The Word from Washington

...The former Federal official radiated confidence as he expounded his views at a recent hearing of a House International Relations subcommittee, which was exploring the troubled relations between Congress and the Executive branch in the shaping of U.S...

...Although the taps demonstrated that Halperin was not disclosing classified information over the telephone, the Government explained, his conversations often concerned foreign affairs...

...In sum," he added during questioning, "secrets are, or should be, few in number...

...These sound and admirable sentiments might have carried more weight if the witness who offered them had also put them into practice during his tenure as a principal policy planner in the Kennedy and Johnson Administrations...

...foreign policy...

...There are exceptions: both private diplomacy and secret action can be necessary...

...The Government's defense, such as it was, hinged on these rationalizations: Officials who ordered the tap believed it was legal at the time...

...And no, logs of the taps, required by law, were not kept...

...they thought the tap was justified by the Government's need to discover the source of leaks from the NSC that were "damaging to the national security"—that depressingly familiar phrase again...

...For the unlikely proponent of Congressional and public participation in foreign policy debates was none other than that grand designer of U.S...

...But neither is likely to be successful when it is unrelated to a general national understanding of the essentials of foreign policy...

...no, there was no evidence before the tap was installed that Halperin had a propensity to leak classified information...

...they were acting in good faith...

...Second, the foreign policy of the United States should be essentially open, in that any time it should be possible for all citizens who are interested to know what the Government is trying to do in every area of foreign affairs, and why...

...Moreover, his conversations indicated that Halperin disapproved of many of the Administration's foreign policy decisions...

...His testimony will serve, until a better one comes along, as a fine working definition of chutzpah...

...Yes, the tap was continued a year after Halperin had left the NSC...

...Attorney Keuch drew an analogy for Judge John Smith's benefit: If the judge had three law clerks, and one of them was known to oppose some of his rulings, and information regarding his deliberations was leaking out, wouldn't the judge naturally suspect the law clerk at odds with his views...

...THE WORD FROM WASHINGTON At issue is a $3 million damage suit for alleged invasion of privacy and a possible legal precedent that might discourage future Administrations from casually tapping the telephones of American citizens...

...First," he continued, "the underlying powers of war and peace, along with the power of the purse, originate in the Congress and can never be exercised well without its effective support and approval...

...Nor was any information produced by the tap that pointed to Halperin as the source of unauthorized disclosure of such information...

...no, the requisite ninety-day review of the need for the tap was not conducted...

...But only a handful of reporters attended the arguments this summer for a summary judgment —decision without a trial—in the case of Morton Halperin versus former President Nixon, Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, and others...

...Why had Halperin been selected as a suspected leaker...

...Justice Department attorney Robert Keuch, representing the defendants, admitted that yes, indeed, a wiretap without court warrant had been placed on the telephone of Halperin, a former National Security Council (NSC) staff member who resigned in protest against the U.S...

...Potomacus...

...Judge Smith, confronted with this weighty justification of official lawlessness, is pondering his ruling...

...involvement in Indochina, McGeorge Bundy...

...While their application is complex, the principles that should guide relations between the Executive and the Legislature are few and simple," the senior statesman told the subcommittee members...

...Those reporters who turned up for the arguments, however, were treated to one of the Government's more overtly Orwellian defenses of blatant infringement of civil liberties in the name of "national security...

...invasion of Cambodia...