AL HAIG GETS HIS CHANCE TO BE IN CHARGE

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP88-01070R000301540007-0
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: January 6, 2010
• Sequence Number: 7
• Publication Date: January 11, 1984
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Approved For Release 2010/01/06: CIA-RDP88-01070R000301540007-0
FINALLY. President Alexander Haig.
when Ronald Reagan was shot,
Back In 1981
,
then-Secretary'of State Haig made his famous
"I'm -in charge here" comment, after running
through the order of presidential succession on -
national TV. -
In The Militaru and the News Media a TV..
,,Pries to a aired over PBS, Hale gets to be
President - or at least to play the part.
On the show Hal , ex- IA head William
Colby, formerbe ense _ecretarv amen
Schlesin er and others debate what to do in
various li othetica nations ca amities ntr-
.
Al,
~~
such as the invasion of iicti93lla
American nation called "Sierra Madre."
he program's moderator Harvard Law
prof Charles Nesson, makes a veiled allusion
to Haig's eyebrow-raising remark when he
calls him "a take-charge kind of guy."
And, as a matter of fact, on this show he does
take charge.
- The other major government figures partici-
pating in the panel play themselves, as do the
members of the press who took part, including CBS correspondent Dan Schorr, the Washing-
ton Post's Meg Greenfield, and Jack Nelson of
the L.A. Times.
The focus of the discussion is the public -
and how well it should be informed during an
International crisis.
The three-part series consists of 90-minute
segments from a weekend` conference spon-
sored by Columbia University at Princeton
University last month.
' The round-table discussions, filmed before a
Jive audience, "get pretty heated and passion-
ate," said a program spokesman.
The participants get most testy, he said, dur-
NEW YORK POST
:.: 11 'January 1984
Ing discussions about longterm American in-
volvement in overseas military conflicts, such
as Vietnam which in reA.1 life involved
big of a m
uttie. Right
le ~n
after the debates took place early.last month,
news of such a real-life space mission leaked to
the press - much to the consternation of Defense
Secretary Caspar Weinberger.
"We were rather surprised," admitted PBS'
Kevin Moriarity.'The satelite we discussed was
NASA Is scheduled to launch its capsule with
a military payload on Jan. 23. 1
Approved For Release 2010/01/06: CIA-RDP88-01070R000301540007-0