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Agency Defenders. Eventually, Gordon transferred the venom and toxin from Fort Detrick to the CIA storeroom in Washington, which held other toxic substances that were considered exempt from the presidential order because they were not intended for use as general weapons of war (see box). Helms called the episode "an aberration —something that happened once, to my knowledge." That assessment doubtless would be shared by many of the agency's defenders, who believe the CIA is being unfairly hounded, partly for political reasons. But committee members thought otherwise. Said Church: "We have found out that ambiguity seems to plague the CIA." As a result, after ending its investigation, probably late in December, the committee will most likely recommend ways to tighten controls within the CIA as well as measures to increase congressional surveillance of the agency (see ESSAY following page).
THE HOUSE. The fragile relations between the House committee and the White House blew apart in a fierce fight over who has the right to release sensitive documents. Officials from the Pentagon and the CIA had asked the committee to delete four seemingly innocuous words ("and greater communications security") before making public a top-secret document on Egypt's military preparations for the 1973 Yom Kippur War. The officials argued that disclosure of the phrase would reveal to Egypt and the Soviet Union that the U.S. had mastered their codes and communications arrangements. But the committee reasoned that the codes undoubtedly had since been changed and insisted on making the words public.
In a further challenge to the Administration, the committee subpoenaed top-secret records on the performance of U.S. intelligence agencies during the Communists' Tet offensive in South Viet Nam in 1968.
Angry, Ford ordered that Administration witnesses not testify at the committee's hearings. In addition, White House officials excised material they judged sensitive from the subpoenaed documents and delivered the remaining portions to the committee with a letter stipulating that they remain secret. Unanimously backed by his committee, feisty Chairman Otis Pike of New York rejected the deal and threatened to ask a federal court to order Ford to comply fully with the subpoena. Said Democrat Pike: "We have released nothing that jeopardizes national security in any way. The bottom line is that the Congress has the right to receive classified information without any strings attached."
Thus the stage was set for a potentially serious constitutional confrontation, reminiscent of the fight over Nixon's refusal to give his Watergate tapes and documents to the House Judiciary Committee in 1974. But a compromise still seemed possible. In exchange for yielding the documents, the committee offered to give the Administration 24 hours notice before releasing any more secret materials. That would give the Administration time enough to voice its objections, if any. But without a compromise, warned Illinois' Robert McClory, the committee's ranking Republican, "we're going ahead with our hearings, and if [Administration witnesses] don't come, then it's going to be worse for them."