THE NEW IRON CURTAIN

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80-01601R001300350001-2
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 34
• Document Creation Date: December 9, 2016
• Document Release Date: November 3, 2000
• Sequence Number: 1
• Publication Date: November 19, 1972
• Content Type: NSPR

STATINTL
Approved For Release 2001/9~1O4 : CIA RDP80-016
By Tom Wicker
The Supreme Court ruled last week
that despite the Government's wire-
tapping of a member of the Daniel
Ellsberg defense team, the trial of Mr.
Ellsberg and his friend, Anthony Russo,
could continue. But it does not seem
to be widely recognized that the
charge's against these two men, if sus-
tained, will provide the Government
with far more sweeping powers of
secrecy and censorship than it has
ever had.
In that case, John Kincaid has writ-
ten in the magazine of the War Resist-
ers League, "The .executive branch
will have succeeded in using the judi-
'cial branch to produce a new, repres-
sive information control law which the
legislative branch has always refused
to enact." :The little-known truth is
that there is now no statute-none-
which gives the President the explicit
right to establish a. system of classi-
fying information. The classification
system ("top secret," etc.) rests in-
stead on Executive orders, and those
who have violated it in the past have
suffered ' only administrative repri-
mands or the loss of their jobs-not
criminal prosecution.
It is a crime, declared so by statute,
to ' make public certain information
dealing with codes and atomic energy;
The New Iron
19 ,NOV 1372.
neither Mr. Ellsberg nor Mr. Russo did
that, nor are they so charged. It is r pT /j~
also a Prime under the Internal Secu- IN THE
rity Act, to nand classified informa-
tion to a Communist country; neither
defendant did that either, nor are they
charged with it. Among other things,
Mr. Ellsberg and Mr. Russo are charged
with conspiring .to "defraud" the Fed-
eral Government of its "lawful func-
tion" of withholding classified infor-
mation from the public. But Congress
has never by statute declared that to
be a "lawful function" nor made re-
leasing classified information a crime.
In this case, the Government is ' con-
tending that setting tip a classification
system is an inherent or implied power
of the executive function-which' it
may be; but to prosecute Mr. Ellsberg
and Mr. Russo *for a crime in violating
an Executive order rather than a stat-
ute, the Government also has to claim'
that it has inherent or implied power
to declare certain behavior criminal,
when Congress has never done so.
The Ellsberg-Russo indictments also
charge them with ' violation of the
Espionage Act. In every other case
brought under that act, the Govern-
ment has had to show that the de-
fendants acted, as the statute requires,
with intent or reason to believe that
the information to be obtained is to
be used tq the injury of the United
States or,to the advantage of any
NATION
foreign nation." But the Government,
despite this plain requirement, does
not so charge Mr. Ellsberg' and Mr;
Russo; instead,. the indictment charges
them with communicating the Penta
gon Papers "to persons not entitled to %
receive them," a very 'different thing:
The "theft" part of the indictment,
moreover, charges Mr. Ellsberg with
stealing, converting and communicat-
ing information. and ideas-not docu-
ments (the actual documents were
Xeroxed, and the Government retains
possession of the originals). The Ells-
berg defense maintains that the Gov-
ernnient has 'never been construed ny
the courts or Congress to have propri-
etary rights over information; it has,
for instance, no right to obtain a copy-
right, on the theory that no govern-
ment should have the -power to, own
or control information, and that a
government's information is a collec-
tive possession of its people.
These are the remarkable issues that
now must go to trial. If the Govern-
ment gets a convictionon these issues,.
and the conviction is sustained all the
way through the Supreme Court, it
will mean that making public classi-
fied information will have been de-
-.,clared a crime, although no statute
makes it a crime. ` It will mean, fur-
ther, that. the Government will not
even have been required to show that
such: an- act was intended to injure
the country or to aid a foreign power, ,
-only that information was passed to
_persons "not entitled" to have it. And ,
finally, the Government's proprietary
i.`. right to control information-not just
physical documents, plans, films, etc.
-will have been established.
Honest men may debate the wisdom
and motives of Daniel Ellsberg and
Anthony Russo in releasing the Pen-
tagon Papers; but the implications of
the ,case - the Government seeks to
make against them transcend such
questions. For if that case is sustained,
the Government will be enabled to
make it a Crime' to make public any-
thing on which it chooses to place a
classification stamp. Then, anyone
who discloses such information-say,
an Air. Force Colonel "leaking" infor-
mation about a faulty weapon or a
wasteful,' program-and anyone who
receives it-for instance, Joseph Alsop
or Rowland Evans being clued in by
the C.I.A.-will. be committing a crime
for which, he can be prosecuted. - -
Approved For. Release 2001/03/04: CIA-RDP80-016"R0O1r35b0t~r0AO1x2imost
no limit on the Government's capacity
to act in'secret-which is to say its
cnnaity to anuthina it h.,. -
 -xw Yu [ tl~s STATINTL
Approved For Release 20019(3/:-RDP
U.S. ISSUES REPORT
TO REBUT CHARGES
ON DI Hoh BRIGS
Senator George McGovern as-
serted that Mr. Nixon had
"stooped beneath the dignity
of his office" in his news-
conference comments on
bombing.,. Pages 2 and 10.1
The intelligence report made
public today declared "Photo-
graphic evidence shows con-
clusively that there has been
no intentional bombing of the
dikes." The pictures on which
the findings were based were
taken on July 10 and 11, a State
Department official said.
Later photos were not avail-
able, the official said,. because
reconnaissance flights by iliefnaissance, the State Department
United States Air Force were* rctfused? to show newmen any
hampered by cloud conditionsjof the photographic evidence. A
over the Red River Delta area, detparunent official said that it
was,decided today not to issue
in which the extensive, 2,700-Ithe photograph because it was
mile network of dikes and damsi
felt by the Administration 'hat';
is centered. (this would only provoke North
The report also said that alli
Vietnam to isue its own photo
the dike damage occurred with-1: ra ihs in rebuttal some of
in close range of "specific tar
gets of military value."
g
which might be "fabricated."
Intelligence Document Says
Hits Were Unintentional
and Damage Was Minor
By BERNARD GWERTZMAN
Syeoal.to The New York Tancs
WASHINGTON, July 28-
The Administration today re-
leased a Government intel-
ligence" report finding that
American bombing had darn-
aged North Vietnam's dike sys-
tem at 12 points. But the report
concluded that the hits were
unintentional, their impact was
minor "and no major dike has
been breached."
The eight-page report, put to-
ether largely by the Central
? Text of State Department's
report is on Page 2.
newsmen by the State Depart-
ment to buttress the Adminis-
tration's contention that North
Vietnam was falsely charging
the United States with bomb-
ing the dikes systematically
and deliberately.
"Photographic- evidence
shows conclusively that there
has been no intentional bomb-
ing of the dikes," the report
said. The photographs were
taken on July 10 and 11, a
State Department official said.
Later photos were not avail-
able, the official said, because
reconnaissance flights by the
United States Air Force were
hampered by cloud conditions
over the Red River Delta area
in which the extensive 2,700.
mile network of dikes and dams
is centered.
[In the dispute between
President Nixon and Secre-
tary General Waldheim over
bombing of dikes, the Secre-
tary General called in George
Bush, the United States dele-
gate. Their conversation,
while not described publicly,
dealt with Mr. Nixon's charge
that ~4r~~~~ t~sl.ll'e~
"taken n y Ianot s
asser- tions. And in South Dakota,
,,of the 12 locations where
10 are
d
,
,
damage has occurre
close to identified individual'; and presented on Dlonday-to
targets such as petroleum stor-Il, urt Waldheim, secretary gen-
age facilities, and the other two'eral of the United Nations, by
are adjacent to road and river;Georg e Bush, the United States
transport lines," the report said.i4clegate. Mr. Waldheim had said
It said that because a large he had unofficial information
number of the dikes serve aslthat the United States was
the bases for roadways, thelbombing the dikes,
maze they create throughout Yesterday, at his news con-
the delta makes it amidst in- ference, President Nixon force-
evitable that air attacks direct-(fully denied Hanoi's charges
ed against transportation .tar- about a systematic bombing
gets cause scattered damage to campaign against the dikes and
(likes." said that Mr. \Valdheim and
The report said that the bomb other well-intentioned and naive
craters identified by photo-lpeopie" had been "'taken in" by of the Foreign Relations
graphic reconnaissance at the Hanoi's propaganda. man
12 locations "can be repaired Mr. Nixon conceded, as have, Committete, was briefed along
easily with a minimum of labor other spoker.men, that there had(with other Senators by the
and equipment-a crew of lesslbeen some damage to the dikes' C. I. A., a few days ago. lie said
than 50 men with wheclbar-,by accidental hits. Today, North today that lie had no quarrel
rows and hand. tools could re- Vietnam's radio retpeated that with the conclusion of the re-
pair in a day the largest crater "Nixon has intentionally at- port. He said that the photo
observed." tacked the dike network, inlevidence.he was shown seemed
e "Repairs to all the dikes North Vietnam in line with all to support the view that fht:
(could be completed within a his wicked and barbarous plans. dike damage was near military
week," it said. Senator J. W. Fulbright, chair- targets.
lease 2001/03/04 CIA-RDP8O-01601 R001 300350001-2
Although the report was
based on photographer recon-
This report, including the
photoL raphs, prepared earlier
 Approved For Release 2001
I IU$,,fears.of an offensive by liberation forces in
$yth,Vietnam continue to mount. Tad Szulc of
tb Kew York Times reported in the Jan. 30 edition
that, according to U.S. intelligence sources,
political officers among liberation military units are
saying that "decisive blows" must be dealt against
U.S. and Saigon troops. The same sources,
V presumably the CIA, also told Szulc, that the flow
@f "troops down the Ho Chi Minh Trail" has been
30,0)0 higher from October to now than during the
same period a year earlier. The release of this
"frtformation and numerous similar reports from
*eU.S. and Saigon military commands in South
llietnarnreflect areal fear of a damaging offensive
fn South Vietnam. At the same time, the
predictions appear to be self-servinc; pretexts to
justify heavy U.S. bombing.
On Jan 31-Feb. 1, the U.S. ste Yd-up the
bombing of North Vietnam again, care :;ng out the
heaviest raids since last December. Such attacks
could not possibly have a significant effect on an
iii; neat offensive in South Vietnam and they
may have increased in intensity, in yet another
effort to force Hanoi to meet U.S. terms for a
settlement There have also been heavy U.S.
bombings in the demilitarized zone and South
Vietnamese central highlands by U.S. B-52s and
fighter-bombers, with American aircraft dropping
an estimated 700-900 tons of bombs on these
areas Jan. 30-31, according to an AP report.
Testifying in Washington, following a recent
visit to South Vietnam, Dr. E. W. Pfeifer of the
University of Montana, stated that there are an
estimated 23 million craters left from bombs
dropped by B-52s in South Vietnam. The deep
paters make land unsuitable for rice cultivation
and fill up with water and provide "a perfect
breeding ground for disease-bearing mosquitoes."
Noting that 5.5 million acres of South Vietnamese
? forests were, destroyed by chemical defoliation
until it was halted eight months ago, Pfeifer
reported that the U.S: now is destroying forests by
bulldozers. Five U.S. companies, he said, using 150
tractors working from dawn to dusk, destroy about
1000.acres per day.
In the second- of two articles on the Mylai
massacre, Seymour Hersh wrote in the New
Yorker that members of Army's Americal Division
destroyed documents about the incident to protect
officers involved. Basing his report on transcripts
,of the Army inquiry panel headed by Lt. Gen.
William R. Peers, Hersh states that the Peers
commission was unable to find how the Mylai 4
files had disappeared, although 400 witnessed
were questioned. Peers suspected, according to
Hersh, that the implicated officers themselves
were among those responsible for the disap-
pearance of the records. Furthermore, Hersh
wrote, "The truth was more damaging to the
Army's system than Peers could imagine: that
subsequent officers of the Americal Division, who
had no direct involvement with Mylai 4...had
destroyed evidence to protect the officers who
preceded therm" Hersh also stated that at least
one Saigon officer wrote a report that Americans
had killed more than 400 persons in the Mylai area,
and at the time American intelligence officers
dismissed the report as "Vietcong propaganda."
0-01601 R001
LAOS
Heavy U.S. bombing attacks are continuing,
augmented by air strikes by U.S.-supplied aircraft
of the Saigon air force. It was officially admitted on
Feb. 1 that Saigon planes have been bombing in
Laos since December. In the ground fighting, at
latest reports, the siege was continuing at the
former secret CIA base at Long Chieng, south of
the Plain of Jars. Pathet Lao forces have repor-
tedly cut the road between Vientiane and the royal
capital at Luang Prabang. The area of the royal
capital was also said to be under attack by
liberation forces....The official revelations of CIA-
activity in Laos is considered part of an ad-
ministration effort to get more funds for U.S.
operations in Laos. Meanwhile, the numbers of
Thai mercenaries being hired by the CIA to fight in
Laos is steadily rising.
STATINTL
Approved For Release 2001/03/04: CIA-RDP80-01601 R001300350001=2
 VIASIIINGrTON POST
Approved For Release 2001/:9314 4 l9 ZA-RDP80-01601
on't (OUG''felge-0
STATINTL
Uon, in fact, without consulting the b. .... ~? ~- b -
W lllurrest )aff writer Let me collect my thoughts and come
? group's 800 members, early this month
aAmM Post
of endorsed every possible variation of back to it later." With that marking
AFT over news MONTH of controversy backgrounder. , time response, Bray conferred with
ovee gathering rules, some Robert J. McCloskey, deputy assistant
portions of Washington's standard diet White House Response secretary of state, the longest surviv-
of "background" news have slipped ~HE WHITE HOUSE has held no ing chief spokesman in any Western
into the foreground. True, no govern large group background briefings foreign office. McCloskey, at' 49, is
went official will concede that there since the controversy erupted in mid- scarred by many information policy
has been any change in nstablishon December. Presidential Press Secre-' struggles, but he has survived the i
ti . patterns of ackground ng with ut aton tary Ronald L. Ziegler said then that Johnson and Nixon administrations
eutior to fficiais by (me) or at the the President Nixon was quite ready to zig-zag policies on the Indochina war
record to officials y nawe t thus pub- the practice if that was what the -probably the supreme test for any
li record (with ility for what and has s - been press wanted. White House spokesmen spokesman-with his own credibility
Moreover, othe r a t went on the record for news briefings intact.
said). accountability
said): of White, House and State at the President's recent round of "lit- It was decided to reply to the ques-
parte t White
en to inquiries a about De- tie summit" conferences and in the tion if it was pursued the next day,
their news ice to mitts in 1971 year-end reports on administra- as it was. Fortunately for officialdom
their nE;B by admits no innn. tion accomplishments. However, White in this instance, Under Secretary of
vations. more news has been the House officials, and all others in the State Johnson is a cautious speafier
more news he bhnite put o House the pub and executive branch, reserve the right to who had attached enough qualifica-
`refen . the White State ahe employ background rules. Herbert G. tions to his background statements to
the outwouldbreaakk of of public normally beublic the Klein, the administration's director of sustain at least an argument that new
ease since than
ease dis- communications, speaking to the Ar- Communist successes in Laos and
puce over government information kansas Press Association, emphasized Cambodia resulted from unpi edicta
practices. that backgrounders will continue to ble developments. "I don't think it
The day-to-day practice for invoking be used "when we feel that it provides was possible," said spokesman Bray,
the. varies, b d dhere is daily
greater the public with additional needed in. "to know on Dec. 1 of the qualitative
rove varies, but there now nee formation." improvements which the North Viet-
govern nee and press cid At the State Department, there was namese had, in retrospect, clearly
of the need to have pollicyicy declara- " in their armament, with the
Lions stated on the record, by identi- an unusual departure in press practice made
fiable officials who will take responsi- recently, technical in nature, but addition of 130-mm. artillery and nu-
bility for what they say. The problem illustrative of both the changes tak- mattes responses to tanks. the This same reply and other
inquiry left
is by no means peculiar to the Nixon ing place and the reasons they are some press questioners dissatisfied.
administration. This administration needed. A television network news- But others counted it a gain that the
happened to land in office when the man in open press briefing, asked attempt was made to seek public ac-
accumulation of challenges to the
credibility of government were ex- how the department reconciles sweep- countability for official statements.
traoidinarily acute, as, President Nixon ing Communist military successes in Troubled Officials
acknowledged before reaching the Laos and Cambodia with what he de- JOHNSON AND MANY officials at
White House. scribed as the "rather glowing" fore- the White House, State, the Penta-'
It Is too early to determine if the -cast by "U. Alexis Johnson (at) a god and other news centers are sin
current shift of emphasis is merely background briefing" on. Dec. 1. cerely troubled by the dispute about
temporary, while the heat of contro- There was a noticeable pause in the background briefings. They hold that
versy is high, or more durable. The proceedings. Spokesman Charles W.
dispute is by no means resolved, either Bray, rarely at a loss for a circuitous officials -especially diplomats-will
between the government and the press response, sidestepped the identifica be less communicative if they are re-
qr within the sharply divided press tion breach and the question, replying: quired to speak on the public record.
corps, where the argument is even "I do recall that a senior official of This is a central issue in the dispute,
more intents . The officers of the t %9/04a' te eld a back- and an unmeasured but large propaj??
White Housed n6QXsRe4ea C")A-RDP80-01601 R001300350001-2
 WA HINGu.,i POS1'
Approved For Release 20d1M104?~6A-RDP80-01601 R
Jfargaiis Childs
Furor on Seeree
wes Lot to Nixoii
.crecy in government and the
revelation of leaked docu-
ments owes a lot to the man
in the White House. Except
for carefully stage-managed
television performances,
communication with the
media has fallen close to
zero.
In 1971 the President had
-nine press conferences, and
four of these were of the im-
promptu kind held on short
notice where only the White
House regulars are present.
This is a measure of his dis-
trust of a direct confronta-
tion with reporters. He shies
away from even the kind of
East Room press conference
that has increasingly be-
come a television spectacu-
'Iar with the seats in the
front row allotted to those
who are familiars.
Suppose in the immediate
issue of the India-Pakistan
dispute that Mr. Nixon had
held a press conference in
the first week in December.
He would have been asked
about his attitude on the de-
veloping war.
. How much better to have
given 'a forthright answer
deploring what the White
House considered India's ag-
gression than to have this
leak out of a secret session
of policy makers. The Presi-
dent could not in any event
escape responsibility for the,
decision.
In 1970 the President had
four full-scale press confer-
lences and one impromptu.
the, total for 1969 was eight.
Television interviews with
network reporters have
filled some gaps. But they
are no substitute for the
give-and-take of the press
conference that not so long
ago was both a principal
source of news and a mirror
of the man in the Chief Ex-
ecutive's chair.
COMPARISON with the
past is instructive. Mr. Nix-
on's only Republican prede,
cessor in recent history,
Dwight D. Eisenhower,
could never have been ac-
Yet in his eight years in of-
fice he held 193 press con-
ferences. An average of 24
per year Is not bad for a
President who took frequent
vacations and in 1955 had a
long enforced quiet wii.h a
heart attack.
In his nearly three years
in the White House John F.
Kennedy had 64 press con-
ferences. In the State De-
partment auditorium taking
the questions as they came
from every side, he devel-
oped a mastery of challenge
and response. The complaint
was that his was a virtuoso
performance with the em?
phasis on theatrics. Yet it
often produced important,
news with a Kennedy flair,
as when the President In a
somber mood, the negotia-
tions over the nuclear test
ban treaty faltering, spoke
of the genie escaping fo---
ever from the bottle of con-
trol.
In his six years Lyndon B.
Johnson held 126 press con-
ferences. Many on the im-
promptu order. Suffering
from comparison with the
Kennedy virtuosity, he var-
ied the rate from year to
year.
THE VALUE of the White
House press conference as
an institution was exagger-
ated in the past. Comps,-.son
with the question hour in
the British House of Com-
mons will not stand up. In
the Commons, the Prima
. Minister and his cabinet are
subjected to a sharp give-
and-take on the issues of the
day.
At the White House press
conference a reporter can
rarely have a followup ques-
tion when the first response
has been evasive.
Even in the era of FOR,
who tried to keep t) a
twice-a-week conference:
schedule, the followup was
rare. Once a repo; ter
pressed for a further re-
sponse, the President re-
plied with "Remember, no
gross examination."
But for all its limitations,.
the press conference has
~u,a.u Luc91, ,.
1,0
and se PIP O~/t@ i e9r on a ton wit t a f?L
Pressed hard by his inquisi- ecutive increasingly hedged
tors, hls flushed face would ,,,;.w ,,
STATINTL
power and secrecy. 'AS a'
rare television show, a limit
of half an hour in itself a se-
rious handicap, it no longer
has much value as a forum
shedding eplightenment on
the ways of government.
One handicap is the size of the press corps ,accredited
to the White House. Some
means can surely be found,
however, to divide the corps
at separate conferences.
Both for public confidence
and for the conscience of
the President the right of
public inquiry is a vital part.
of a democratic system.
'v 1972. United Feature Syndicate, Inc.
CIA-RDP80-01601 R001300350001; 2
 STATINTL
Approved For Release 2081 J0;A( 419 f21A-RDP80-0160
Voice of the Voiceless
Ile is the most widely read syndicated
columnist in America (600 newspapers),
and perhaps the most controversial. To
his countless critics, Jack Northman An-
derson is a reckless, irresponsible and
frequently inaccurate scandalmonger. To
his equally numerous admirers, the Wash-
ington-based columnist is a muckraker in
the noblest sense of the word, a relentless
exposer of sham and Hanky panky in high
places. Iloth friend and foe, however,
concede that Anderson has the largest
and most varied network of sources in all
of newspaperdom. And as his headline-
grabbing leakage of classified White
House documents on the India-Pakistan
war once again made plain,
some of those informants work
within the top echelons of the
U.S. Government.
What made the whole af-
fair so puzzling was that An-
derson, who usually camou-
flages such sources with the
utmost care, was dropping
hints to their identity in this
case with almost gleeful aban-
don. "If the sources were
identified," he told one re-
porter, "it would embarrass
the Administration more than
it would me. It would make a
very funny story." At "another
point, Anderson revealed that
the flow of top-secret docu-
ments to him was still contin-
uing, and then added: "My
sources-and they are plural
-are some of [the Adminis-
tration's] own boys. And if
they want to finger them,
they're going to end up with
bubble gun all over their
faces."
Some suspected that An-
derson's puckish warning was
simply an attempt to protect
himself from nrosecution-a
paign against the backgrounder [follow-
ing page]. Perhaps it didn't notice the
Anderson bombs in their usual spot on
the comics page." But Post managing edi-
tor Howard Simons denied all this. "The
one or two times we have put a columnist
out on the front page, we have been
burned," he said: "We just figure people
will read the columns."
The Post, however, quickly recouped
by carrying the full texts of the three
secret documents that Anderson leaked
to the paper exclusively after Presiden-
tial adviser Henry Kissinger complained
that he had been quoted out of context.
The Post also distributed the texts over
its joint news wire with The Los Angeles
Times, enabling them to appear in The
Anderson: `I work at staying in trouble'
that Sen. Edward Kennedy at first per-
suaded his cousin Joseph Gargan to take
the rap for the Chappaquiddick tragedy
and who once had an aide dig for news
in J. Edgar Hoover's garbage can. "I
work at staying in trouble," Anderson
explains.
Fairer: Despite his heavy-handed tac-
tics, Anderson is generally regarded by
Washington newsmen as more fair-mind-
ed than Drew Pearson was. "Jack has cul-
tivated a broader range of sources," says
Bill Lambert, former head of Life's in-
vestigative reporting team. "The column
now has more reliability."
Anderson himself likes to think of his
column as "the voice of the voiceless
American-the common man." And that
conception may explain why he has ada-
mantly resisted attempts by The Wash-
ington Post to move his column from the
comics page to a more prominent and
prestigious niche. "We think," says one
of Anderson's staffers, "that we are on
the best-read page in the newspaper."
step that the White House seems highly Boston Globe, San Francisco Chronicle,
reluctant -to take anyway. Indeed, last Chicago Sun-Times and New York Post.
week the justice Department appeared (The New York Times and some 30 oth-
to be far more intent on shutting oft the or news organizations later obtained the
sources of the Anderson leaks than on texts from Anderson's office.)
launching legal measures against the col- The actual contents of the documents
umnist himself. In light of the govern- were not surprising to readers who had
ment's tough stance in the Pentagon followed U.S. policy in India and Pakis-
papers case, this milder approach tan. But by baring the very words and
prompted New York Times foreign editor moods of key Presidential advisers, An-
James Greenfield to remark: "It would derson scored a major coup. For the
be very strange if they prosecuted Dan- burly, 49-year-old Mormon who inherited
iel Ellsberg and not Anderson." the column from his senior partner Drew
Spot: Possibly to buttress its own legal Pearson when Pearson died in 1969, the
position in the Ellsberg affair, the Times revelations capped a long series of block-
began front-paging the Anderson scoop busters that have both infuriated and
well before any other paper-including titillated the Washington Establishment.
The Washington Post which, unlike the It was Anderson who researched and
1T14erry=G oaI~ouir c'o nI mine~ver'y dayR ~e to o r i 00afc i tOt ~sO'P1601 R001300350001-2
suspect,"':'said one newsman, "that the Thomas Dodd, the late Connecticut sen-
Prast was too engrossed with its own cam- ator. It was also Anderson who charged
 WASHINGTON STlIR
Approved For Release 20H04>3IA-RDP80-0
CARL T. ROWAN
Arad arson Disclosures Serve Publ ac Interest
A small but loud minority of
-my press colleagues, and a
number of government offici-
als, are trying to portray col-
umnist Jack Anderson as some
,kind of traitor for making pub-
lic those secret documents
about the India-Pakistan war.
James J. Kilpatrick thinks
'Anderson should have put
"good citizenship" first and
run to the Justice Department
with the documents, helping
them to discover and punish'
.the "disloyal" official who
made the security breach.
What to think or do about
the official who leaked the doc-
uments is a separate issue.
But there ought to be no doubt
in the public's mind that An-
derson was a model of good
citizenship when he remained
faithful to his commitment to
tell the public the truth.
. It would have been easy
enough to curry favor with the
administration by suppressing
the documents, but Anderson
.knows that the single greatest
justification for a free press is
that it serves to keep govern-
ment honest.
It is a..serious enough situa-
tion that no responsible news-
man should. be shackled by a
.4 'secret" stamp when be sees
=clear-cut evidence that the
government is lying, and using
the press to mislead the pub-
lic. ,- ,
Why shouldn't the American American people; and public
public know that while Presi- support quickly withers unless
dent Nixon's national security it is based on wide under-
adviser, Henry Kissinger, was standing of the truth.
using a press "backgrounder" After the damage was done,
to flamfloozle the public into/ administration spokesman be-
believing the United States gan to tell the press some of
fact was acting with petulant
childishness?
There was Kissinger secretly
telling top government offici-
als the President wanted them
to adopt a "pro-Pakistan tilt,"
that he wanted them to be
"cool" to the Indians, and that
Mr. Nixon didn't want the In-
dian ambassador treated at
too high a level.
Why shouldn't the Ameri-
can people know that Kenneth
Keating, Nixon's envoy to In-
dia, had fired home a cable
protesting that USIA reports
and other versions of the con-
flict (based on Kissinger's
briefing) did not square with
the facts and could create a
credibility poblem?
As Lyndon B. Johnson dis-
covered about Vietnam, no
foreign policy succeeds for
long without the support of the
the things that should have
been revealed when our gov-
ernment knew that war was
imminent. They told how Nix-
on had made four important
offers to the Indian Prime
Minister, Mrs. Indira Gandhi,
when she was here.
These included a unilateral
troop pullback by Pakistan if
India would agree to recipro-
cate later, another $250 mil-
lion from the U.S. to help care
for the 10 million refugees in
India and talks between the
government in West Pakistan
and the Awami League in the
East.
"The President felt that he
had given the lady an alterna-
tive to war, and she choose
war-that is why he was so
peeved," one official told me.
Wouldn't it have been more
statesmanlike, more enlight-
ening to the American people,
to confront the Indians pub-
STATINTL
licly with Nixon's "alterna.
tives to war"-instead of issu-
ing silly behind-the-scenes or-.
ders to be rude to the Indian
ambassador?.
As it is, even the Anderson
documents give us no clear
picture as to why Nixon was
so fervently pro-Pakistan and
anti-India.
The town remains full of
whispers that it was because
Mrs. Gandhi cut him up ver-
bally in her toast at the White
House dinner. Asian diplomats
talk about the Indians snub-
bing Nixon and the Pakistanis
treating him royally when he
went to Asia after losing to
Kennedy in 1960. Some specu-
late that siding with Pakistan,
and thus with Red China, -was
part of some grand strategy,
the President had in connec-
tion with his trip to China.
We may know. But thanks to
Andqrson we are a lot closer
to the truth about foreign poli-
cy bunglings which this gov-
ernment, like governments be-
fore it, was all to eager to
cloak in secrecy labels.
Approved For Release 2001/03/04: CIA-RDP80-01601 R001300350001-2
 ST.ATINTL
Approved For Released" 6JA? &,Z ?'I3-@.P80-0160
1.0 N 11Z
By Richard L. Strout
? Staff correspondent of The Christian Science Monitor
Washington
It is the light shed on the operation of the Nixon administration rather than
any specific new revelations that is the arresting part to many of the so-called
Anderson papers being revealed by syndicated columnist--Jack Anderson from
hush-hush official documents on the India-Pakistan crisis.
The whole issue of the so-called "Metternich role" of Dr. Henry A. Kissinger
as adviser to the President on international affairs is brought up, by the ex-
posure of how it works in practice. Dr. Kissinger is not secretary of state, and
yet, in this instance, he was apparently calling the shots and delivering orders.
from the absent President to the prestigious top-level 1: ;ie House Security
Action Group (WSAG), including the head of CIA and chairman of the Joint
Chiefs of Staff.
J
"It goes without saying," according to
Washington Mr. Nutter, "that the entire press is slant-
Dr. Kissinger is liked by the press, and his ing this war to place the entire blame on
frequent backgrounders are often illuminat- the Pakistanis and to show that they at-
Uing and helpful, yet his credibility is now tacked India."
raised. In two backgrounders, for example, , Mr. Nutter's comment was recorded' in a
he said the administration had no advance "memorandum for record" by James 'H.
inkling of the Indian attack on Pakistan, yet Noyes, a deputy to Mr. Nutter, that was
a confidential cable to Secretary of State leaked to the columnist by sources unknown.
William P. Rogers from U.S. Ambassador It purportedly quotes participants directly
Kenneth B. Keating (Nov. 12) at New Delhi instead r of in paraphrase as in an earlier
reportedly said that war was "imminent." pp`iap
A' wave of sympathy for Mr. Nixon is published memorandum prepared by Navy
expected on the grounds that nobody can Capt. Howard N. Kay. And like the Johnson
carry. on foreign policy easily or perhaps administration. the Nixon administration
successfully when confidential talks at high- has had trouble with the press. In this in.
est levels are disclosed. stance administration officials at WSAG dis-
Almost everybody here seems to agree cussed procedures for "tilting" government
with this. response against the Indian Government. in
On the other hand there is a feeling that a situation where the administration placed
official secrecy has been carried to pre- blame on New Delhi.
posterous lengths. This is another aspect Nixon anger discussed -
of the instability in the situation, like Dr.
Kissinger's own role, that the Anderson The WSAG was told of Mr. Nixon's anger
papers affect. There are other aspects of at the version of affairs that was coming
the administration position. . out from press backgrounders at the State
For-example, advisers to the President Department.
simply shrug their shoulders ironically over
the alleged "slanting" of the American press "Both Yahya [West Pakistan President
in ways counter to administration foreign Yahya Khan] and Mrs. Gandhi are making
policy in this instance, condsering it inevita- billicose statements. If we refer to Mrs.
ble. Gandhi's in our statement, do we not also
Another theme is how President Nixon have to refer to Yahya's?" asked Samuel De
asserts authority over the prestigious Palma, assistant secretary of state for inter-
WSAG through Dr. Kissinger. But in the national organizations.
Pakistan crisis WSAG did not meet directly Dr. Kissinger replied, "The President
at critical moments with the President who says either the bureaucracy should put out
sent his directions through Dr. Kissinger. the right statement on this or the White
House will do it. Can the UN object to
FBI Continues search Yahya's statements about defending his
Meanwhile the FBI continues the search country?" Mr. De Palma replied, "We will
for the source of the leak, and two house have difficulty in the. UN because most of
committees are starting their own investiga- the countries who might .go with us do not
tion. want to tilt toward Pakistan to the extent
J G. Warren Nutter, Assistant Secretary of we do."
Defense for Security Affairs, in an exchange "Whoever is doing the backgrounding at
with Dr. Kissinger during ? a White House State," Dr. Kissinger reportedly answered.
WSAG session Dec. 4, gave the administra- "is invoking the President's wrath. Please
ti 's mood.to the pr~s s. try to follow the President's wishes."
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STATINTL
 Z
hu
STATINTL
continued to prepare for the 1 fice In the White House. The
presidential pilgrimages to Pe- final decisions, to be sure,
king and Moscow, He not only have been made by the Presi-
handled the arrangements but 1 dent. But Kissinger has guided
plotted the big-power chess the President's thinking and
that the President will play I directed the Implementations
with our two chief adver- of his policies. _
saries.
? More than anyone else,
Kissinger served as ring mas-
ter for the three-ring Paris
? The State Department, with,,
its worldwide foreign service-
network, has been relegated
largely to a messenger service.
peace talks, Vienna SALT and Kissinger accepts briefing
Brussels NATO conference' papers from the State Depart-,
that were going on simultane-I ment, and the department's
ously behind closed doors. Ile! specialists participate in
called the signals from the i White House strategy sessions.'
White House. But the final formulation of
He also kept close watch policy is handled by Kissinger.
through horn-rimmed glasses In preparation for the Presi-
upon such far-flung trouble dent's Peking visit, for exar.~-
spots as Cuba, Chile and ple, veteran strategists at the
Korea. lie monitored the dip- State Department submitted
lomatic cables, intelligence' briefing papers but weren't in-
digests . and situation reports vited to join the advance party
that poured into Washington! now in Peking. This mission is
example, that persuaded Presi John Connally. Kissinger was; from around the globe. His in. completely controlled by Kis
1 ASIIINGT.ON POST
Approved For Release 2001A3164 IRA-RDP80-01601
The Washington Merry-Go-]{onnd
Nixon's 0
By Jack Anderson
e Man Stdie"'De'
Ambassador George 'Bush
probed and pressed in the
backrooms of the United Na-
gar, the foreign policy wizard, ! 'tions for a diplomatic solution
Is simply over his head in pa-! I while Egypt and Syria de-
perwork.
He Is trying to serve Presi-
dent Nixon as a one-man State
ployed their forces for a mili-
tary showdown. To keep a mil-
itary balance, Kissinger urged
Department. But the paper-I the shipment of Phantom jets
work is too voluminous, the! to Israel.
problems too overwhelming
even fort - the: brilliant Kissin-
ger to master.
Still he tries to manage
every foreign crisis, to absorb
every new detail, to advise the
President on every develop-
ment. During the three hectic
weeks before Christmas. the
Calling Kissinger
? He became deeply in-
volved in preparing the new
international monetary agree-
ment. President Nixon's uni-
lateral economic moves last
August caused a diplomatic
backfire around the world Ile
. secret. White House Papers! did not consult with America's
show Kissinger had his fingers! trading partners. He offered
In the following pies: no explanation to the Interna-
? He directed the ton-level; tional Monetary Fund. He ig-
I strategy sessions on the Indi- I nored the diplomatic niceties.
an-Pakistani conflict. He sub-! In all this, he was advised
mitted the option papers, for chiefly by Treasury Secretary
task force into the Bay of Ben-i the international disorder.
gal, ? He stage-managed the
? Kissinger compiled a grim! President's blobe-trotting to
situation report showing a placate ruffled allied leaders.
dangerous intensification of,; Not only were the briefing
North Vietnamese military papers prepared under Kissin-
pressure in Laos, Cambodia ger's supervision, but he trav-
and South Vietnam. Not only Bled with the President. Kis-
were our Laotian allies in pos-singer seemed to be every-
sible peril, but the govern- where-conferring with Brit-
ment we support in Cambodia ish Prime Minister Edward
appeared to be in danger of Heath. breakfasting with
collapse. He recommended air French President Georges
strikes against North Vietnam. j Pompidou and, after .hours,
? He orchestrated the deli.! hitting the night spots with
cate Us. strategy in the Mid- beautiful young ladies.
dle East. Under his direction,, ? All the while Kissinger
dations, largely, guided the
President in setting policy ev-
erywhere.
Paper Clip
singer..
Yet Kissinger has been able
to operate in- almost total se-
crecy. Congress has sought in.
vain to find out- what lie's'
doing, but he has refused to:
Day after day, Kissinger; testify as Secretary of State
processed dozens of option I Bill Rogers is required to do.,
papers, security, memoranda, The State Department, which
and briefing papers for the is charged with the conduct of
President. Kissinger also ) foreig n affairs, can't even
worked on several major na keep up with Kissinger.
tional security studies on such! Not until we I
hold of the
subjects as "Prisoners of War", Ivhite House Papers has the,
and "Laos Peace Initiatives." I public been given a glimpse
In short, Henry Kissinger I
into
has been running U.S. foreign tions. Kissin ger's secret opera-;
policy out. of his basement of- glan -, A
Sell=McClure Syndicate
Approved For Release 2001/03/04: CIA-RDP80-01601 R001300350001-2
 NEW YORK TIMES
Approved For Release e%h19?f24 : CIA-RDP80-01601
STATINTL
gad thl , Tease, bUt don't tell'anyone 'What it
or ww o wrote it. If you must tell, attribute it to'.
a former. Government aide writing in a large
metrapolitan daily.
} By BILL MOVERS Three years ago, in one of those pert But these are not the practices that
odic fits of repentance which befalls cause harm and create an unbelievin
' Following my address at the Uni- an ex-press secretary when he has and untrusting public. It is when the
versity. of Maine commencement last been away from Washington too long, press becomes a transmission belt for
June, a student said to me: "Mr. Moy- I confessed to misgivings about the official opinions and predictions, in-
ers, you've been in both journalism practice and suggested some changes. dictments and speculation, coming
And Government; that makes every- My proposals were modest. Always from a host of unidentified spokesmen
thing you say doubly hard to be- identify a source by his specific agen- -when the press permits anonymous
lieve." The skepticism which she cy, I suggested; this would replace officials to announce policy without
expressed toward two of our major the loose anonymity of "high U. S. accountability-that the public throws
institutions is widespread, one reason officials" with more accountable up its hands in confusion and disgust.
being, I am convinced, the indiscrimi- terms like "a Defense Department Mr. Kissinger's sotto voce threat to
pate use of backgrounders as the spokesman," "a White House source," the Soviets, which. in true Orwellian
source of "hard" news stories. . or "an official of the Interior Depart- fashion had to be denied when its
The backgrounder permits the press ment." Embargo the contents ' of a source was identified, is only the latest
.and the Government to sleep together, group background session for at least revelation of the ease with which pub-
even to procreate, without getting one hour, I went on, permitting has- lie officials have come to use the back-
-married or having to accept responsi- tilt' summoned reporters time to grounder as a primary instrument of
:bility for any offspring. It's the public cross-check what they have been told. policy, propaganda, and manipulation,
on whose doorstep orphans of decep- A few other suggestions followed, "The interests of national security dic-
tive information and misleading alle- equally sensible, of course. tate that the lie I am about to tell you
gations are left, while the press and you would have thought I had pro- not be attributed to me." There are
the Government roll their eyes inno
Gently and exclaim: "No mea culpa!" posed abolishing the First Amend- plenty of other examples.
I -know. I used to*do a little official ment, so wrathfully did the press In 1966 an official !in Saigon gave a
corps rise up to proclaim the absolute
ort-
l
d
h
rep
e
e
=seducing myself. The objects of the indispensability of the backgrounder. backgrounder in which
chase--members of the Washington ors to believe that certain Pentagon
Perjury, naivety, and hypocrisy were
press corps - were all consenting but the lesser sins of which I stood studies had forecast a long war in
adults. Having been around much Vietnam-that it would take '750,000
longer than I and being more experi- condemned, perhaps accurately if troops in Vietnam to end the war in
enced, they came to each tryst more somewhat excessively. For two weeks five years (at the time we had 290,000
eagerly than I had expected. As when one could travel the length of the men there). The President then told a
.the noted correspondent. of a major National Press Club bar by the light news conference that Secretary McNa-
network implored me, "If I can't use of my effigies, no mean distance. mara could find no evidence of any
,,what you have just told me, can I use Some of the arguments in support such studies having been made. Later,
what you haven't just told me?" As- of the backgrounder I appreciate. As sources identified only as "U. S. offi-
what ; the classic posture of the Jules Frandsen, veteran head of the cials" said no such studies had been
incorruptible but ingenuous press sec- Washington bureau of United Press made, except perhaps as one man's
International, wrote: "A lot of skul-
retary - eyebrow arched casually, opinion. The source of the original
-condescendingly, in the manner of duggery in Government and in Con- backgrounder turned out to be no less
Clark Gable, and a smile like Whis- gress would never come to light if an authority than the Commandant of
Per's Mother-I merely looked him in everything had to be attributed." the Marine Corps, Gen. Wallace M.
the eye and he was had. That night True, but I am not protesting this Greene. Whom was the public to be-
.his gravelly voice carried to millions form of backgrounding. A single re- lieve: the "high official" in Saigon or
:of homes across the nation the word porter digging for a more detailed ""U. S. officials" in Washington? There
.'we wanted out in the first place but story can usually check with other had been such studies, but the Gov-
were unwilling to announce explicitly. sources the information he gets pri- ernment, by manipulating the press,
Fvej.q major newspaper picked up vately from one official, unless he is obscured the fact.
the story the next day, quoting the lazy or on the take. And the good In 1967 Gen. William C. Westmore-
network reporter quoting "high Ad- reaorters,shington, of which learn to there are throw many in
Washington, the U. S. commander in South
away
ministration officials." Never mind self-serving propaganda offered by a Vietnam, told a group of reporters in
that two . months later the trial bal- disgruntled d or ambitious official. Washington that he was "deeply con-
'loon 'burst. Except for a few crusty Background sessions which are held corned" that the Cambodian port of
veterans in the White -House press Sihanoukville was about to become an
corps, no one knew who was respon- to provide reporters with understanding important source of arms for Vietcong
sible for the story. And my accom- of complicated issues are also useful. troops in South Vietnam. Furthermore,
,plice? He was back for more. Score Explaining the President's new budget he said, the military was considering
one for the official Version of Reality. or the ramifications of legislative pro contingency plans to quarantine the
b most ably pgut~Gf6 Ca e~`~~rc4c~/46=4napW s' t3rTesh'er~~'bAlr1-2
the victims themselves, the reporters, be meaningless to the public. ? ? ' and then they quoted "some U. S. offi-
 A? W YORK TIMES
Approved For Release 200403I641' lA-RDP80-01601 R
White House Newsmen's Group
Affirms `Backgrounder' Rules
STATINTL
WASHINGTON, Jan. 3 (AP) Kissinger raised the possibility)
-In an implied rebuke to The that the President's pending
Washington Post, the White visit to Russia might be re-
House Correspondents Associa- considered.
tion called upon its members The session with Mr. Kissin=
today to abide by the rules of ger was a briefing in which
anonymous briefings. newsmen could report what
. The statement of principles they were told but were not
was put out by the executive permitted to identify the source
;committee, speaking for the as- either by name or even as "a'
sociation. White House official."
Without mentioning The In - accordance with estab-
Post, the statement said, "There lished procedure, reporters on
is absolutely no question but the Presidential jet gave a de-
that any news organization tailed report of the Kissinger
which accepts information on briefing to the rest of the White
a 'background' basis, either di- House press corps.
rectly or from a report from But The Post, which did not
a group of reporters . . . must have a reporter on the Presi-
abide by the rules under which dential jet, identified the source
the information was obtained," as Mr. Kissinger. Benjamin Bra
A controversy over such lee, executive editor of The
"backgrounders" erupted last Post, said the newspaper did
month after Henry A. Kissin- not feel bound by the rules for
_ger, President Nixon's adviserlsuch briefings because it ob-
on national security affairs, tained identity of the briefer
talked with reporters on the independently.
Presidential jet returning from Mr. Bradlee, who contends
the Azores, where Mr. Nixon that "by accepting unattributed
met wit`s President Pompidour'information we are allowingi
of France. ourselves to be used by the
Expressing White House dig- Government," declined to com-
pleasure with the Soviet role Iment on the association statel
in the India-Pakistan war, Mr. ment.
Approved For Release 2001/03/04: CIA-RDP80-01601 R001300350001-2
 WASHINGTON POS D
Approved For Release 2001/04/04cj -RDP80-0160
ouse Rex-horter
t
r Bckir
':By Carroll Kilpatrick 1 most world capitals," that on
Washington Post Staff Writer occasions officials will speak
~ 7 The officers of the White more frankly and provide
House Correspondents' Asso- more information on a 'back-
ground. basis than when they
elation approved a set of prin- know they are to be identified..
ciples yesterday accepting the "But the WIIICA feels-
I "background" briefing as an I strongly that the government
essential newsgathering de- has an obligation not to mis-I
vice that should be respected. use the 'background' device in
The statement said that an effort to 'use' reporters to?
whenever information is ob-; the government's own advan-I
tamable in no other way "it is tage and evade its responsibil- I
in a reporter's professional in- ity to stand behind what it I
terest to accept it on that 1 says."
(background) basis, but with
the understanding between re-
porter and news source that
the goal is to inform the pub-
lic, and not to promote the in-
Bradlee said he "flatly disa-i
greed" that it is in the report- I
er's interest to accept informa-
tion on a background basis.
"It is not compatible with
.
The officers issued the state on the backgrounder, report- of United Pressy International
ment without consulting with ors become a party to a con- and Lawrence M. O'Rourke of
-the association's membership spiracy with the government the Philadelphia Bulletin.
of 800. -. . to deny information to the
The Issue. of the "back- reader." The statement wthe agreed rs
cutive
ground" has been hotly de- In what was apparently a re- I and unanimously members o of the executive
of e
bated among Washington.l,uke to The Post for breaking committee, the association
newsmen since The Washinf; the rules regarding the Kissin- said.
ton Post disclosed last month uer background, the WIICA
that Henry A. Kissinger, as-1 statement said:
sistant to the President for na-I "There is absolutely no
tional security affairs, was the question but that any news or-
source of a "background" ganization which accepts in-
.warning to the Soviet Union. formation on a `background'
Kissinger told five "pool"' basis, either directly or from a
1reporters aboard President. report by a group of reporters,
Nixon's plane that the Presi- or 'pool.' or other 'fill-in,' must
dent might cancel his planned abide by the rules under
I visit to the Soviet Union if the which the information was ob-
i Soviets did not discourage tained."
India from attacking Pakistan. Bradlee said that the issue
Commenting on the state- of a pool report "is a separate
ment by the officers of the problem, and we chose not to
'
I correspondsnts association,
Benjamin C. Bradlee, execu-
tive editor of The Washington
Post, said he continued to
think the "background" has
been "perverted from what-
ever purposes it once had. We
honor the last pool when it be-
came independently known on
the record that Kissinger gave
it.,,
A pool of four to six report-
ers usually flies on the Presi-
dent's plane as representatives
think it is a deception." of the other traveling report-
The statement by the asso (*I'S.
elation officers said, "the goal I The pool's chief purpose is
of the WIICA must be and is to report to other reportot?s on
to promote the greatest possi- c,nv changes in the President's
ble flow of information from schedule or to accept any an-
governrnent officials in ways nouncement he might wish to
that such information can be make in flight.
attributed, in quotation marks, The correspondents' assoela-
to the news source by name.
orts
l
rep
lion said that poo
? "however, the WIICA recog i
sizes it lFprri?~~a pjA-RDP80-01601 R001300350001-2
STATINTL
unders
It also said that, contrary to
past practice, pool reports
should not be made available
to the Washington press gen-
erally but "only to those news-
men on the particular trip or
assignment on which the `pool'
originates."
Officers of the WIICA are
John P. Sutherland of U.S.
News and World Report, presi,
(lent: Edgar A. Poe of the New
Orleans Times-Pic;~yline, vice
president; Garnett 1). I-lorner
of the Washington Evening
Star, secretary.
The following are members
of the executive committee:
Ted Knap of the Scripps-flow
and `;(',.;paper Alliance,
James Deakin of the St
Louis
 NEW YORK TIMES STATINTL
Approved For Release 2001/032=p8MA'IDP80-016
Letters to the Editor
Abuse of the Backgrounder '
To the Editor:
The Nixon Administration and the
Washington press corps are beginning
to look foolish in the "backgrounder"
controversy. While the stories add an
amusing touch to the otherwise dreary
news of the day, to put the argument
on a high moral plane, as some have
done, is ridiculous.
The Administration is annoyed be-
cause newsmen have blown the cover
on a long-accepted Washington con-
ceit. The press is angry because it is
being used in an obvious deceit. If
anybody should be outraged, it is the
general public, which depends on the
.media for straight-forward reporting.
-When When it comes to morality, neither
side is entitled to public plaudit. The
.deception has been nurtured in mutual
interest. Government officials get their
party line in the news without, as has
been. noted, public accountability. At
-the other end of the stick, where
would those columns and columns of
Washington news analysis come from
if these sources dried up?
The solution is not hard to find, if
anyone is looking for it seriously.
The Times uses "News Analysis" to
? warn' the public that it is reading
opinion, not news. Reporters or the
desk (sometimes) insert "at a press
conference" to tell the reader that
the news comes on the bias rather
than through the efforts of an inde-
pendent reporter.
There is no reason why all "back-
grounder" stories could not insert a
similar caveat: "This dispatch is based
upon an off-the-record interview with
a Government official who wants to
make known his department's views
on the issue." For "deep-background-
ere' substitute "White House official"
and "the Administration's views."
Admittedly, such handout labeling
would take--a great deal of mystique
out of the Washington news game and
disemploy a piffle of pundits. But it
would be honest, and if nothing else
is accomplished by removal of a ludi-
crous mask, the media's image would
be improved when it goes to the forum
to defend the public's right to know.
CHARLES B. CRISMAN
New York, Dec. 21, 1971
Approved For Release 2001/03/04: CIA-RDP80-01601 R001300350001-2
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By Luther A. Huston
When Dr. Henry A. Kissinger the Pres-
ident's national security advisor, held a
background briefing with five pool report-
ers aboard a plane returning from the
Nixon-Pompidou conference in the Azores,
he revived a controversy over the use of
off-the-record conferences to leak infor-
mation.
The controversy has flared intermittent-
ly over the years and no one in Washing-
ton expects that it will never flare up
again after the current press-government
hassle (lies down. No solution acceptable
to the press or to government officials
appears to be in sight.
-Whether the Kissinger briefing dis-
closed information vital to the public's
right to know or not, the ensuing contro-
versy caused the New York Times and the
Washington Post to publish statements of
policy to be followed in dealing with the
problem of unattributed news matter. It
.'also produced a few highly seasoned com-
ments by some newsmen upon the ethics
of breaking faith with a news source by
disclosing the identity of the source.
The story that caused the fuss dealt
with a remark by Kissinger that was in-
terpreted as indicating that President
Nixon might re-examine his proposed trip
to Moscow in the light of Soviet support
given to India in the war with Pakistan.
Kissinger had come back to the com-
partment occupied by the reporters and
whatever he said was in response to ques-
tions. After he left the reporters, they
prepared a report of the conference which
they sent to Kissinger for his approval.
The portion concerning U.S.-Soviet rela-
tions was marked on the pool report to
"be written on our own without attribu-
tion to any administration official."
Ground rules broken
When the plane landed, the Associated
Press and United Press International filed
"it is understood" stories to the effect that
the President might reassess his plans for
the Moscow Journey if Russia did not
restrain India's military drive against
Pakistan. These stories did not attribute
the information to Kissinger.
The Washington Post, however, said
that it learned from an independent
source that Kissinger was the official who
had talked and attributed it to him. No
Post reporter was a member of the pool.
The New York Times did likewise, notify-
ing the White House that it intended to do
.inger, the newspapers had broken the
ground rules governing off-the-record con-
ferences and that the action "is unaccept-
able to the White House,"
David J. Kraslow, Washington bureau
chief of the Los Angeles Times who was a
member of the press pool, charged the
Post with "unprofessional, unethical,
cheap journalism" in citing Kissinger as
the source.
Benjamin C. Bradlee, executive editor
of the Post, defended his newspaper's
handling of the story and maintained that
the "ground rules" for such off-the-
record, not-for-attribution conferences,
kept information from readers that they
were entitled to know.
Guidelines for reporters
Issuing new instructions to Post repor-
ters, Bradlee said it was the newspaper's
policy to insist on public accountability for
the public business, and told his staff to
insist "through every means available,
that government news briefings be "on the
record" and statements made by officials
be attributable to them.
If officials refuse to be quoted directly,
Bradlee said, Post reporters will seek at-
tribution "specific enough that no readers
can reasonably be confused."
In a positive application of the Post's
guidelines, Stanley Karnowv, a reporter
for the newspaper, walked out of the
State Department's daily news briefing
when Robert J. McCloskey, official spokes-
man, put some information on a "back-
ground" basis. Karnow had notified
McCloskey that he would leave if any
information was put on a not-for-
attribution basis. James H. McCartney of
the Knight Newspapers walked out with
Karnow.
The guidelines for the New York Times
staff issued by A. M. Rosenthal, managing
editor, left reporters more leeway than
the Post in deciding whether to accept
background information not attributable
to the source. Rosenthal called on Times
reporters and editors to be "a lot more
selective" about attending official back-
grounders, suggesting that such briefings
be attended "only when the reporters and
editors themselves believe there is an im-
portant. reason beyond the source's con-
venience for not making the information
attributable to the person or government
department involved."
STATINTL
Efforts of the Washington press corps
to grapple with the problem produced a
split between reporters who were satisfied
with the status quo and those who want to
pin down public officials who communicate
with the press.
At a meeting of the State Department
Correspondents Association, several re-
porters were critical of the Post's guide-
lines and were fearful that State Depart-
ment officials might be deterred from
providing information they wished to
volunteer. James Anderson, Westinghouse
Broadcasting Co., president of the associ-
ation, reported that department officials
had told'him it would now start to restrict
access to the transcript of regular
briefings to those reporters who agree to
abide by the ground rules.
Frank Starr, Chicago Tribune, proposed
a resolution calling upon the Post to abide
by the generally recognized rules after it
had endeavored to change the ground rule
upon the particular point of information
involved. Stan Carter, The New York
Daily News, proposed that the resolution
refer only to members and not to the
Post.
The meeting took no decision.
Ziegler, at Key Biscayne with the Pres-
ident, said that lie had discussed the situ-
ation with the President. He quoted the
President as saying that the practice of
putting out information that cannot he
attributed to any source is "a problem
for the journalistic community to solve."
Ziegler .said there would be no change
in administration policy with regard to
background briefings. He again challenged
the contention of the Post that it had
learned independently that Kissinger was
the source of the Moscow story. He said,
however, that "we have in this adminis-
tration, more to do than get involved in
the machinations of the Washington Post
Company. He declined comment of the
Post and New York Times "guidelines."
Rosenthal said it was quite proper' for.
reporters to seek information on a confi-
dential dential basis and to protect confidentiality
L. Ziegler, White House press Ronald
promptly denied `n the ress of sources but when officials or politicians
secretary, call reporters together "simply to float
ord" that any U.S. official was suggesting trial balloons or to present an attitude or
that the President was considering cancel-
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 NEW YORK T IME3
Approved For Release 2061 64198IA-RDP80-01601 RO
briefing was placed in the published
Congressional Record by Arizona Sen-
ator Barry Goldwater, a Republican,
who thought he was doing the White
House a favor.
A much more serious incident oc-
curred in May, 1970. Then Mr. Kis-
singer threatened at a backgrounder
that the United States might have to
expel the Soviet presence in Egypt if
it were not withdrawn voluntarily.
The Presidential adviser referred pri-
marily to Soviet aircraft and missile
technicians who had come to help
the Egyptians in increasing numbers
at that time.
To expel, according to all diction-
aries, means to drive out or force out-
-and such an action by the United
States certainly would have involved
us in war in the Mideast.
Yet under the rules of the back-
grounder, neither Congress, which is
supposed to declare war, nor the
American people, who have to fight
such wars, would have known im-
mediately that it was Mr. Kissinger
who was threatening to plunge the
By WILLIAM H. LAWRENCE
WASHINGTON-The Nixon Admin-
istration has perfected the background
news conference as both an offensive
and defensive weapon, From the priv-
ileged sanctuary where sources may
not be named, anonymous officials
have been threatening on some occa-
sions and explanatory on others.
President Nixon and his top aides
certainly didn't invent the background-
er-it is an ancient Washington propa-
ganda technique utilized by both
Democratic and Republican Adminis-
trations and politicians. It also is a
rather cowardly technique since those
seeking to influence or publicize pub-
lic policy are unwilling themselves to
take responsibility for their words. It
was used widely during the Adminis-
tration of President Lyndon Johnson,
but has perhaps been used even more
since Mr,. Nixon took office.
The current controversy over whether
sources of backgrounders should be
named, with or without their consent,
is far more than a struggle between
the press and the President. It con-
cerns the public's right to know who
! ,
said what, particularly on issues that
might mean peace or war.
Henry Kissinger set off the current
row with a backgrounder last week
in which he threatened that President
Nixon might reconsider his planned
trip to Moscow next spring unless the
Russians used their restraining influ-
ence on India in her war on Pakistan.
The Washington Post named Mr. Kis-
singer as the source, and this trig-
gered the controversy.
This was not the first time that one
of Mr. Kissinger's frequent back-
grounders got him into trouble. Re-
cently he anonymously blamed India
for pressing the war against Pakistan
despite U.S. efforts to mediate. Mr.
Kissinger's cover in that instance was
The Backgrou'nder for Propaganda
country into a Middle Eastern war.
Happily, President Nixon did not
take Mr. Kissinger's advice, and the
Russians did not take the Kissinger
threat seriously. Nor are the Russians
likely to take seriously the Kissinger
threat that Mr. Nixon might recon-
sider his trip to Moscow.
There was a brilliant example last
week of the backgrounder being used
for defensive purposes. Bill Gill, a
White House correspondent. for the
American Broadcasting Company, was
in recent controversies because Presi-
dent John F. Kennedy, in 1962, had
given the Pakistan Government a top-
secret pledge that the United States
would come to the aid of Pakistan
to avert Indian aggression. Nixon Ad-
ministration officials said they were
fearful that Pakistan might insist we
now keep the Kennedy pledge in full.
All this came from an anonymous
source at a time when the Nixon
Administration was being criticized
heavily for its pro-Pakistan stand in
a losing cause.
If Kennedy made such a pledge-
and that remains an "if" so long as
no responsible official will take re-
sponsibility for making it public-his
letter presumably bore a high security
classification, perhaps "top secret,"
which would explain why we have
not heard of it before. One wonders
if anonymous Government officials
are authorized to declassify such docu-
ments and make their contents known,
or whether they should now be in-
dicted as some nonofficials have been
on a similar charge.
It would seem that, if Mr. Kennedy
made such a pledge, he went far be-
yond his authority to commit the na-
tion to war without the consent of
Congress. Surely no succeeding Ad-
ministration need be bound by secret
and illegal commitments.
One interesting fact is that many
backgrounders are given by White
House officials who claim "executive
privilege" and who decline to testify
when summoned by Congressional
committees.
President Nixon recently threatened
through the press secretary, Ronald
Ziegler, to ban the backgrounders un-
less the news media guarantee an-
onymity for his briefers.
My own feeling, after nearly thirty-
four years in Washington, is that the
politicians need the backgrounder
more than the reporters do. It might
be just as well if the news media
did not allow faceless Democrats or
Republicans to make propaganda from
this privileged sanctuary.
William H. Lawrence is a Washington
political observer and author of the
forthcoming "Six Presidents and Too
Many Wars."
STATINTL
told by high Administration officials
that the Nixon Administration had
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ixon has bi
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' A journalistic flap over
"background" information
supplied by Henry A. Kissin-
ger' has obscured what Presi-
dent'Nixon is trying to do to
recoup from some adverse in-
ternational developments.
The Pi esldent is sending out
the ..Vprd that the United
States trill not stand idly or
helplessly by while the Soviet
Union has its way in Asia. Dr.
Kissinger as used a back-
ground briefing to convey this
thought by suggesting that
President Nixon's visit to Mos-
cow in May might be affected
STATINTL
But, as the commitments and