Quotes About Helms

This also turned out to be negative, so there is no material in the Central Intelligence Agency, either in the records or in the mind of any of the individuals, that there was any contact had or even contemplated with him.

It would be a shame if the public uproar forced us to go beyond, and to damage the integrity of the CIA," Ford said. "I automatically assume what you did was right unless it's proven otherwise." That amounted to an assurance that, if at all possible, Helms would be shielded from accountability for the CIA's actions on his watch.

The great sadness," Helms said in an oral history recorded for the LBJ Library, "was our ignorance—or innocence, if you like—which led us to mis-assess, not comprehend, and make a lot of wrong decisions.