The Church Committee launched an investigation of the use of covert operations for the
purpose of assassinating foreign leaders. By the nature of things, this probe was lead to
grapple with the problem of whether covert operations sanctioned to eliminate foreign
leaders had been re-targetted against domestic political figures. The obvious case was the
Kennedy assassination.
Church was especially diligent in attacking CIA covert operations, which Bush would be
anxious to defend. The CIA's covert branch, Church thought, was a "self-serving
apparatus." "It's a bureaucracy which feeds on itself, and those involved are constantly
sitting around thinking up schemes for [foreign] intervention which will win them
promotions and justify further additions to the staff...It self-generates interventions that
otherwise never would be thought of, let alone authorized." [fn 1]
It will be seen that at the beginning of Bush's tenure at the CIA, the Congressional
committees were on the offensive against the intelligence agencies. By the time that Bush
departed Langley, the tables were turned, and it was the Congress which was the focus of
scandals, including Koreagate. Soon thereafter, the Congress would undergo the assault
of Abscam.
Preparation for what was to become the Halloween massacre began in the Ford White
House during the summer of 1975. The Ford Library in Ann Arbor, Michigan preserves a
memo from Donald Rumsfeld to Ford dated July 10, 1975, which deals with an array of
possible choices for CIA Director. Rumsfeld had polled a number of White House and
administration officials and asked them to express preferences among "outsiders to the
CIA." [fn 2]
Among the officials polled by Cheney was Henry Kissinger, who suggested C. Douglas
Dillon, Howard Baker, Galvin, and Robert Roosa. Dick Cheney of the White House staff
proposed Robert Bork, followed by Bush and Lee Iacocca. Nelson Rockefeller was also
for C. Douglas Dillon, followed by Howard Baker, Conner, and James R. Schlesinger.
Rumsfeld himself listed Bork, Dillon, Iacoca, Stanley Resor, and Walter Wriston, but not
Bush. The only officials putting Bush on their "possible" lists other than Cheney were
Jack O. Marsh, a White House counselor to Ford, and David Packard. When it came time
for Rumsfeld to sum up the aggregate number of times each person was mentioned,
minus one point for each time a person had been recommended against, the list was as
follows:
Robert Bork [rejected in 1987 for the Supreme Court] White McGee Foster [John S.
Foster of PFIAB, formerly of the Department of Defense] Dillon Resor Roosa Hauge
It will be seen that Bush was not among the leading candidates, perhaps because his
networks were convinced that he was going to make another attempt for the vice-
presidency and that therefore the Commerce Department or some similar post would be
more suitable. The summary profile of Bush sent to Ford by Rumsfeld found that Bush
had "experience in government and diplomacy" and was "generally familiar with