Letter from Washington

Thanks, everybody, we needed that. To take what is left of our minds off the various Watergate capers, we now have the reports that the military used to spy on Henry Kissinger and the National Security Council. Other reports say Dr. Kissinger had Defense Secretary Melvin Laird’s telephone tapped. Other reports say that this intramural nastiness is the “national security” matter that Mr. Nixon had in mind when he originally tried to limit the investigation into the plumbers unit. According to some reports, the plumbers unit, which was set up to locate leaks of sensitive information, might have been trying to plug the leak that resulted from the Pentagon spying. All these are just reports. Everyone named in the reports denies everything.

If the White House white paper on the so-called “milk fund scandal” accomplishes anything, it may help John Connally. The fire-eaters on the Senate Watergate Committee staff have wanted to hold full-scale hearings on the dairy industry’s contributions to the Nixon reelection campaign and the Nixon Administration’s decision to raise price supports for milk. The staffers had hoped to subpoena John Connally, who was in the Administration at the time and may have been in on the milk price decision. The staffers know that Connally is big news whenever he pops up in Washington, and if he appeared before the Committee, the Committee would be big news again. But the white paper may take the edge off the issue and tip the senators against the idea of hearings on it.

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Thanks, everybody, we needed that. To take what is left of our minds off the various Watergate capers, we now have the reports that the military used to spy on Henry Kissinger and the National Security Council. Other reports say Dr. Kissinger had Defense Secretary Melvin Laird’s telephone tapped. Other reports say that this intramural nastiness is the “national security” matter that Mr. Nixon had in mind when he originally tried to limit the investigation into the plumbers unit. According to some reports, the plumbers unit, which was set up to locate leaks of sensitive information, might have been trying to plug the leak that resulted from the Pentagon spying. All these are just reports. Everyone named in the reports denies everything.

If the White House white paper on the so-called “milk fund scandal” accomplishes anything, it may help John Connally. The fire-eaters on the Senate Watergate Committee staff have wanted to hold full-scale hearings on the dairy industry’s contributions to the Nixon reelection campaign and the Nixon Administration’s decision to raise price supports for milk. The staffers had hoped to subpoena John Connally, who was in the Administration at the time and may have been in on the milk price decision. The staffers know that Connally is big news whenever he pops up in Washington, and if he appeared before the Committee, the Committee would be big news again. But the white paper may take the edge off the issue and tip the senators against the idea of hearings on it.