European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - September 27, 1977, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 12 the stars and stripes Tom Wicker tuesday september 27, 1977 Senate shirked duty in confirming Lance the melancholy Lance affair has come to a predictable end. If a useful conclusion can be drawn from it perhaps it is that the Senate ought to put far More time Energy and thought into its constitutional function of confirming or rejecting presidential nominees. If the government operations commit tee had questioned Bert Lance last Janu Ary As it did in september he might never have been confirmed As director of management and budget. If it had been under stood in Advance that he would undergo such scrutiny it s conceivable Carter would not have nominated him or that Lance would not have accepted. At the least. Carter and the nation would surely have known then what they know now about Lance s business and political history and the Issue could have been faced immediately. Aside Forfi the possibilities still being investigated that Lance connived with Feder Al officials to mislead the committee last Winter it s Clear that his confirmation was rushed through by the committee and the full Senate As a traditional accommodation to an incoming president. The Senate has almost always provided such accommodation even when the new administration was of the other party. If it did not senators might seem churlish by partisan at a time when the Public has a right to expect a reasonable spirit of cooperation. Besides senators have usually conceded that a new president has a general right to surround himself with the Cabinet officers and other High aides that he wants. Thus it was highly unusual when in 1959, a democratic Senate denied president Eisenhower his nominee Lewis Strauss As Secretary of Commerce. The forced withdrawal earlier this year of Theodore c. Sorensen As Carter s Nomi Nee to be the director of Central Intelli gence also was remarkable although Many senators do not consider the Cia quite so much part of a president s administration As the Cabinet posts. The Power of confirmation has been much More stringently asserted in the Case of supreme court nominations for the sound reason that the court is a Sepa rate and equal Branch of the government and no president is conferred a right to name to it anyone he wants. Thus much to Richard Nixon s distress the Senate twice refused to approve two of his court Nomi nees that it came to believe unqualified. Similarly since the passage of the 25th amendment the Senate has rather closely examined the two men who have been nominated by presidents to the vice presi Dency Gerald Ford and Nelson Rocke Feller. For less laudable reasons of political patronage the Senate Long since established virtually an equal voice with the presidency in the selection of Federal judges. More to the Point of the Lance Case How Ever the Senate has twice shown in recent years the value of close scrutiny of presidential nominees. The rigorous hearings conducted on Nixon s nomination of l. Pat Rick Gray to be director of the Fri not Only resulted in Gray s withdrawal but provided important evidence in the ultimate unravelling of watergate. And when Nixon appointed Elliot Rich Ardson As attorney general the Senate confirmed him Only after he pledged to appoint a special watergate prosecutor who would report exclusively to him and have All the Independence authority and staff support he needed. Richardson resigned rather than violate that pledge at the time of Nixon s Satur Day night massacre of oct. 20, 1973. The firestorm of Public protest that resulted was a major Factor in Nixon s downfall. Those two instances As Well As the Nega Tive example of the rubber stamping of Bert Lance Well illustrate the importance of the Senate s Power of confirmation. Just As Congress has in recent years revamped its budgetary procedures in order to exer Cise its Power of the purse More independently and constructively the Senate could devise procedures to make the Confirma Tion or rejection of presidential nominees a More useful Check on the executive. One difficulty is that not much time is available for lengthy investigations be tween the Day a Congress convenes Early in january and the Point at which a new administration takes Over on Jan. 20. The real problem is not time or Means however but the attitude of senators understand ably More eager to accommodate a new president than to Check up on his Lieuten ants. C new York times George f. Will pampered prodigies the press it a nattering nabobs of  corps of impudent snobs who some con focus with Cia laudable it is said by and about journalists that they always should have an adversary relationship with their government. But that does not describe most journalists daily experiences or any of their real Range of duties. The question of journalists responsibilities is raised in the october Issue of Roll ing Stone a Magazine principally concerned with pop music. Carl Bernstein of watergate Fame writes that approximately 400 journalists have cooperated with the Cia Over the years. Bernstein does not reach thumping judgments if Only because he seems to assume that Only one judgment disapproval is possible regarding cooperation with the Cia. But Bernstein s language blurs important distinctions. For example in 1953, columnist Joseph Alsop went to the Philippines at the suggestion of a Friend in the Cia. Alsop and his Friend hoped that his reporting might prevent the left from stealing the election. Bernstein cites this As an example of How journalists have secretly carried out assignments for the Cia. Actually Only god and he Only deferentially would Ever give Alsop an  the 400 journalists Bernstein writes about include some who allegedly have been asked by the Cia to do something unrelated to journalism for example recruit a foreign National and some who have been asked by the Cia to go somewhere and share their findings with the Cia and others who travelled somewhere without Cia prompting but shared their findings. Some news organizations allegedly have Given film to the Cia have provided credentials for Cia cover abroad have Al Lowed journalists to act As intermediaries for the Cia in dealing with foreign nation als and have received Cia subsidies. Because of skittish Ness All around the illusion that the cold War is Over and the current notion that the Cia is pitch that should not be touched cooperation be columns comments tween journalists and the Cia has de creased. But much of what used to occur was Good craftsmanship and Good citizen ship by newsmen. Some journalists abroad have routinely visited Cia agents in countries they Cov ered. It is a journalist s Job to develop in formation sources. That also is the Cia s Job so agents have asked journalists to Brief them about what they learn. In this Way the . Government has Learned information journalists were going to publish and other observations that for whatever reason they were not going to publish. What the journalists did was not Only professionally permissible bartering information is part of the journalists Art and sharing information is the essence of his Trade but civic ally praiseworthy. For eign governments have no grounds for objecting when journalists report to anyone observations they have been free to make. Other forms of cooperation with the Cia Are More problematic because they May Compromise or seem to Compromise the Independence of the news system and May jeopardize the Freedom of All . Journalists to operate in particular countries. No reporter should be a paid agent because among other reasons his life May depend on being Able to deny such a relationship convincingly. But few other forms of cooperation Are inherently meaning in All situations impermissible. Life is not so Safe and simple and journalists Are not so special that they have no obligations except to the professional code they write for them selves. Journalists have been haunted by the fact that some news organizations knew of preparations for the Bay of pigs invasion and might have prevented a fiasco had they ignored government pleas for secrecy. This and the fact that journalists even More than most americans believe they have been lied to More than necessary have caused some journalists to conclude that the controlling principle of their profession is to regard the government As simply an  the adversary idea has about it the anti authority Aroma of the Day. It also spares the Media the pain of exercising judgment about difficult matters such As when to publish information that could damage the National interest for example diplomatic secrets and when to cooperate with important government purposes for example intelligence gathering. The adversary idea allows journalists to believe that they Are not obligated to consider How any particular action affects the National interest. According to this convenient doctrine the National interest is the government s problem and the government is an  no simple catchphrase explains the proper relationship of news people to their government. But the problem with the adversary relationship can be state simply journalists Are if not citizens first at least citizens also. C Washington Post the opinions expressed in the columns and cartoons on this Page represent those of the author and Are in no Way to be considered As representing the views of the stars and stripes or the United states government