Morton Halperin Nomination

* As former staff with the Campaign to Stop Government Spying, later the Campaign for Political Rights, we must challenge some incorrect information in Suzanne Garment’s column (Opinion, Nov. 28).

When Garment dismisses the campaign’s members as groups from the left and far left, she maligns many mainstream churches, civil rights and civil liberties groups, and other organizations that had been victimized by FBI and CIA harassment and disruption. Formed after the Church and Pike committees revealed the FBI’s blatant and well-organized violation of civil liberties here, plus numerous assassinations and coups sponsored by the CIA, the campaign worked to mobilize public support for FBI and CIA legislative charters to prevent these abuses from occurring again.

Garment is also wrong in accusing Morton Halperin of standing with those who believed that the country’s defense apparatus was criminal. Halperin argued vociferously and lobbied for the continuation of most intelligence agency activities, usually to the ardent disagreement from the other groups in the campaign. However, he joined with the 83 national groups in the campaign to say that the FBI and CIA had gone too far too often.

Garment perpetuates the false charge that Philip Agee and Counterspy magazine were responsible for the death of a CIA agent in Athens. As has been reported on numerous occasions, the agent had been warned to change his residence, as it had been identified as CIA to local Athenians. The agent’s death occurred because information was available in Greece, long before it was available in the United States.

Finally, it is extremely ironic to see Garment and others criticize Halperin for his position on the Intelligence Identities Protection Act. Halperin received a great deal of criticism for allowing--it was widely rumored at the time--an ACLU lobbyist to travel to the CIA to cut a deal, thus enabling passage of this controversial bill.

Whatever friends or enemies Halperin has made over the years is not nearly as important as open disclosure of all government activities and careful consideration of prospective public officials. The “modern gauntlet” of public criticism of presidential nominees that Garment criticizes for intensifying government gridlock is ludicrous. Since when has this country been hurt by debate?

SUSAN MARMOR KORBEL

San Antonio, Tex.

LINDA LOTZ

Hollywood