SPY SUSPECT SEEKS NAMES OF MILITARY SOURCES

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00552R000403890002-7
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: July 16, 2010
• Sequence Number: 2
• Publication Date: September 6, 1985
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/07/16: CIA-RDP90-00552R000403890002-7
jkRTICLE APPqRED
ON or1 PAGE /- e
NEW YORK TIMES
6 September 1985
.Spy Suspect Seeks Names of Military Sources
I By ALEX S. JONES
cy: the ;yatiunal Security Council
of espionage filed a motion yesterday
seeking to force the Federal Govern-
ment to identify officials who might
have disclosed to the press part of the
information he was later charged with
illegally disclosing.
The Loring anaiyst, Samuel Morison,
was arrested by the Federal Bureau oo~~
Investigation last October and charged
with -having classified intelligence
documents concerning an explosion at
a Soviet naval base. The Government
has said that Mr. Morison provided a
paraphrase of the documents to Jane's
Defence Weeklyy. a British publication
that follows defense issues. The maga-
zine published an article in July, 1.984,
that the Government says was virtt}
ally identical with the paraphrase it
says )[r. Morison produced.
Mr. Morison was also charged with
selling the publication American satel-
lite photographs of a Soviet aircraft
carrier under construction. His trial Is
set to begin Oct. 8 In Federal District
Court in Baltimore.
Lawyer Cites News Reports
Mark Lynch, a staff attorney for the
American Civil Liberties Union, who is
one of Mr. Morison's lawyers, argued
in the motion yesterday that informa-
tion regarding the explosion and its de-
tection by satellite was widely reported
in June, 1984. News organizations at-
tributed much of their information to
unidentified sources.
Mr. Lynch said the news reports indi-
cated that the information regarding
the explosion was not closely held. And
he said that if senior officials of the
Reagan Administration had disclosed
the information, then any release of It
by Mr. Morison could not be considered
potentially damaging to the nation's se-
curity. To win a conviction on the espio-
nage charge, Mr. Lynch said, the
prosecution must prove both that the
information was closely held and that
its release represented a security
But Michael Schatzow, the assistant
United States attorney who is prosecut-
ing the case, said any material regard-
Associated Pry,
Samuel Loring Morison
??.- wc, al DW C7aU QI IfVeSU a n.
e motion asks or 4materia
which identify individuals" who dis-
closed information about the explosion.
It also ask d for a transcript of an in-
terview given by Secretary of Defense
Caspar Weinberger m June 25, 1984, 'o
dews service reporters, or materiai?
concerning any investigation to uis-
cover t` ~t identities ni the unidentified
sources refered to in news accounts.
The interview with Secretary Wein-
berger specificially named in the ono-
don resulted in a news service article
quoted in the motion in which the Sec-
retary confirmed that there had been
an explosion. The article also said that
.'defense sources" said that the explo-
aion "was detected by U.S. spy satel-
lites."
Subpoenas Are Planned
In the event those who disclosed the
information to reporters cannot be
identified, the motion seeks the identi-
t tips of individuals who had access to
ing the explosion that was disclosed to
the press by Government officials
would be "irrelevant" to the case.
Motion Called 'Novel'
Floyd Abrams, a New York lawyer
who specializes in First Amendment
cases, said the motion was novel in that
it sought to weaken the Goverment's
case by identifying the sources within
Government who made disclosures to
reporters. Such a motion does not rep-
resent a threat to First Amendment
freedoms, Mr. Abrams said. out he de
scribed possible court action to fore,
reporters to disclose the sources as "a
grave threat."
Mr. Lynch said defense lawyers were
considering such an action as a last re-
sort. It would be an unusual move for
the civil liberties organization, which
has long supported efforts by reporters
to prevent courts from forcing the dis-
closure of confidential sources.
its Information. Mr. Lynch said that he
intended toa subpoena them and ques-
tion them regarding disclosures. It the
Government does not voluntarily com-
piy, Mr. Lynch said, defense lawyers
would seek a court order.
Mr. Schatzow said that a formal re-
sponse to the motion would be filed next
week, but he indicated that the Govern-
ment's position would be to decline to
comply with the motion's request. "I
wouldn't have the first idea of how to gd
about it," he said.
The case has prompted concern
among news organizations and civil
libertarians because it defines Mr.
Morison's providing classified ma-
terial to a publication as espionage. Ac-
cording to First Amendment lawyers,
the only other such case involved simi-
lar charges following publication of a
Defense Department study of the Viet-
nam War, known as the Pentagon
Papers. In that case, charges were dis-
missed without resolution of any dis-
tinction between espionage and news
leaks.
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/07/16: CIA-RDP90-00552R000403890002-7