A Time to Open Up the C.I.A.

By JOHN M. DEUTCH

The editor of The San Jose Mercury News writes that
his newspaper's reporting last year of a link
between the C.I.A. and the introduction of crack cocaine
into Los Angeles in the 1980's was flawed. This
admission has elicited pious editorial commentary about
the courage of The Mercury News in acknowledging error
while reaffirming the value of investigative reporting
of alleged governmental misconduct.

I was not impressed with the original Mercury News
series when it appeared while I was the C.I.A.'s
Director because of the absence of any evidence to
support the allegation of C.I.A. involvement. I am now
not impressed by the editorial admission of The Mercury
News or the accompanying editorial comment.

The story has been transformed by the establishment
press from one about C.I.A. involvement in drug
trafficking to one about journalistic performance, thus
missing the point. Anyone who observed the reaction to
the allegation, which I called "an appalling charge" at
the time, knows that the significance of the episode is
the credibility that the inflammatory and inadequately
substantiated allegation had among many
AfricanAmericans, especially in SouthCentral Los
Angeles.

Perhaps it should not be surprising that the black
community can believe the C.I.A. helped introduce crack
when it has been known since 1972 that the Government
sanctioned the Tuskegee syphilis experiments on black
men. I know from the public meeting I attended in Watts,
hosted by Representative Juanita MillenderMcDonald,
that there is a tremendous anger against the
government's impotence to stop the spread of drugs, a
desperation to find someone to blame for the devastation
caused by drugs, and a distrust of all agencies the
C.I.A., F.B.I., D.E.A. and L.A.P.D. involved in the
drug war.

The C.I.A. has been combating drugs for many years. The
agency's work contributed to the arrest of almost all
the Cali drug lords over the past two years and to
greater control of heroin trafficking in the Far East.

I know of no evidence that the C.I.A. has ever directed
or knowingly condoned drug smuggling into the United
States.

But the public, as well as the dedicated C.I.A.
intelligence analysts and clandestine intelligence
operations officers who frequently run personal risks in
fighting drugs, deserve to have the allegations put
fully to rest.

The thorough and independent investigations under way at
the C.I.A. and at the Congressional intelligence
oversight committees must continue. I predict these
investigations will not uncover a C.I.A. conspiracy to
raise money for the Nicaraguan contras by selling drugs
to Americans. That is a calumny. If the investigations
uncover misconduct by individual C.I.A. operations
personnel, those responsible should be held accountable.

It is important that the results of these investigations
be unclassified and available for scrutiny by the
interested public. Often the intelligence community must
be silent to protect the sources and methods involved in
its operations. But sometimes the issue warrants and
circumstances permit openness by the C.I.A. Here is such
a case.

The C.I.A. is much needed to fight terrorism, counter
weapons proliferation and serve as our country's first
line of defense. It cannot do so without public support.
It is not reasonable to expect that all suspicions about
the C.I.A.'s role in drugs or in Central America in the
1980's will be put to rest by a full and open
investigation. But such a process will change some minds
and improve public confidence. The more the public can
know about what the C.I.A. does to fight drugs the
better. The true story is a good story, not a bad story.

John M. Deutch, the former Director of Central
Intelligence, is a professor of chemistry at M.I.T.