Posted on 05/31/2005 7:36:57 PM PDT by BringBackMyHUAC
Statement on Granting Pardons to W. Mark Felt and Edward S. Miller
April 15, 1981
Pursuant to the grant of authority in article II, section 2 of the Constitution of the United States, I have granted full and unconditional pardons to W. Mark Felt and Edward S. Miller.
During their long careers, Mark Felt and Edward Miller served the Federal Bureau of Investigation and our nation with great distinction. To punish them further -- after 3 years of criminal prosecution proceedings -- would not serve the ends of justice.
Their convictions in the U.S. District Court, on appeal at the time I signed the pardons, grew out of their good-faith belief that their actions were necessary to preserve the security interests of our country. The record demonstrates that they acted not with criminal intent, but in the belief that they had grants of authority reaching to the highest levels of government.
America was at war in 1972, and Messrs. Felt and Miller followed procedures they believed essential to keep the Director of the FBI, the Attorney General, and the President of the United States advised of the activities of hostile foreign powers and their collaborators in this country. They have never denied their actions, but, in fact, came forward to acknowledge them publicly in order to relieve their subordinate agents from criminal actions.
Four years ago, thousands of draft evaders and others who violated the Selective Service laws were unconditionally pardoned by my predecessor. America was generous to those who refused to serve their country in the Vietnam war. We can be no less generous to two men who acted on high principle to bring an end to the terrorism that was threatening our nation.
==I don't hold the same view you do of Nixon. I am surprised about your description of Nixon as "an unprincipled sellout" given your moniker and Nixon's involvement with HUAC and the Hiss case.
Excerpt taken from "Soviet Moles in the CIA (Part I)"
ISWR 1994
Too many moles to count
Pentration of the CIA is certainly not a new Soviet goal. The Communists found their best opportunity at the time the CIA was first created--during World War II, when the new agency was known as the Office of Strategic Services (OSS).
Nathaniel Weyl, who broke with the Communist Party, USA, wrote that "In the Office of Strategic Services... employment of pro-Communists was approved at very high levels provided that they were suited for specific jobs."10 As it turned out, OSS director General William "Wild Bill" Donovan had systematically recruited his OSS personnel directly from Communist Party membership.
Nor was Donovan shy about admitting this. When confronted by the FBI with clear evidence of Communist agents in the OSS, Donovan boasted, "I know they're Communists; that's why I hired them."11
When the OSS became the CIA in 1947, the original personnel were largely retained, Communists and all. By 1952, CIA director Walter Bedell Smith publicly confirmed that hidden Communist agents were working inside his agency.12
Since no one in the Executive branch seemed to be interested in rooting out these spies, Congress began to take an interest. Joseph McCarthy's subcommittee specifically raised the idea of a formal investigation, as later described by legal advisor Roy Cohn:
One desired investigation that never got started was that of the Central Intelligence Agency, headed by Allen W. Dulles. Our staff had been accumulating extensive data about its operations and McCarthy was convinced that an inquiry was overdue.
Our files contained allegations gathered from various sources indicating that the CIA had unwittingly hired a large number of double agents-individuals who, although working for the CIA, were actually Communist agents whose mission was to plant inaccurate data....
...although we spent far more for intelligence than other countries, the quality of the information we were receiving was so poor that at times the CIA found out what was happening only when it read the newspapers....
When the news broke out that McCarthy was contemplating an inquiry into the CIA, consternation reigned at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue [the White House]. Vice-President Nixon was assigned to the delicate job of blocking it.13
Block it Nixon did, and no outside investigation of spies in the CIA has ever been held. The consequences were obvious. Even the Eisenhower administration was forced to admit in 1954 that CIA intelligence measures against the Soviet Bloc had been a dismal failure.14 Since the end of World War II and continuing to this day, the United States has never been able to infiltrate the KGB or recruit double agents of any significance.
Relevant Notes:
12 Burnham, J., The Web of Subversion, Western Islands, Belmont, MA, 1965, p. 182.
13 Cohn, R., McCarthy: The Answer to "Tail Gunner Joe", Manor Books, New York, 1977, pp. 63-64.
14 Martin, D.C., Wilderness of Mirrors, Harper & Row, New York, 1980, p. 62.
Given everything Felt has been through, and given the fact that he was a stand up guy when the Left was attempting to dismantle the FBI via the courts, I'm willing to give Felt the benefit of the doubt. Like I said, I think there are huge pieces of the Watergate story that have yet to be told. In addition to the links below, you might also want to check out post #62--HUAC
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1414100/posts
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1414117/posts
See post #62 and #63
VP Nixon worked for President Eisenhower. The buck stops there. That said, I don't know what the definition of "outside" is, but there are intelligence committees that have oversight responsibilities for the CIA. They conduct all kinds of investigations and inquiries. Should they be privy to all information beyond a need to know? No.
My view: Nixon made his name with HUAC when it was popular, then blocked similar investigations when the Left made it controversial (and then unpopular). I am no fan of Nixon. Having said that, I appreciate your imput. Feel free to add to your comments because you are one of only a few that actually adds to my knowledgebase (on this topic)--HUAC
I'd be glad to send you some articles that shed light on the why and how of the "need" for outside investigation. Let me know--HUAC
Amen!
Meet the real enemy:
http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/politics.asp
http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/media.asp
http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/funder.asp
Thanks for the links. I agree with most of what is said on the site until;
http://www.discoverthenetwork.org/guideDesc.asp?catid=128&type=issue
http://www.townhall.com/columnists/jonahgoldberg/printjg20030827.shtml
>>The relevant argument is what you want to do about it. I can tell you what kind of globalization someone prefers simply by asking what they think about America and the United Nations. If they think the former is a problem and the latter is a solution, they lean to the left on globalization. If they think it's the other way around, they lean to the right. Indeed, in common usage, anti-globalization is often just another term for anti-Americanism.<<
I am anti UN and anti-globalization, so I guess I would confuse Jonah Goldberg all the way around.
Globalization is socialism not capitalism.
Meet the real enemy: The list is very incomplete!
http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/viewGroups.asp?catId=6
Groups;
Where is Council on American-Islamic Relations?
IMMIGRATION
Where is the Democratic Party, the Republican Party, and PRESIDENT BUSH?
..........for the record......what religious denomination was Felt?
No idea what religious denomination Felt comes from. Am I missing something here????
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