Bennett told the CIA he he could handle the Ervin committee if the Agency could handle Hunt. Bennett even stated that he had a friend who had intervened with Ervin on the matter. In a memo drafted by the CIA’s Chief of Central Cover (reporting on the undercover agents like Bennett), it is suggested that Bennett took relish in implicating Colson in Hunt’s activities in the press while protecting the Agency at the same time. It is further noted that Bennett was feeding stories to Bob Woodward who was “suitably grateful”; that he [Woodward] was making no attribution to Bennett; and that he was protecting Bennett and Mullen and Company. The CIA’s post-arrest responses were prompt and strong. These responses centered immediately on protecting some then-current relationship between itself and McCord.
3/1/1973