REPORTERS, 17, KNEW THEY HAD BIG STORY

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP88B01125R000300120067-8
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: May 10, 2012
• Sequence Number: 67
• Publication Date: May 2, 1976
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

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Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/05/10: CIA-RDP88B01125R000300120067-8
orters 17 Knew
They ad Big S for
By Lawrence Feinberg
wsshtnaott Post suet Writer
The two high school re-
porters had Cokes. Their
source,"a highly placed gov-
ernment official," ate apple
pie'with cheese.
The setting. a corner
booth framed by plate glass
windows in Roberts Restau.
rant in Bethesda, was far
different from the under.
ground garages where
"Deep Throat" spoke to Bob
Woodward about Watergate.
But the two thought they
were on to something big,
though they say they didn't
know how big. Yesterday,
when an Associated Press
dispatch based on their
story was carried by news-
papers around the country,
they knew it.
The two reporters, Mi-
chael Gill and Richard
Berke. disclosed in their
story that high levels of ra-
diation were first discovered
in the U.S. ambassador's
mansion in Moscow in 1959
-17 years before the exist-
ence of the radiation there
was made public.
Gill and Berke themselves
are both 17 and seniors at
Walt Whitman High School
in Bethesda.
Their story, which is prob-
ably the finest example of
hI11
school investigative
journalism, appeared in Fri-
day's edition of the school
paper, "The Black and
White."
"Sure we thought about
Woodward and Bernstein
while we were doing the
story," Gill said yesterday.
"Ricky (Berke) called me
'Woodchuck' and I called
him 'Goldstein.' We were al-
ways comparing ourselves to
them."
Berke said the two some-
times jokingly called them-
selves "Gillberke," a play on,
the "lVoodstein" abbrevia-
tion of Woodward and Bern-
stein.
"But we never talked like
that with anyone else
around," Gill confided.
They still won't say much
concerning their source, ex-
cept about where they inter-
viewed him. And they refuse
'to reveal his name, even
though the Associated Press
said their story was con-
firmed by two former Secret
Service agents, James Gol-
den and John Sherwood. Ac-
cording to AP, - the two
agents were in Moscow In
1959 during a visit by then
Vice President Richard M.
Nixon, which is when the ra?
diation was found.
"I won't say yes ar nu if it
was one of the two agents."
Lill said yesterday. ' w
promised to ' protect our
sourer-."
Berke said they made lots
.of calls to the State Depart-
*ncnt, trying to confirm the
story. but the secretaries
who ans%sercd the phone
"just kind of laughed us off.
until we came across this
one source who told tile
whole story.,,
berke said the original
idea for the story camc?fronn
Gill. .%
Gill said he had -taker!
about it in my family."
When a reporter asked
him,Gill confirmed that he
is related to Marnic Eisen.
hover. She's his great-nuns,
he said.
Did Mrs. Eisenhower 1;ive
hint the tip*!
"Good luck in tryin to
figure that out," Gill said.
Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/05/10: CIA-RDP88B01125R000300120067-8