May 24, 1973

Pres Nixon receives standing ovation from 22 Repub Sens and Reprs on May 23 after he invokes name of natl security in connection with Watergate case; Sen Minority Leader Scott conveys Nixon's remarks to reporters as Repub leaders echo Nixon's latest defense—that White House efforts to conceal some aspects of case stemmed from Nixon's legitimate concerns about security leaks and exposing covert intelligence operations; Gallup Poll shows that Nixon's popularity has dropped to lowest point since he has been Pres; poll, taken shortly after Nixon's Apr 30 address on Watergate, shows that 45% of those questioned said they approved of way Nixon is handling his job; graph of Nixon's popularity as measured by Gallup Poll since '69; Vice Pres Agnew says Nixon has been forced to 'weather an incredible storm of personal abuse and innuendo' from persons who were not aware that natl security was at stake, speech, Orlando, Fla

former NYC policeman A T Ulasewicz tells Sen Watergate com May 23 that his old buddies would never have bungled job in way Watergate burglars did; details how, as favor to his friend J Caulfield, he delivered anonymous message and made anonymous telephone calls to J W McCord Jr; says 'If it is a question of obtaining information from the Dem party, Repub party or anybody else, the easiest way is to write a postal card asking them to mail you all their leaflets. They will put you on their mailing list, and you will have everything'; por

ABC pres E H Rule says ABC is expanding its activities in investigative area as result of Watergate scandal and role investigative reptg played in uncovering it, Sen confirms, 82‐3, on May 23 E L Richardson as Atty Gen; praises Richardson and his selection of A Cox as special Watergate prosecutor; Richardson has promised that his 1st official act will be to appt Cox as special prosecutor; swearing‐in is expected before May 26

Article describes destruction in Cambodia since escalation of US bombing began in Feb; scores of villages have been destroyed; great numbers of livestock have been killed and harvested crops and orchards destroyed; Amers are dependent for their information on Cambodian mil officials who show, in their requests for air strikes, almost no concern about civilian lives or caused by US bombing, for information is difficult to gather; Nixon Adm has divulged almost nothing about bombing of 'Freedom Deal,' name Amers have given to area E of Mekong River that has never been ventured into by Cambodian Govt troops; Amers have been bombing heavily there since war begin in Cambodia in '70; it is essentially a 'free‐fire zone'; civilians from area rept bombing has wiped out entire groups of villages and sizable numbers of people who were living there under Communist adm; uprooted villagers are bitter at US for bombing and also at Cambodian Govt which calls for Amer planes; illus of destroyed homes

May 24: sources say on May 23 that White House urged FBI in '70 to mount massive counterinsurgency program, involving spying, wiretapping and burglaries, against Arab saboteurs; Pres Nixon briefly described program in his statement on May 23 and noted then that it was never put into effect because of opposition by former FBI Dir J E Hoover; program was outlined in secret rept on domestic intelligence prepared in July '70, and approved by Nixon, his top White House aides and chief officers of CIA, Defense Intelligence Agency and Natl Security Agency; sources say concern was expressed in rept about possibility of Arab sabotage before Middle East talks at UN in late summer of '70; says talks, initiated by UN special repr for Middle East Dr G V Jarring were scheduled to begin on Aug 26, '70; say Palestinian radicals were opposed to such negotiations; note US received intelligence indicating that Arab money was flowing to students in US who were serving as intelligence agents; source says White House officials were so frustrated by inability of FBI to penetrate Arab operations that L Garment, then adviser to Nixon, was urged to contact Jewish intelligence community and ask it about threat; peace efforts, which were unproductive, took place without incident