RICHARD HELMS

As soon as I finished the first book, I wrote a second, which I hope to sell this year, and I have just about finished the third book in the series. Two more are already outlined. I'm in this for the long haul.

I have one president at a time. I only work for you.

This also turned out to be negative, so there is no material in the Central Intelligence Agency, either in the records or in the mind of any of the individuals, that there was any contact had or even contemplated with him.

I had seen so many injustices done in the court by well-meaning people. I had lost fourteen clients to gang violence in only seven years. I was angry at a system I thought had failed my clients, and I was part of it.

I would assume the case will never be closed.

The real problem is arranging that experience in a way that tells a story, which is just incredible enough to be interesting, but credible enough to be believed.

Yes; we have a specific procedure which we follow in all cases where the Agency is in contact, for the purposes of acquiring intelligence or whatever the case may be, with an individual.

It was my angry, Dickensian novel, I suppose. It was cathartic - I expended a lot of frustration on that one.

Nobody wants to embarrass a President of the United States by discussing the assassination of foreign leaders in his presence. I just think we all had the feeling that we were hired ... to keep those things out of the Oval Office.

I've had to learn to understand Presidents.

Nothing on paper; paper can be lost or stolen or simply inherited by the wrong people; if you want to keep something secret, don't write it down.

The nation must to a degree take it on faith that we [the CIA] too are honorable men devoted to her service.

We do not target on American citizens.

Who would have thought that it would someday be a crime to carry out the orders of the President of the United States?

Why should you care? Your side won.

There have been numerous instances when facing the threat of a Communist Party or popular front election victory in the free world we have met this threat and turned it successfully.

Richard Nixon never trusted anybody.

While some members of the American left have an ideological affinity with Communism, there is no evidence that shows that they act under anyone’s direction other than their own.

The attached paper is sensitive, particularly if its existence were to leak. It has not been given, and will not be given to any other official of the government. Title: Implications of an Unfavorable Outcome in Vietnam.

Vietnam was my nightmare for a good ten years.

If you’re going to be involved with espionage, you’ve got to be motivated. It’s not fun and games. It’s dirty and dangerous. There’s always the chance that you’re going to get burned.

In World War Two, in the OSS, we knew what our motivation was: to beat the goddamn Nazis. In the Cold War, we knew what our motivation was: to beat the Goddamn Russians. Suddenly the Cold War is over, and what is the motivation? What would compel someone to spend their lives doing this kind of thing?

The only remaining superpower doesn’t have enough interest in what’s going on in the world to organize and run an espionage service.

It’s not enough to ring the bell. You have to make sure the other guy hears it.

It is sometimes difficult to understand the intensity of our public critics. Criticism of our efficiency is one thing, criticism of our responsibility quite another… We are an important arm of government, a legitimate object of public concern …. I find it most painful, however, when public debate lessens our usefulness to the nation by casting doubt on our integrity and objectivity. If we are not believed, we have no purpose.