SHIFTING THE ATTACK ON LEAKS

Document Type: 
Collection: 
Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 
CIA-RDP90-00552R000303560068-2
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RIPPUB
Original Classification: 
K
Document Page Count: 
1
Document Creation Date: 
December 22, 2016
Document Release Date: 
September 1, 2010
Sequence Number: 
68
Case Number: 
Publication Date: 
May 19, 1986
Content Type: 
OPEN SOURCE
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PDF icon CIA-RDP90-00552R000303560068-2.pdf82.68 KB
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Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/09/01 : CIA-RDP90-00552R000303560068-2 ARTICLE ON PAGE-944 - 19 May 1986 Shifting the Attack on Leaks The CIA director hints at prosecution of news organizations Keek-for printing details about U.S. many of the classified leaks he deplores intelligence-gathering operations. Casey come from the Go%ernment. including his subsequently that day met with Washing- own department. According to agency of- ton Post Executive Editor Benjamin ficials. Casey does not truly contemplate Bradlee and Managing Editor Leonard bringing suit against all five newspapers Downie. He told them he was considering and magazines. but only cited them to asking the Justice Department to take the Bradlee to underline his concern about Post to court for. among other things. re- I publication of the Woodward piece "It porting on messages between Tripoli and seems as if Bill Casey was shooting with the East Berlin "people's bureau" (as Lib- an automatic weapon against the W'ash- ya calls its diplomatic missions) that the ington Post and forgot to release the trig- U S had intercepted. ger." says an agency official. At is not a In his talk with Bradlee. the CIA direc- CIA-vs.-the-press campaign '' tor did not specify what stories published Even if Casey persists. the final say by the other news organizations aroused on prosecution belongs to Attorney his anger. The New York Times, the General Edwin Meese. At the moment. W h L gin, a ost and other Washington Post. the Washington Times. I news organizations to court. not the least that the paper be prosecut- ed under the "intelligence ministration officials. Ca- sey apparently has in mind Section 798 of Title 18 of the U.S. Code. Passed into law in 1951. the so-called COMINT statute makes it il- legal for anyone to disclose classified information about U.S. ciphers, code breaking and other com- munications intelligence. Though Section 798 specif- ically forbids the publica- tion of secrets, it has never before been invoked against newspapers or liam Casey discussed the posaG[y 5' It is not clear how serious the CIA prosecuting five news organizations-the chief is about brin k P collection operation that the L' S. has con- ducted against the Soviet Union Intelli- gence-community officials believe that revelation of the details will jeopardize the operation. Although Bradlee sass that he remains unpersuaded that the story poses a threat to national security, he so far has postponed its publication. Casey told Bradlee that if the Post printed its story, he would recommend who are accused of pub- lishing the leaks. In a meeting with Deputy At- torney General D. Lowell carrier to a British defense magazine. Three weeks ago. Assistant Under Sec- retary of Defense Michael Pillsbury was fire or a - legedly giving reporters de- tails of an Administration plan to provide Stinger missiles to anti-Commu- nist rebels in Angola and Afghanistan. At least one top Ad- ministration official now wants the attack shifted from the leakers to those 't is axiomatic that every Washington Administration is upset by leaks to the press, but the Reagan team has seemed especially touchy about them. During the past year the Administration has begun to put some muscle behind its temper. In October the Justice Department success- fully prosecuted Samuel Loring Morison, a naval intelligence analyst. for selling U.S. satellite photos of a Soviet aircraft with a secret intelligence- Post Editor Bradlee as ington Times. TIME and Vewsweek were all mystified when the Post printed its account of the Casey-Bradlee conversa- tion last Wednesday. What Casey did make plain to Bradlee was that the reason he wanted to talk with him was less to complain about past stories than to head off one as yet unpublished. The Post planned to print the story in question, written by As- sistant Managing Editor Bob Woodward, two days later. The story deals Justice Department law- yers are cool to the idea. this thing." says one Jus- tice official. That lack of enthusiasm is mirrored on Capitol Hill by lawmak- ers who deal regularly with the CIA. Says Demo- cratic Senator Patrick j.Wy of Vermont. vice chairman of the Select Committee on Intelli- gence: "When you go af- ter press organizations, you're treating the symp- toms rather than the problem." -ft jaws Kelly. Reported by Aire Constable 0~ld 1 11/f4w/W-LL ;on and C% Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/09/01 : CIA-RDP90-00552R000303560068-2