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MORI DocID: 1451943

OPENING STATEMENT

Mr. Chairman, I am here to discuss the questions which have arisen
over CIA's real and alleged role in events that occurred in 1971 and 1972.
I have opened a detailed investigation into the precise nature of that role.
I can report to you on what Agency records, now being intensively reviewed,
reveal at this juncture. However I do not yet know that I have all the
facts in the matter. Nonetheless, I am pleased to present to you such facts
as are now available, and I will certainly provide you with any further
details as they come to my attention.

Let me start with the Agency's relationship with Mr. Howard Hunt,
whose testimony has recently been made public. Mr. Hunt was a staff
employee of the Agency from 8 November 1949 to 30 April 1970. At that time
he retired from the Agency. He performed one editorial job of writing up
a recommendation for an award for one of our officers in November 1970.
He was not paid for these services, although the Agency placed the sums of
$200.00 and $50.00 in two charitable organizations for the service performed.

In early July 1971, General Cushman, then the Deputy Director of
Central Intelligence, received a telephone call from the White House. He
was informed that Mr. Hunt had become a consultant on security affairs for
the White House, and a request was made that Mr. Hunt receive assistance
from the Agency. The minutes of the Agency Morning Meeting of 8 July 1971
indicate that the DDCI (General Cushman) reported a call by John Ehrlichman
stating that Howard Hunt had been appointed a White House security consultant.

On 22 July 1971 Mr. Hunt visited General Cushman at the CIA building.
According to the records, Mr. Hunt stated that he had been charged with a
highly sensitive mission by the White House to visit and elicit information

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