Editing Richard Helms (section)

===Before Congress===
Helms testified in appearances before Congress many times during his long career.<ref>E.g., subsection "Soviet forgeries" during Kennedy presidency, in [[Richard Helms, early career]].</ref> After he left the CIA in 1973, however, he entered an extraordinary period in which he was frequently called to testify before congressional committees. While serving as ambassador to Iran (1973–1977), Helms was required to travel from Tehran to Washington sixteen times, thirteen in order to give testimony "before various official bodies of investigation" including the [[United States President's Commission on CIA Activities within the United States|President's ''Rockefeller'' Commission]]. Among the congressional committee hearings where Helms appeared were the [[Senate Watergate Committee|Senate Watergate]], the [[Church Committee|Senate Church]],<ref>Senator Frank Church of Idaho had chaired the ''Multinationals Subcommittee'' in 1972. It had investigated [[ITT Corporation]]'s anti-[[Salvador Allende|Allende]] activities in Chile in 1970, and involved the CIA (p. 263). Sampson, ''The Sovereign State of ITT'' (1973, 1974) pp. 260–266.</ref> the Senate Intelligence, the Senate Foreign Relations, the Senate Armed Services, the [[Pike Committee|House ''Pike'']], the House Armed Services, and the House Foreign Affairs.<ref>Powers (1979) p. 341: testify (quote).</ref><ref>Ranelagh (1986) pp. 610–612, 788.</ref>

[[File:FrankChurch.jpg|thumb|125px|Sen. [[Frank Church]]]]
As a long-time professional practitioner, Helms held strong views concerning the proper functioning of an intelligence agency. Highly valued was the notion of maintaining state security by keeping sensitive state secrets away from an enemy's probing awareness. Secrecy was held to be an essential, utilitarian virtue, of great value to the government. It was necessary in the conduct of both surreptitious information gathering, i.e., espionage, and in covert operations, i.e., the reputed ability to directly intervene by stealth in the course of political events. Consequently, Helms became utterly dismayed at the various investigations of USG intelligence agencies, especially when they resulted in the publication or broadcast of classified information, highly sensitive, that had previously remained secret. For example, among the information divulged were facts that exposed Richard Welch, the CIA station chief in Athens, who subsequently was murdered.<ref>Helms (2003) pp. 432–434.</ref><ref>Ranelagh (1986) p. 472 (death of agent Richard Welch in Athens).</ref> At points during the many hours of testimony given by Helms before Congress, his frustration and irritation with the direction of the proceedings are clearly discernible.<ref>Cf., the youtube.com videos of his congressional testimony cited in the Bibliography below.</ref>

In testifying before Congress, both former DCIs [[John McCone]] and Richard Helms were informed beforehand by a CIA officer as to what documents Congress had been given and hence the probable contours of its knowledge. According to author [[Thomas Powers]], both McCone and Helms could thus tailor their testimony so as to limit the scope of discussion to matter already known by the committee. Such stance of institutional loyalty to their agency showed through in their demeanor.

<blockquote>From these characteristic evasions, lapses of memory, hints, and suggestions the [Church] committee and its staff concluded that the men they questioned, including Helms, knew more than they would say. Then why did many of them grow to trust Helms? For the simple reason that he never tried to convince them they knew all there was to know, when they did not.<ref>Powers (1979) p. 342.</ref></blockquote>

Helms' testimony, which made headlines, amounted for the most part to a circumspect, professional defense of the agency.<ref>The testimony before Congress which got Helms into trouble had been made earlier in 1973 concerning Chile. See below, section "Plea, aftermath".</ref> It was rather the testimony of William Colby the current DCI that had more lasting import and created greater controversy. Colby also sparked division within the CIA. Helms parted ways with Colby as a result, and especially regarding Colby's delicate role in the perjury allegations against him.<ref>Ranelagh (1986) p. 614.</ref><ref>Cf., Prados (2009) p. 306.</ref>