c. L A

T,N

Y Im

es M

AR

6 1975 17- 24

'Ford

Lim

its Su

ppoit for Spyin

g Inqu

iry TH

E N

EW

YO

RK

TIM

ES

, TH

UR

SD

AY

, MA

RC

H 6

, .

jv N

ICH

OL

AS

M. H

OR

RO

CK

S

pecial to T

he N

ew Y

ork T

hn

es

WA

SH

ING

TO

N, M

arch 5-=

President F

ord gave the leaders pf the S

enate Select C

omm

ittee on In

telligen

ce only

aqualified

pledge of support in their inves-tig

ation o

f the U

nited

States

intellig

ence ap

paratu

s, Sen

ator

Fran

k C

hurch

, the co

mm

ittee phairm

an, said today. t th

e Whit e H

ouse w

ith th

e sid

ent an

d S

enato

r John G

. ow

er,, Rep

ublitan

of T

exas,

'yke ch

airman

of- th

e com

mit-

Mr.

r omp t nO

li owursch-s

e 0otdeireoirn

an

it e thaat

heh

adfo

u n

d th

e session "v

ery

'endly

and co

nstru

ctive,? sand

Tfh

at Presid

ent F

ord

• had

said

lie "ho

ped

to b

e as coo

perativ

e as p

ossib

le" w

i$h

the in

qu

i- ry'4I.;

But S

enato

r Churc h

isald

the P

residen

t had

giv

en

'm n

o c

om

mitm

ent o

n a

ny

of th

e three req

uests th

e two

Senato

rs had c

arrie

d to

the

I Fm eeting.

Senator C

hurch said last wee

that h

e in

ten

ded

to a

sk th

e

Presid

ent fo

rmally

to d

irect the

agencie

s of th

e in

tellig

ence

Com

munity

o co

operate w

ith

"the investigation. e,

He also sought from

the Pres-

reports o

f an "o

ral" se

ctio

n

iden

t a treport o

n th

e Cen

tral Intelligence A

gency's .domestic

activities p

repared

by

William

E

. Colb

y, D

irector o

f Cen

tral In

telligen

ce, and

turn

ed o

ver

to M

r. Ford

earlier this /y

ear. A

nd th

e Sen

ator ask

ed fo

r Mr.

Ford

's assistance in

work

ing

out an

arrang

emen

t to o

btain

th

e evid

ence an

d testim

ony

bein

g g

athered

by

a W

hite

H

ouse comm

ission on the C.I.A

. headed by V

ice President R

ock-efeller.

Mr. C

hurch said the President

had declined to .issue a written

dire

ctiv

e to

the a

gencie

s to

cooperate with the ,com

mittee,

preferring to handle the matter

"info

rmally

." Mr. C

hurch

said

that the President had indicated

he w

ante

d to

deal w

ith th

e

com

mitte

e's re

quests o

n a

"c

ase

by

case

basis"

rather

than

giv

e carte blan

che to

the

Congressional investigators. T

he P

residen

t, Mr. C

hurch

said

, deferred

a decisio

n o

n

issuin

g th

e Cdlb

y rep

ort to

the

com

mittee u

ntil th

e com

mittee

voted to obtain the report. M

r. Church

said th

at he h

ad asked the P

resident about press of th

e report d

ealing w

ith as-

sassinations. T

he P

residen

t respo

nd

ed,

Sen

ator C

hu

rch said

, that h

e w

ould

discu

ss the m

atter with

co

mm

ittee leaders at an

"ap-

propriate" time. „L

A;

Press and television.- reports,

beginning last Friday, have said

that M

r. Colb

y to

ld P

residen

t F

ord

of sev

eral assassinatio

n

plo

ts again

st foreig

n h

eads o

f state w

hich

, if mad

e public,

would

embarrass th

e United

S

tates and hamper foreign poli-

cy. These rep

orts in

dicated

that

it was th

e Presid

ent's co

ncern

ov

er the d

isclosu

re of th

ese m

atters, that in part, influenced h

is cho

ice of m

en to

sit on

the

Rockefeller com

mission investi-

gating C.I.A

. domestic activities.

No C

omm

itment

Mr. C

hu

rch said

he h

ad to

ld

the P

residen

t that th

e Sen

ate 'c

om

mitte

e w

ante

d to

avoid

court b

attle

s in its e

ffort to

o

btain

evid

ence fro

m th

e exe-

cutiv

e bran

ch. B

ut h

e said th

at th

e P

resid

ent h

ad n

ot ru

led

out th

e p

ossib

ility th

at h

e

might invoke his executive

esi.

pri- vileg

e ad w

ithhold

som

e data

or witne

The controversial doctrine of

execu

tive p

rivileg

e hold

s that

the President can w

ithhold cer-tain executive-branch data from

C

ongressio

nal in

vestig

ating

comm

ittees. T

he P

residen

t pu

t no

barrier

in th

e may

of th

e com

mittee's

work

ing o

ut an

arrangem

ent

to, ex

chan

ge ev

iden

ce with

the,

Rockefeller com

mission, but he

mad

e no co

mm

itmen

t on it,

Mr. C

hurch said. M

r. Churc

h sa

id th

at th

e

President seem

ed satisfied with

his rep

ort o

n th

e meth

ods th

e co

mm

ittee was fo

llow

ing to

p

r6v

ide secu

rity fo

r the d

o-

The N

ew Y

ork Tim

es/Mike L

im

Fran

k C

hurch

, chairm

an o

f the Senate S

elect Com

mittee

on

Intellig

ence, leav

ing

the W

hite H

ou

se yesterd

ay

after askin

g P

residen

t Ford

for h

elp, in

the co

mm

ittee's investigation of the U

.S. intelligence apparatus. -----

that the P

residen

t had

had

and

that M

r. Ford

had

felt it was

"a constructive and worthw

hile m

eeting." A

meeting of the S

enate com-

mittee scheduled for today w

as i postponed indefinitely.

cemen

ts and

evid

ence it, w

as provided.

Later, R

on Nessen, the W

hite H

ouse press secretary,said that S

enato

r Church

's account S

of

the m

orn

ing m

eeting w

as es-sen

tially th

e same reco

llection