[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 109 (Tuesday, July 29, 1997)]
[House]
[Pages H5991-H5992]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    THE 50TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE CIA

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Florida [Mr. Goss] is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. GOSS. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to commemorate the 50th 
anniversary of the founding of the Central Intelligence Agency. On 
September 18, 1947, the National Security Act went into effect creating 
the CIA.
  As America entered the cold war, that act recognized the critical 
need for intelligence about our foreign adversaries, while attempting 
to balance that with a constitutional mandate that an intelligence 
service remain within the bounds of democracy.
  In 1977, in order to monitor and safeguard that critical balance, 
this House established the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, 
which I have the honor to chair today. By its very nature, much of the 
work done by the agency will remain anonymous, but we must not make the 
mistake of interpreting that anonymity to mean that the CIA has had no 
triumphs, nor can we allow ourselves to forget the men and women who 
have served there and know much sacrifice and even tragedy.
  Out at Langley at the headquarters of the CIA is a small courtyard 
under the oak trees that contains three panels of the Berlin Wall. On 
the eastern side of those panels there is nothing but the cold, gray 
face of cement, but on the western side there is color, vibrancy, and 
the inscription ``and the wind cries freedom.''
  Those panels and that wall, Mr. Speaker, never had to be toppled by 
the tread of our Nation's tanks or stained by the blood of our 
infantry; they were, instead, breached throughout the cold war by our 
Nation's eyes and ears, the CIA. Through their bravery and creativity, 
the officers of the CIA carved a window through that wall that this 
Nation used during the perilous times of the cold war and ultimately 
relied upon to bring down the wall's demise.
  The contribution of CIA officers to our national security, however, 
has come with a significant cost, because at the entrance to Langley is 
another less well-known wall on which there are now 70 gold stars. 
These stars, Mr. Speaker, are for those officers of the CIA who died 
while serving our Nation as our eyes and ears, in Vietnam, Latin 
America, Europe, Eurasia, Africa and elsewhere during the cold war.
  We can acknowledge publicly the dedication and sacrifice of some of 
those officers, such as Bob Ames, who was killed in the bombing of our 
Embassy in Beirut, tragically, or Bill Buckley, who died in Lebanon 
under torture by the terrorists. The work and lives of others must 
remain anonymous stars on that wall and be remembered privately. Those 
stars, Mr. Speaker, are a measure of the courage and cost required to 
keep our Nation informed of the threats against it.
  The end of the cold war has required the CIA to undergo a tremendous 
shift. New methods and focuses are needed to meet the challenge before 
us today. While no transition of this magnitude is ever without its 
bumps in the road, from my vantage point as chairman of the body's 
oversight committee, I am pleased to report the CIA is responding 
quickly and ably to the new threats of the post-cold-war world.
  Since the Berlin Wall came down, those threats against our Nation 
have multiplied. Narcotics traffickers ship ever-increasing amounts of 
cocaine and

[[Page H5992]]

heroin into the United States; rogue states continue to acquire the 
components of weapons of mass destruction; foreign terrorists now 
target Americans at home as well as abroad; and indigenous forces 
threaten U.S. soldiers on multilateral missions abroad.
  To address these threats, the CIA has helped the Colombian Government 
break up the Cali drug cartel, and enabled United States law 
enforcement authorities to intercept drug shipments. It has discovered 
several attempts by rogue states to acquire weapons of mass destruction 
and supported diplomatic efforts to foil those attempts. It has helped 
law enforcement authorities around the world identify and, in some 
cases, arrest several notorious terrorists, including Carlos the Jackal 
in Sudan, the alleged trade center bombers in the Philippines, the head 
of the Shining Path in Peru, and those involved in the bombing of Pan 
Am 103; and supported United States Forces in Panama, as well as the 
Persian Gulf, Somalia, Rwanda, Haiti, Bosnia, and other places.
  So, Mr. Speaker, CIA officers performed vital and often perilous 
service as our eyes and ears during the cold war, and continue to do so 
in our efforts today against foreign drug lords, rogue states, foreign 
terrorists and those who would harm U.S. troops abroad and those of us 
at home.
  The panels of the Berlin Wall at Langley are a recognition of the 
contribution of these officers. The stars on the entrance wall there 
are a reminder of the cost of their contribution. The officers of CIA 
serve their country and make their sacrifices with no expectation 
whatsoever of public acclaim. For the 50th anniversary of the founding 
of the CIA, Mr. Speaker, I am proud to commemorate their lives and 
their work with these few humble words.

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