THE PELTON CASE AND THE PRESS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00552R000303560067-3
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: September 1, 2010
• Sequence Number: 67
• Publication Date: May 20, 1986
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

A
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/09/01 : CIA-RDP90-00552R000303560067-3
CBS EVENING NEWS
20 May 1986
The Pelton Case and the Press
RATHER: The campaign of
President Reagan and top
members of his Administration
against the press has taken yet
another turn. CIA Director
William Casey now seeks to take
reporter to court for
rep rtin ? to the American
jrople what a spy apparent y
lU
i
a
the Russ
ans.
Pentagon correspondent David
Martin has the story.
DAvID MARTIN: Accused shy
Rnnald Pelt on watched today as
jurors were selected to try him
on charges of selling Moscow
secrets about American eaves-
dropping operations. Outside
the courtroom, a major clash is
building between government and
press over whether some of the
same secrets Pelton allegedly
sold the Russians can now be
told to the American public.
CIA Director William Casey has
asked the Justice Department to
consider prosecuting NBC News
for reportin that a ton
apparently gave away one
this country's most sensitive
intelligence n__s.__-17ft
i
which American submarines are
believed to have s ipped in o
Russian harbors and listened in
on Soviet communications.
Casey cited a 1 aw which
makes it a crime to publish
classified information a ou
communications intelligence.
MAN: We have to look at the
[unintelligible] facts first.
MARTIN: Many of the facts
about eavesdropping by U.S.
submarines are already known.
A 1975 newspaper article
exposed the operation in great
detail. A more official
version appeared in 1976 with
the publication of a leaked
congressional report.
Which raises the question:
Why should it be a crime to
talk about it now?
Former CIA Diector Stans -
fie
T urner is a consultant o
News.
STANSFIELD TURNER: The law
does not say that you have to
he the first person to make
something public. There's no
exceptions because somebody
else had done it or because the
Russians, or anyone else,
already knew it.
MARTIN: Next question: Who
is really to blame?
SENATOR PATRICK LEAHY: The
Administration is frustrated,
as am I, by all the leaks going
on. But the thing to do is go
after the people..doing the
leaking, not after the press.
MARTIN: The Administration
is going after Ronald Pelton,
and in other cases has fired
both a State Department and a
Pentagon official for leaking.
Some think threatening the
press serves a broader purpose.
NAT HENTOFF: It's much more
comfortable for them if they
can tell the press what to
print and what not to print,
and if the press is so afraid
of them that they silence
themselves, censor themselves.
MARTIN: This latest battle
between government and press,
between national security and
the public's right to know is
just beginning. The Washington
Post is currently debating
whether to risk prosecution by
publishing its own account of
teh same eavesdropping oper-
ation.
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/09/01 : CIA-RDP90-00552R000303560067-3