SECRECY LAW

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP88-01070R000100150003-6
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 20, 2016
• Document Release Date: May 17, 2007
• Sequence Number: 3
• Publication Date: April 20, 1982
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Approved For Release 2007/05/18: CIA-RDP88-01070R000100150003-6
RADIO TV REPORTS, INC.
Eyewitness News at 5:00
DATE April 20, 1982 5:00 PM CITY Washington, DC
Secrecy Law
STEVE GENDEL: Is a new federal secrecy law unnecessary
protection for agencies like the CIA, or is it a threat to our
constitutional freedoms?
Commentators Pat Buchanan and Tom Braden can't agree on
the answer.
PAT BUCHANAN: Tom, the Senate has passed a bill which
would mae the identity of US
intelligence agents, even if the information was gleaned from the
public records. Are you not a little bothered by the threat this
represents to our cherished First Amendment freedom of the press?
TOM BRADEN: I am, Pat. And you are a reporter, and you
should be too. Let me give you an example of how this law might
work to the disadvantage of all.
Suppose that about a year ago, you'd been writing about
shipments of arms to Libya. You kept running across the trail of
a couple of guys named Wilson and Terpil [?]. You discover that
they are sending arms to Qaddafi. You keep your ears open and
your nose to the ground, Pat, and you find out that Wilson and
Terpil are former CIA agents and have connections to another
fellow stil in the CIA. You get your facts, you go with the
story, and under this law you could wind up in jail.
Now I know that Senator John Chafee of Rhose Island says
you woulnd't. He says that if a reporter is exposing wrong doing
by CIA agents, no jury would convict. But the law makes no such
guarantee, Pat. The law simply says you can't name agents. And
when you come to trial, Pat, John Chafee may be hard to get on
the phone.
OFFICES IN: WASHINGTON D.C. ? NEW YORK ? LOS ANGELES ? CHICAGO ? DETROIT ? AND OTHER PRINCIPAL CITIES
Material supplied by Radio N Reports, Inc. may be used for file and reference purposes only. It may not be reproduced, sold or publicly demonstrated or exhibited.
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This law has been worded carelessly. If the intent is
to stop the ilk [?] of Philip Agee, why not write a law which
punishes anybody who intends to name agents? Agee admits that
this is his goal. So, write a law to punish him. Send him to
jail where he belongs.
But this law might send you to jail, Pat. And believe
me, I wouldn't want to see that. Neither would Justice Renquist.
I hope he votes with the majority to throw it out.
BUCHANAN: Tom, upon what meat have the little Ceasars
of the Fourth Estate been feeding that we are grown so great? We
have claimed the right to penetrate the grand jury in pursuit of
a hot story. Woodward and Bernstein did. We have claimed the
right to have our secrets protected even if an innocent man went
to jail for life, or the national security secrets of the United
States government are considered fair game.
We have claimed the right to publish the confidential
notes of the morning meetings of the Secretary of State, no
matter the damage to American foreign policy, and then defended
this seedy little scoop by invoking the people's right to know.
Tom, I may be mistaken, but I think the American people
have had it up to here with the claim of the national press to
superior rights and special privilege.
The First Amendment is not absolute. If one of our
people uses it as a cover to ferret out and publish the names of
American intelligence agents, here or abroad, terminating their
usefulness to the American government, and perhaps endangering
their lives, the scroundrel who does that, Tom, should go to
prison, whether he carries a press card or not.
The First Amendment rights and the constitutional
responsibilities of those on this side of the television camera
are no less and no greater than those on the other side. Right?
BRADEN: I'll testify as to your character, Pat, but not
as to your opinion.
I'm Tom Braden, with Pat Buchanan.
Approved For Release 2007/05/18: CIA-RDP88-0107OR000100150003-6