CASEY HELPING OR HURTING INTELLIGENCE EFFORT?

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00552R000303500001-1
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: July 21, 2010
• Sequence Number: 1
• Publication Date: May 21, 1986
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

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UNITED PRESS INTERNATIONAL
21 May 1986
CASEY HELPING OR HURTING INTELLIGENCE EFFORT?
BY DANA WALKER
WASHINGTON
IA Director William Casey may be trying to intimidat
th
e
e news media wltn
is anti-leak campaign, and he could be unwittingly providing intelligence
information to the Soviets, legal and military experts say.
Casey has asked the Justice Department to consider prosecutin
N
g
BC News under
an obscure 1950 national security law for a report naming a Naval intelligence
project the network said was compromised by accused spy Ronald Pelton, on trial
in Baltimore.
NBC News and the correspondent who reported the story declined to comment
Tuesday, except to say the network's lawyers were meeting in New York.
Retired Adm. Gene LaRocque, director of the Center for Defense Information, a
itary policy ''think tank,'' said Casey, by pressing the NBC report, may have
given the. Soviets unintended intelligence information.
''If this man Pelton did provide information to the Soviets as alleged, the
Soviets now know through Mr. Casey's action that that information was highly
sensitive, important and prejudicial to U.S. interests," he said. ''Up to now
the Soviets could only hope that they had received accurate information. "
Jane kirtley, executive director of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of
the Press, said Casey may be succeeding in intimidating the news media even
before taking formal legal steps.
She said she hoped this would not be chosen as the test case for the 1950
law.
"The beauty of this, until that happens (is): You really don't have anything
that can be contested, but yet you've managed to at least give some news
organizations some serious pause about what they should be publishing,- she
said. ''If you can intimidate the media, that's almost the next best thing.-
A network spokeswoman said it was NBC's understanding that the secret
intelligence project ''Ivy Sells'' had been reported beFore, and U.S.
intelligence experts said the NBC report did not appear to contain any
revelations.
Attorney General Edwin Meese said the Justice Department would investigate,
and most media organizations indicated they would wait for any action on
prosecution before deciding to make any changes in newsgathering policy.
CBS News executive John Huddy said, "I would certainly not want to publish
or air anything that would cause the loss of life in a covert operation or a
catastrophic setback in American intelligence.
''At the same time, history has been such that you never know when you're
being victimized, that maybe this is the first step in a move by this or any
other administration to shut down the press."
NOW
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The NBC report, by James Polk, discussed the activities of Pelton, a former
National Security Agency employee accused of giving Soviet agents information
about U.S. interception of Soviet communications.
Polk reported: " Pelton apparently gave away one of the NSA's most sensitive
secrets, a project with the code name 'Ivy Bells' believed to be a top-secret
eavesdropping program by American submarines inside Soviet harbors. -
'Ilwy Bells,'' according to a defense analyst who asked to remain anonymous,
is part of a $1 billion Naval deception, submarine reconnaissance, electronic
warfare and intelligence operation.
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