March 21, 1973

Large CIA personnel and cost cutback is expected to affect Defense Intelligence Agency

ITT vp W R Merriam testifies before Senate Foreign Relations Com that a top official of CIA had 'agreed with the recommendations' ITT made in effort to prevent election of S Allende, a Marxist, as Pres of Chile in '70; illus; CIA official identified as W V Broe, former dir of agency's clandestine activities in Latin Amer; ITT recommendations included maneuvering departing Chilean Pres back into power, fermenting violence which might bring about mil takeover, and using Amer govt agencies to supply anti-Allende propaganda to other Latin Amer countries; fate of reported agreement between CIA and ITT not made clear in 1st day of hearings; Allende, after being elected Pres of Chile, subsequently took over business properties in Chile belonging to ITT and other US cos; columnist J Anderson disclosed a yr ago ITT's attempt to enlist help of Govt to preserve its Chilean interests; Merriam's testimony, plus documents made public, depict prolonged and extensive pattern of consultation between ITT and various Govt officials, including H Kissinger, with dual purpose of talking about co's antitrust problems with Justice Dept and co's attempts first to keep Allende from being elected and later on attempts to oust him; Merriam further said that CIA, following ITT plan, made calls to other large cos, asking them to stop or reduce business activities in Chile; ITT documents show that cos refused; other ITT proposals against Allende Govt detailed; Merriam claims he felt that 'threat of econ collapse' might induce Pres Allende to give ITT 'better terms' in payment for ITT property in Chile

HEW Dept is planning to eliminate 6,252 public health jobs by middle of next yr according to dept rept; reductions would implement Pres Nixon's intention to cut expenditures for public health programs; timetable; program terminations resulting from cuts noted

J P Sterba series on conditions in southern Asia discusses health problems among poor and toll taken by disease; cites specific conditions in Indonesia; illus of Indonesian children; chart on fight against malaria in Ceylon

Nixon Adm officials say, Mar 20, US intelligence has reptd a significant drop in number of N Vietnamese troops and materiel that have recently entered S Vietnam through the Ho Chi Minh Trail; new information tends to relieve some anxiety over situation in US; officials say key question raised by reptd cut in infiltration is whether it indicates a decision by Hanoi to limit such activity; say if such a decision was made then the situation caused by the infiltration of recent wks may not be so serious; comment on discussion in Washington on the infiltration

6-hr meeting between Gov Rockefeller's top aides and NYC's 5 Repub county chmn ends on Mar 20 with terse statement in which chmn back away from their open criticism of Rockefeller's choice of R F Wagner as NYC mayoral candidate and agree to exert their 'best efforts' in his behalf; Rockefeller does not attend meeting and his absence is widely interpreted as censure of chmn's resistance to Wagner; session ends with something less than warm endorsement of Wagner; State Repub Chmn R M Rosenbaum reads statement announcing that leaders had shown 'great desire' to support Rockefeller's decision; Rockefeller issues his own statement expressing confidence that chmn will 'fulfill their pledge in the interest of good govt and a fusion program to save NYC; statement is seen indicating that the considerable task of convincing a majority of exec coms to go along with Rockefeller still lies ahead; county chmn have previously denounced Wagner as 'moron' and 'retread'; meeting with leaders is held in house near swimming pool rather than in Exec mansion, move that is seen as possibly another measure of Rockefeller's annoyance with chmn; Rockefeller brings to bear best persuasive powers of Lt Gov Wilson, Atty Gen Lefkowitz, R B Bixby, top pol aide and State Thruway Auth Chmn, and Rosenbaum; county chmn at meeting are Bklyn Chmn G L Clark Jr, who is youngest and most outspoken of leaders, State Sen J D Calandra, Bronx Chmn, Staten Island Chmn R H Bolton, Queens Chmn M Klein and Manhattan Chmn V F Albano Jr

Sup Ct rules, 6-3, on March 20 that its 1-man, 1-vote mandate need not be observed in electing officials of special-purpose governmental bodies; sustains constitutionality of election of bd of dirs of Calif water storage dist for whom property owners but not other residents of area are permitted to vote; Ct sustains giving individual or corp landowners 1 vote for each $100 of property value in choosing dirs; Justices Brennan, Marshall and Douglas dissent; majority believe that case is exception to 1-man, 1-vote rule 'by reason of its special limited purpose and of the disproportionate effect of its activities on landowners as a group'; Ct, 6-3, upholds validity of Toltec Watershed Improvement Dist, Wyoming, which was created by referendum in which only property owners were permitted to vote; Justice Douglas writes dissent

US Sen, by vote of 85 to 2, approves 1-yr extension of Econ Stabilization Act after defeating attempts to impose mandatory price ceilings on farm product prices and retail food prices

L P Gray 3d tells Sens on March 20 that under new orders from Atty Gen Kleindienst he can no longer discuss Watergate case in defending his record as FBI's acting dir; confirms that he continued to send FBI repts on Watergate break-in to White House counsel J W Dean 3d even after discovering that Dean had recommended Watergate defendant Liddy for job at Pres Nixon's re-election hq; Sen Judiciary Com votes to subpoena 3 new witnesses, J Hoback, T E Bishop and T Lumbard, and to broaden its inquiry into Gray's performance

Greek police storm into Athens Univ Law School on Mar 20 to break up sit-in by 800 students demanding greater academic liberties; small groups of protesters emerge spattered with blood, and most protesters run out screaming 'murderers' at police who pursue them; some students are reptd beaten to ground while others are taken away in police care; number of injured is not immmediately known, and witnesses dispute police estimate of 11; 1 student is said to have suffered brain concussion and police say 12 of their men were injured; 44 students are seized for questioning; dir of raid Gen V Tsoumbas tells newsmen that Athens Univ Sen asked police to clear bldg, and Univ Sen later says raid was staged after students defied its ultimatum to evacuate school; number of onlookers are also reptd beaten, including Amer UPI correspondent J Rigos, who says he was roughed by police after he identified himself; Dutch journalist is reptd beaten by police, and family with evidently retarded child is roughed up; former member of Parliament I Koutsoheras is seriously injured in eye and hospitalized while security police pick up former deputy of Bank of Greece Prof I Pesmazoglu; students are reptd to have chanted slogans against US, whose warships have home-port facilities in Athens; issues involved in demonstration revd

high Repub and Liberal party sources on Mar 20 rept that former NYC Mayor R F Wagner has decided to run again for Mayor; Wagner is said to be delaying an announcement so that his candidacy would appear to be draft rather than result of agreement with Gov Rockefeller and Liberal leader Rose; informants say that Wagner hopes to run on Repub and Liberal lines but will run on Liberal line alone if Repub end of Rockefeller-Rose agreement collapses; sources close to Rockefeller say that, in that event, Rockefeller would very likely support Wagner on Liberal line; full force of Rockefeller's power and prestige is exerted at meeting in Albany attended by city's 5 Repub leaders, 4 of whom had expressed opposition to Wagner; field in Dem mayoral primary race is reduced to seven when J Kretchmer and City Councilman R I Postel drop out; Postel announces he will run for Controller; Kretchmer's candidacy was doomed when Assemblyman A H Blumenthal, his fellow West Sider and long-time pol ally, won New Dem Coalition endorsement; Repr M Biaggi, another Dem mayoral contender, replies to attack on him by Rose by charging that Liberal party leader is 'faker' who is violating 'every precept of civil rights and antidefamation that he and his dwindling supporters preach in their attempt to smear and villify my record'; Rose and Liberal leaders have charged that Biaggi is unqualified to be Mayor, is right-winger and would further divide city; Wagner is seen sounding like candidate on Mar 20 as he seeks to counter 'puppet' charges already being aimed at him; tells reporters that he had told Rockefeller and Rose that 'I'll pick the time when I decide'; asserts that he has no commitments to either pol leader; holds 'they came to me'; Wagner is viewed possible liability to his son, R F Wagner Jr, who is running in Dem primary for Councilman at Large nomination in Manhattan

Mar 21-24: Brit Govt on Mar 20 announces its long-awaited plan to insure share of political power for Roman Cath minority in N Ireland; in white paper setting forth firm policy, Govt provides plan aimed at reshaping political structure, which for 50 yrs has seen reins of power in hands of predominantly Prot Unionist party; under proposals, suspended Parliament of N Ireland will be replaced by 80-seat assembly, elected under system that will give 500,000 Caths fair share of seats along with 1 million Prots; assembly's com chairmen, also including Caths, will make up executive group that will run various depts, such as educ, housing and health--areas in which minority has maintained that it had been object of discrimination; as time goes on assembly will take on increasing powers; responsibility for law and order and police--reinforced by Brit troops for almost 3 1/2 yrs--will remain under Brit control indefinitely; for Caths who look for day of reunification with Irish Repub, white paper provides for conf between reprs of province and repub to find ways of working together more closely; conf will be called after elections to form new assembly and will discuss proposals including idea of establishing formal 'Council of Ireland'; reforms, defined in document called 'Northern Ireland Constitutional Proposals,' will be presented to Parliament in series of 6 measures; Brit officials expect proposals to be approved without much difficulty or delay, paving way for election of assembly later in '73; Brit Prime Min Heath, aware that he cannot please extremists on either side, is counting on Prot and Cath moderates to insist that system be given chance; reaction in Belfast is muted pending study of document; Irish Repub Prime Min L Cosgrave gives white paper cautious welcome; Brit Sec for N Ireland W Whitelaw says assembly will give province 'a greater degree of self-govt than any other part of the United Kingdom'; until new assembly and executive begin working, powers of govt over all phases of life in N Ireland will reside with Whitelaw and Brit Parliament; authority for direct rule is to be extended for another yr