HOMOSEXUALS PRESS FIGHT ON RIGHT TO BE AGENTS
Document Type:
Collection:
Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST):
CIA-RDP90-00552R000202360007-3
Release Decision:
RIPPUB
Original Classification:
K
Document Page Count:
1
Document Creation Date:
December 22, 2016
Document Release Date:
August 6, 2010
Sequence Number:
7
Case Number:
Publication Date:
February 1, 1984
Content Type:
OPEN SOURCE
File:
Attachment | Size |
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CIA-RDP90-00552R000202360007-3.pdf | 153.96 KB |
Body:
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/08/06: CIA-RDP90-00552R000202360007-3
ARTICLE APPEAPZD NEW YORK TINES
ON PAGE .U =6 1 February 1981+
Homosexuals Press Fight
- - ? homosexual, Mr..Green raplied that
on Right to Be Agents'
he had reported his membership in
By PHILIP TAUBMM routinely suspended the security the largest homosexuals club in
clearance of a iiaguist who was dis- Los Angeles and had disvissed his
spa. to The NW Yost Ttmec - - --- - homosexuality with colleagues at
-covered to be a homosexual. ' .
WASHINGTON, Jan. 31-Sex and work -
security. The combination has al-' Then, in a highly unusual step, the
ways been volatile, and the history agency linguist s promised teed clearance after . . -In the Washington-tee, a C.I.A. lto tell .electronics technicians dismissed
and literature of spying are replete fthe amilhe was a homosexual and after an internal investigation con.
with tales of betrayal and blackru
;n- vowed that he would not succumb to '- cluded?that "the-circumstances of his
resulting from romantic attttach- blac3mrail. The decision, made by F~~tality" posed a security .merits.
These days, like almost everything 1 Adm. Bobby R. Inman, then the-di- cthreat. The man, who filed suit in 1982
rector of the N.SA, rocked the Intel-; As "John Doe" because C.I.A. regula-
else, the subject, has landed in the ligence establishment. ons require that employees not
pub-
courts, but the issue being tested The prevalent attitude among intel- 'liclY 4000se their work, asked to be
bears little relation to the popular h fficials then and one that -reinctated-nn ~the th
A;-
ce
t hi
image of a rakish male spy caught in
a tryst with a female foreign agent.
To the considerable concern and con-
sternation of intelligence officials,
the subject of the lawsuits is homo-
sexuality and security, specifically
a
gen
~o
s
-- -=
has changed little since, is that homo- . missalviolated normal agency termi=',
sexuality equals trouble. As evidence, nation procedures.
officials cite the Soviet SPY' ring in' La week Richard, L.. Gayer, an
Britain led by Kim Philby that .re- electrical engineer at the GTE Sylva-
volved, in part, around homosexual nia Corporation in Mountain View,
relationships. In the United States, in- Calif., sued the C.I.A. in Federal
ible. 1 lelligence officials said that perhaps court in San Francisco charging that
d 14be most serious espionage case at he had failed to receive a security
I
W
hi
t
L
l
n
as
ng
on
es an
os Ange
, San Francisco, homosexual men who Ahe N.S.A. involved two analysts who clearance to work on ? a classified
worked directly or indirectly for the 'detected to the Soviet Union in 1960. Project. Mr. Gayer, who has been an
Central,InteWgence,Agency-and lost ? The officials said both were believed activist for homosexual rights, said
their security clearances when their ,to be homosexual. he bad assumed that the C.IA was
ble the bl
res
onsr
ro e
.`
one official
sexual orientation became known
There was a time, have gone to court to challenge long- said, "when we believed the great
was
.y-- _ homosexuals
standing attitudes - of intelligence dyer-- Dosed-J)
forces toward homosexuality. All the the threat of blackmail. I think as at-.
cases are still pending. titudes about . homosexuality have,
Clearance Issue Raised changed, and their behavior has be-
Clearance more open and acceptable, the
Their contention, stated in the Los blackmail threat has receded. some-
Angeles complaint filed by John W. ~ what. A primary concern now is that
Green, an electrical engineer at the homosexuals often seek sex in ques-
TRW Corporation who lost his clear- tionable places and with unknown
ance to work on classified intelligence partners, possibly jeopardizing their
projects, is simple: `"There is no ra- own safety and our security."
tional, - legitimate or demonstrable Reinstatement Plea Rejected
relationship between homosexuality
and a person's suitability to hold a se- In the case of Mr. Green, for exam-
curity clearance." - ple, the C.IA's?director of security,
p
P
an
m.
"They are simply tied to the past,"
he said in a telephone interview.
"They assume that gays are going to
part with secrets at the slightest pres-
sure and that as a class, we care less
about the welfare and safety of the
nation. That's simply not true."
Franklin E. Kameny, a Washington
resident who advises homosexuals
about security clearance issues,
.called the C.I.A. "nutty-and hysteri-
cal" on the question. Mr. Kameny
said: "Herein 1984 they are operating
on the basis of notions unchanged
since 1954. Their minds seemed her-
metically sealed.'.
The C.IA.'s position is equally William it. Kotapish, in rejecting an Agencies Seen as'Holdoats
appeal for reinstatement. of the se-
mate Tiedemonstrable etra rational, relationship. leiticu city clearance in 1982, wrote Mr. Mr. Kameny said that the intelli
F -
mor i and , said aid Green, "You stated that for a six- to -gence agencies, along with the mill-
an agency ce serviccves, eight-month period, you had sexual tary services, were the main holdouts
cY spokesman, Dale Peter- relationships with a different man against homosexuality. "We won in
son, "are known to o target for cultiva-
tion and known about once a week, usually meeting the Civil Service," "
exploitation persons known he said, and in
or believed to be practicing adult these various partners at Los Angeles most cases among defense contras- :
homosexual behavior. There have discos." tots involving sensitive weapons .
been a significant number of espio- Mr. Kotapish also cited 'two inci- . Prom, gays can keep their security
nage cases in which homosexual con- dents of sexual activity with other clearances unless there are aggravat-
duct has been a factor." : males, one involving a foreign na- ing circumstances. The policies of the
Mr. Peterson added that the C.I.A. tion;" that .4-took place while you intelligence agencies are set by intel-
had no blanket prohibition against - were on a business trip to a sensitive lectual Neanderthals. Their attitude
hiring homosexuals or giving them facility abroad." _ is that homosexual sex is the locus for
security clearances. "Each case is Mr. Green's response, as presented the divulgence of secret information.
reviewed on its merits," he said, de- -by his attorneys in court documents, What about heterosexual sex?"
dining to say whether the agency had was that he had worked without mm- Mr. Gayer, refining the point, said,
ever retained an employee known to dent for nearly 10 years on classified "The highest-risk -class when it .
be homosexual._ contracts at TRW, that he never comes to security are is.". The court cases have crystallized misled the company or the C.I.A. ' Intelligence officia1sare.-awaiting
an issue that has long troubled intelli- about his sexual orientation, and that the court decisions to see whether
gence forces. In 1980; the National Se- he "is not embarrassed or ashamed they will have to adopt a more lenient
curity Agency, which monitors world-, about his homosexuality." To the attitude toward homosexuals. One of-
wide communications and handles charge that he failed to inform either ficial said: "This is one field where
code-breaking for the Government,. TRW or the C.I.A. that he was a the sexual revolution-hasn't arrived.
We hope it never does." -
STAT
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/08/06: CIA-RDP90-00552R000202360007-3