Do you believe it is the job of our government to stop the bomb-thrower before he throws his bomb — or merely to apprehend and punish him after he has killed innocent people? Do you think it is the task of our government to find the spy before he compromises our nation’s military secrets — or merely to punish him after he has given them to the Soviets?
Or, put another way more familiar to fans of Western movies, but applying the | same moral and legal principle, do you believe the sheriff has the right to shoot at the bad guy when he reaches for his gun — or only after he has a chance to fire at his victims? For all those who want to live in a peaceful community, the question answers itself. And it also shows whether or not you believe in governmental institutions which protect our internal security.
As our Founding Fathers clearly recognized in the Preamble of the U.S. Constitution to “insure domestic tranquility” is one of the paramount duties of government. It is significant that the verb chosen was “insure”, not the verb to “punish” those who have already disturbed domestic tranquility (which was provided for later).
It is easy to see what the absence of domestic tranquility means by looking at 7 other countries around the world where law enforcement can no longer protect citizens from attacks.
Post-Franco Spain has become unsafe for tourists; bombs explode often in the better hotels and at resorts along the coast. In Italy, the leading politicians and industrialists are in constant fear that they, their wives, and especially their children, will fall victim to the organized criminals who kidnap for ransom.
In Argentina, ideological gangs prey on helpless victims without mercy. In Nicaragua (like Cuba), a ragged band of revolutionaries came out of the hills to topple the elected government. In Rhodesia, civilian airplanes are shot down without warning and frequent terrorist attacks make life precarious for all.
In the aftermath of the Vietnam War, a concerted drive was begun to demolish our internal security agencies, and it has been amazingly successful. Whereas 20 years ago, our government was prosecuting Soviet spies such as Colonel Rudolf Abel, today the targets of criminal prosecution are former FBI officials such as L. Patrick Gray, W. Mark Felt, and Edward S. Miller.
The Carter Administration is liquidating its activities against subversives, but prosecuting dedicated public servants whose “crime” is that they used electronic surveillance against revolutionary terrorists such as the Weathermen.
The policy of the Carter administration is to permit the U.$.5.R. to use five stations inside the United States to monitor U.S. long-distance telephone conversations, whereas the FBI and the CIA must obtain court orders to monitor the phones of any suspected foreign agent of Moscow, Peking, or Havana.
A new book by Dr. Robert Morris, called “Self Destruct,” describes how our internal security has been virtually overlooked. No one is better qualified to get this most necessary job of putting it all together. He was in Naval Intelligence, then Chief Counsel to the Senate Internal Security Subcommittee during some of its most fruitful years, then President of two universities in Texas.
Dr. Morris gives chapter and verse describing the sleight of hand tricks by which our internal security agencies have been dismantled. The Senate and House Internal Security Committees, the Subversive Activities Committee, and the Internal Security Division of the Justice Department have all been abolished. The. Counterintelligence departments of our armed forces and other law enforcement agencies have been emasculated the intelligence-gathering abilities of the FBI and the CIA have been drastically weakened.
Is this because there is no longer any danger to our internal security? On the contrary, terrorist attacks inside the country are growing: Soviet K.G.B. spies are raking in richer returns (such as our most sensitive satellite surveillance and secrets, and Soviet-Cuban adventurism around the world is on the march!
“Self-Destruct” is a book you won’t be able to put down unt you Finish. Unfortunately, this “whodunit” is all true.
