Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, January 11, 1993 TAG: 9301110062
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: PETE YOST and SCOTT ROTHSCHILD Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
CABINET NOMINEE DENIES HE KNEW ARMY SPIED ON PUBLIC
Secretary of State-designate Warren Christopher's personal papers indicate he was informed in 1968 that Army "operatives" were gathering intelligence on civil rights and anti-war activists. But he later told Congress that as deputy attorney general, "I did not authorize it and I did not know about it."His 1977 remarks came before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, the same panel that Wednesday will consider President-elect Bill Clinton's nomination of Christopher to become secretary of state.
Christopher's files at the Lyndon Johnson archives, reviewed by The Associated Press, are dotted with Army intelligence reports about Vietnam War protesters and followers of the late Martin Luther King.
The national security spokesman for the Clinton transition said Sunday that Christopher would not comment. Refusing to be quoted by name, this spokesman said, "Mr. Christopher's recollection of these events today does not differ from his recollection and testimony when he was confirmed as deputy secretary of state by the Senate in 1977. The excerpts you provided us" from the papers "do not alter Mr. Christopher's recollection."
A senior staff member for the Foreign Relations Committee said Sunday the panel had been unaware of the documents and planned to look into the matter further.
The military's surveillance of civilians at the height of Vietnam-era unrest was exposed and stopped in 1970. It was later criticized in Congress as an unconstitutional infringement of free speech and assembly.
Christopher, as have other Johnson administration officials, has insisted he did not know Army intelligence agents were spying on civilian organizations and compiling computerized databases on thousands of citizens.