In Search of Enemies - A CIA Story - John Stockwell

CIA Y. Congress [237]
headquarters had followed him with cables urging that the poison be
given to Lumumba promptly, before its power diminsihed. An agent
was located who agreed to administer the fatal dose. A CIA staff
officer on the one hand refused to do the killing, but on the other did
agree to lure Lumumba into a situation where he could be poisoned.
The poison was not used, apparently because of difficulties in staging
the killing, but a month later, on January 17, 1961, Lumumba was
beaten to death by henchmen of Congolese politicians who had close
relationships with the CIA.
On December 19, 1975, while the Senate voted on Angola, the
Olsson family accepted s1.25 million in restitution for the death of
Dr. Olsson in CIA drug experiments. The money came from the U.S.
taxpayer. The perpetrators of the crime, the directors of the CIA, the
chief of the Technical Services Division, and the scientists involved,
were never punished. They served out their careers, receiving promotions
and awards until they retired. After retirement they continued
to draw government pensions of up to s20,ooo per year.
On December 23, 1975, fate intervened on the behalf of the CIA.
The CIA station chief in Greece, Richard S. Welch, was killed by
terrorists in front of his villa in a luxurious suburb eight kilometers
from Athens. Three days before, his name and CIA identity had been
published in a local newspaper. No conceivable action or incident
could have been more beneficial to the CIA at that time. Colby
bitterly denounced the enemies of the CIA who were exposing it. A
reaction set in on Capitol Hill and in the press community. Doors
began to close on the congressional investigators in the rush of
sympathy and support for CIA officers who were thought to be living
hazardous lives in the service of their country. When Church Committee
members traveled abroad to investigate CIA stations, they
were berated by case officers' wives, who claimed that even their
children were endangered by the committee's disclosures.
The CIA officers' martyr role was only another CIA ploy. CIA
case officering is certainly far less dangerous than other branches of
the foreign service. During my twelve years of service I knew of no
other CIA case officer murdered, although at least twenty State
Department, USIS, and AID officers had been killed, kidnaped, or
suffered harrowing experiences during that period. This was despite
the publication of hundreds of officers' names in recent years by
enemies of the CIA. The reason is simple enough. Eighty-five percent