combat various "subversive" activities was reaffirmed. Political assassination was
banned, but there were no limitations or regulations placed on covert operations, and
there was nothing about measures to improve the intelligence and analytical product of
the agencies.
In the view of the New York Times, the big winner was Bush: "From a management
point of view, Mr. Ford tonight centralized more power in the hands of the Director of
Central Intelligence than any had had since the creation of the CIA. The director has
always been the nominal head of the intelligence community, but in fact has had little
power over the other agencies, particularly the Department of Defense." Bush was now
de facto intelligence czar. [fn 35]
Poor Ford was unable to realize that his interest was to be seen as a reformer, not as
someone who wanted to re-impose secrecy. When he was asked if his Official Secrets
Act could not be used to deter whistle-blowers on future bureaucratic abuses, Ford
responded that all federal employees would be made to sign a statement pledging that
they would not divulge classified information, and that they could expect draconian
punishment if they ever did so.
Congressman Pike said that Ford's reorganization was bent "largely on preserving all of
the secrets in the executive branch and very little on guaranteeing a lack of any further
abuses." Church commented that what Ford was really after was "to give the CIA a
bigger shield and a longer sword with which to stab about."
An incident of those days reveals something of what was going on. Daniel Schorr of
CBS, whose name had popped up on the Nixon enemies' list during the Watergate
hearings, had obtained a copy of the Pike Committe report and passed it on to the Village
Voice. Schorr had attended Ford's press conference, and listened as Ford denounced the
leaking of the Pike report. The next day, covering Capitol Hill, Schorr encountered Bush
while the new CIA boss was on his way to testify before the Senate Foreign Relations
Committee. A wirephoto of an angry Bush gesticulating at Schorr wound up on the front
page of the Washington Star under the headline: "Another Confrontation." With that,
Schorr's twenty-year career with CBS was over, and he was soon to face a witchhunt by
the House Ethics Committee. Other reporters soon caught on that under the new Bush
regime, political opponents would be slammed. (Schorr later speculated about CIA links
to CBS owner William Paley; there was no need to look any further than the fact that
Harriman had helped to create CBS and that Prescott Bush had been a CBS director
during the 1950's, giving the Bushman network a firm presence there.
During these days, the Department of Justice announced that it would not prosecute
former CIA Director Richard Helms for his role in an illegal break-in at a photographic
studio in Fairfax, Virginia during 1971. The rationale was from the National Security Act
of 1947: "the director of central intelligence shall be responsible for protecting
intelligence sources and methods from unauthorized disclosure," even if it meant
breaking the law to do it. Bush would become a past master of this "sources and
methods" clause, which could be used to cover up almost anyuthing.