Final_Judgment

[112] Final Judgment 173
and, in the interim, he dramatically reduced the powers and jurisdiction of
the Agency and established strict limits as to its future actions through
National Security Action memoranda."
"Kennedy then sought to control the Agency by sharply reducing its
ability to act in the future through National Security Action Memoranda 55,
56 and 57. These documents, in theory, eliminated the ability of the CIA to
wage war. The CIA would not be permitted to initiate any operation
requiring greater firepower than that generated by handguns." 305
That all of these actions upset the CIA and its allies is undoubted. One
man on the scene at the time was Col. L. Fletcher Prouty, who served as
liaison between the Defense Department and the CIA during the relevant
period.
According to Prouty, "Nothing I had ever been involved in my entire
career had created such an uproar. NSAM 55 stripped the CIA of its
cherished covert operations role, except for small actions. It was an
explosive document. The military-industrial complex was not pleased." 306
THE CIA AND VIETNAM
However, Kennedy's conflict with the CIA went well beyond the issue
of Cuba. The burgeoning issue of U.S. involvement in Southeast Asia had
positioned the president at odds with the CIA even further.
By late 1963 JFK's conflict with the CIA was in full force and although it
was not the subject of heated public discussion, the word was leaking out
through official and un-official channels that there was something afoot at
the highest levels.
On October 3, 1963, the dean of America's newspaper columnists,
Arthur Krock, was writing frankly in the New York Times of Kennedy's
war with the CIA—a war which was intensifying over the issue of Vietnam.
Krock's front-page article, in fact, was entitled, "The Intra-Administration
War in Vietnam."
KENNEDY'S TRUSTED CONDUIT
But what is so astounding about the column is that Krock quoted a
high-level administration source as having suggested that if there were ever a
coup d'etat in the United States, one might expect that it would be the CIA
which was responsible—this just weeks before JFK was murdered.
The significance of this astounding column is that it was Arthur Krock
who affixed his name to this explosive report: Krock was a longtime close
friend and confidant of the Kennedy family and had even ghost-written
several published works on behalf of the president's father, Ambassador
Joseph P. Kennedy.
The columnist was a key Kennedy link in press circles and would have
been the first and foremost choice of President Kennedy if JFK had wished
to utilize the press to bring his conflict with the CIA into the public arena.
As Mark Lane so aptly described the column: "This was John F. Kennedy