- about having "protected" As that part of the conversation ates that he was punished Helms? closes, Nixon again mentions Helms for being ''obstructionist" • Why was Nixon confident in a cryptic way: "Helms is not one on Watergate is that, on that Helms would go along to (unintelligible) . ." leaving the CIA, he did not with the idea of using a get the National Security "national security" ruse to THE REFERENCES to Helms Medal — something that a stop the FBI investigation meant little when that day's tran- retired CIA chiet might of Watergate? script came out in the late summer of aormally expect. The idea • Why did neither Helms nor any other CIA official 1974. The mentions of Helms, in fact• was suggested, but never were largely passed over then amid acted upon at the White tell Watergate prosecutors the sensational revelation of Nixon's House. about these pressures or own early role in the "Watergate Helms' conduct in each of about past associations with Howard Hunt when they cover-up" — the revelation that the scandals has been first learned he was tied to to "You have to define what A. Walters — about the plan after 1 p.m. eisewhere the Watergate burglary? the White House: in Ehr- • Why didn't they tell the a president can do under to "limit" the FBI probe. the term 'national lichman's office on the sec- prosecutors about Nixon Helms, however, did regard security,' " suggests one of ond floor. This was called to campaign aide James W. that as "odd," he has testi- Helms' long-time associ- put into effect the plan that McCord's attempts to %earn fied. ates. the president and Halde- the CIA that the White The Watergate scandals man had just agreed to fol- House was trying to make SEN. STUART Syming- seem almost a classic case low. Watergate look like a CIA ton, D•Mo., a close friend of study of extreme answers Haldeman and Ehrlich- plot in order to protect its Helms, has suggested that to that. Very early and man were there, and so secrecy? the Nixon administration throughout, the one theory were Helms and Walters. • Did anyone at the CIA put Walters in as Helms' upon which aides — and know, in advance, about the When Helms first dis- Nixon himself — sought to deputy to insure that one of Watergate break-in? cussed that meeting at a justify their actions was "their men" would be in a • What does it mean that congressional hearing in "national security." But it controlling spot at CIA. Howard Hunt. an ex-CIA May 1973, he said the is not even clear that offi- Walters had been an official officer: was involved in Watergate burglary was cials felt obliged to define interpreter for Nixon dur- both the Plumbers incident not discussed. However, what they meant; merely ing some of his foreign trips and in the Watergate bur- when he next discussed it, reciting the phrase often as vice president in the glary? in August 1973, after seeing seemed to be enough. 1950s. • Why did the CIA try to a memo by Walters en the head off FBI inquiries into That is the same Walters, meeting, Helms said White House aide John D. IT IS APPARENT, how- however, whose name Haldeman did mention the eoer, that when White Ehrlichman's dealings with Haldeman had trouble burglary and had said that House officials turned to the the CIA over the Plumbers remembering when he talk- "the opposition" (presum- CIA, they did not bother to incident a year before ed of going to CIA officials ably, the Democrats) was go into detail about security Watergate? about the FBI. "capitalizing on it." justifications. Ordering the • What is the full story be- There is one fact:. Helms He said Haldeman made agency into action was hind Helms' firing as CIA was removed as CIA direc- some ''incoherent reference justification enough. tor at the end of 1972, before to an investigation in Mexi- director? Helms, in 1973 testimony the Watergate scandal co, or an FBI investigation, on the scandals, gave some began to unravel publicly. running into the Bay of THOSE QUESTIONS, in in.lication of what he felt Beyond that, there is his Pigs." turn, lead to others, broad- wt s expected of him. He own testimony that he did That, as Helms said he er in scope and perhaps described his reactions at a harder to answer, about fight against misuse of the learned later, was a refer- key White House meeting in CIA in the cover-up. ence to the fact that some Helms and the CIA in the 1972 this way: . In May 1973, Helms told money from Nixon's cam- Nixon era. "Here was Mr. Halde- the Senate Foreign Rela- paign organization had been They involve the degree man, Mr. Ehrlichman. the to which CIA's intelligence tions Committee that the 'laundered" through Mexi- two most senior officials in CIA had "totally and 100 co before it wound up in the duties are carried out here the White House next to the percent resisted" attempts bank account of one of the at home, the sensitivity - president himself, giving to get it involved in any ac- Watergate burglars, a or lack of it — at the White this instruction. And I real- tivity inside this country. In Cuban exile leader. House about limits on CIA's ly feel like now, as I did August 1973, he told- the Haldeman went on to say, authority, the nature of then, that it would have Senate Watergate Commit-, Helms said, that the Mexi- CIA-FBI dealings, the con- been presumptuous to have tee he had told Walters to can angle could lead the trols — or lack of them — pi essed them any harder as "hang in there" in resisting FBI to discover some "cov- on secret escapades by ex- to how they had come up White House demands that with this, or where they had ert" CIA operations. and CIA officers, the chain of the CIA take a role in the gotten the idea, or who was that Walters should go to command within the CIA cover-up by paying Water- L. behind it." Acting FBI Director and above it, the responsi- gate burglars bail fees. Helms also has testified Patrick Gray and tell him bility — if any — of CIA's But there are many gaps that he did not feel free to to stay out of that area - leaders to filter out the between those claims of go around Haldeman and necessary from the frivo- non-involvement and the that the FBI probe "should Ehrlichman and talk to lous when they get orders specific suggestions. hints be tapered off or reduced, from the White House, and Nixon himself about the as- and implications than come or something." signment thase aides were obey only the ones that they out of the mass of testimony giving to the CIA. think are compelling. and evidence gathered in It is not clear, yet, just AS THEY LEFT the One conclusion, bearing congressional probes of what kind of relationship meeting, Helms testified, on many of these issues. Watergate. Helms had with Nixon. His he walked downstairs with does seem to have emerged Perhaps the most signifi- to associates say they doubt Walters a waiting auto- already: The CIA was cant day in the whole period that the CIA director ever mobile, and told the general treated in the Nixon admin- for Helms, then and now, felt he could pick up the to say only to Gray that "ii istration as virtually an was June 23, 1972 — six telephone and call the the FBI runs into any (CIA) extension of the White days after the Watergate House. Perhaps. as some of president, and they say he agents or operations, it burglary, and the day on (CIA) should be immedi- Helms' colleagues have was at the White House which Nixon and Haldeman ately notified." suggested, that was the ap• fewer time:: than specula- talked of using Helms to Four days later, accord- proach that presidents have tion would ildicate. shut off the FBI probe of ing to testimony by Gen. taken for the past 20 years. Helms h;.s said that, at Watergate. Walters, White House aide Helms' troubles and the that 1972 White House John W. Dean began pres- Current plight of the CIA it- meeting in the week after BETWEEN- THE Oval suring the agency to use self are posing issues that, the Watergate burglary, Office sessions of Ninon ar,d "covert action funds'' to apparently, no one in gov- Haldeman passed him by Haldeman that are record- pay bail and salaries for the ernment has ever asked and spoke directly to his ed on the June 23 tapes, Watergate burglars be- seriously. deputy — Lt. Gen. Vernon there was a meeting a little cause they "were getting until July 10. A memo on the source of the leak or the thenticated by the Whit scared and were wob- that conversation sup- documents. House and that he wa bling." posedly was given to The Ehrlichman-Cush- working at their behest. The general has testified Helms. man transcript about Hunt Hunt actually was giv that he felt this approach Watergate prosecutors reportedly was discussed a wig, hidden camera. to was wrong, and said he told had learned before then by CIA officials at a meet- recorder and other iter Dean he "would have no from Bennett himself that ing June 19, 1972 — two for use as a physician d he thought Hunt was in- part in this and was quite days after the Watergate guise. The camera, hide prepared to resign on this volved. But the CIA itself burglary, and three months in a tobacco pouch. reportedly did nut relate issue." Helms said he ad- after the agency is said to used by Hunt to photogr any of this either to prose- vised Walters not to "yield, have learned that Hunt was the offices of Dr. Fietdir cutors or to the FBI. an inch" in his resistance. working for the White The agency also did not Thus, within 10 days after House. (Whether it is a pass along word that a CIA IN ANOTHER face the burglary, Helms was coincidence or not, that is employe, Lee R. Penning- the Plumbers case, H aware that the White House the same day on which ton Jr., had gone to visit authorized the prepara was heavily involved with Helms talked with aides the Watergate incident, and McCord's home shortly — at White House reo about McCord and the after the burglary, and may — of a psychological p that the CIA was being Watergate break-in.) pressured to take a role. have destroyed some on Ellsberg. He tea later that he had "gt In fact, however, he knew records. That data also was regrets" about that. — two days after the bur- withheld, for a time, from THE ACTUAL tape glary — that the incident the Senate Watergate Com- recording of the Ehrlich- Helms has said man call in 1971 was de- was somehow related to mittee. did not believe I Nixon's campaign organ- Much of the testimony stroyed in January 1973. Plumbers incident ization. On Monday, June and evidence that raises Congressional probers were agency's dealin 19. Helms talked with CIA questions about Helms and told this was done on Hunt had anythir a ides about the involvement the whole series of scandals Helms' direct orders. with the Watergz of McCord. one of those ar- during the Nixon adminis- Helms was then in the proc- dal. rested that Saturday morn- tration bears on the role of ess of leaving the CIA post. "Nobody had ing. McCord was a former Hunt, and CIA officials' He has testified that every- slightest indica' CIA officer and Helms awareness of that. thing the agency had on anything underh apparently knew right One of Helms' own as- any of the scandals had afoot," he said is away that McCord was sociates criticizes the been turned over to the (NOTE: Helms working as chief of Nixon's FBI. Helms-Hunt relationship: through the St campaign security staff. "As a personal weakness, meet, to be intt The role of Helms and the Helms also has said, at Helms tolerated some this series. For CIA in the Watergate affair various committee hear- prima donnas — like E„ arc's agreed to has been probed at length ings, that he was unaware Howard Hunt — beyond the provided that by Sen. Howard Baker. R- that Hunt was doing any- time he should have." thing in this country. In not be used.) Tenn., who was a member Aside from the Bennett of the Senate Watergate early 1973, he told the Sen- memo showing his suspi- ate Foreign Relations Com- Tomorrow: H Committee, and his staff cion that Hunt may have mittee that "nobody knew "home front" aide on that panel, Fred D. been involved in the break- Thompson. he (Hunt) was going to be in. plot, the Baker-Thomp- involved in any domestic THEY HAVE explored son investigation turned up activity." However, the the activities of Robert F. evidence that in March 1972 House Judiciary Committee Bennett, whose public rela- — three months before the in 1974 published a memo tions firm had hired How- Watergate burglary — a showing that CIA aide Karl ard Hunt after he retired CIA officer in Miami was Wagner — the one who from the CIA in 1970. Ben- told that "Hunt was em• knew about the played by the White nett's firm was serving as a Ehrlichman-Hunt tie had CIA "cover" at the time. House." At the time, Hunt broken off contact with Just before the break-in was recruiting Cuban Hunt in 1972 because "his at the Watergate, Bennett exiles, apparently for the requests appeared to in- burglary. had learned that Hunt had volve the agency in domes- been planning to wiretap Helms' associates insist tic clandestine operations," the telephones at Demo- that the White House did which are illegal. cratic candidate George not check with the CIA be- The CIA director himself fore putting Hunt on its McGovern's headquarters had a part in the decision to payroll, and that, if it had, a here. Two days after the go along with the agency's Watergate burglary — be- "derogatory" reply would have been Liven. help for Hunt in 1971, as fore Hunt's name was men- Ehrlichman asked. tioned by the press as hav- "I recall,'' he has testi- ing been tied to that ANOTHER ITEM that fied, "that Gen. Cushman incident — Bennett talked figured in the Baker- informed me that he had with Hunt and apparently Thompsn probe was a authorized giving to How- all but confirmed his strong transcript of a CIA tape ard Hunt a tape recorder suspicion that Hunt was recording of a telephone and a camera, and I esker deeply involved with call that Ehrlichman had for what purpose and h' Watergate. made to the CIA on July 7, said he wanted to conduct . Bennett told a CIA case 1971, askinl that help be one-time interview and the officer with whom he had provided fir Hunt for art he had been properly a; been dealing about his investigation he was doing. suspicions of Hunt, but not That call, made to the then-CIA deputy director,