CIA DOUBLESPEAK CLOAKS PROPOSALS FOR HOMESPY AND DATAHIDE

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00552R000404180016-9
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: July 6, 2010
• Sequence Number: 16
• Publication Date: November 13, 1981
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/07/06: CIA-RDP90-00552R000404180016-9
S'H' STAT
ARTICLE APPEARED
ON PAGE
By George Lardner Jr.
wuhin r ,) Peg Sq.1t WmIr
March, Edwin Meese III counselor
to the -president, stated- flatly that:
the,: Reagan -. administrationk would
-enoI:permit the-CIA to'spy. on-U.S.."
-citizens here at
'"The- White. House. is absolutely',
opposed to?? the . CIA:: becoming in- i
volved in 'domestietipying," Meese.
said._',Ve are not going to.pub the
CIAtinto~ domestic' espionage?or the
'FBI into foreign intelligence." '
Now comes a - proposed executive
order. that would allow the CIA to
Commentary
infiltrate and influence domestic or-
ganizations, to conduct, covert oper-
ations, in this country, and to "col-
lect, retain or disseminate informa-
tion" about taw-abiding. Americans
-for a variety of new-reasons.
. Meese also held forth earlier .this
year on another topic involving U.S.
intelligence: government secrets and
1their classification.
"I think there lis..way too- much
classification," - .Meese told The;"
NVash'u aton Post in:;.an: interview."
:published in July. "-' t .I'ttrnk that's;
'one-;.of the problems;:. of govern-.:a
meat-that is, the overclassiflcation
of documents. .--You - really- should ...7
only-classify something if its revels '.
Lion would. actually. harm. 'national
;a
Now comes the,somewhatrefined'
draft of another, executive order, this.'one for handlinggnational security
information
THE WASHINGTON POST
13 November 1981
'It would 'eliminate the current
rule saying-that a document should
not be classified unless-its, unautho-
riied disclosure would cause "iden-
. tifiable damage" to the:national se-'
curity. U r-i-~
It- would make. the "Top Secret,".-
"Secret"- and "Confidential" stamps
mandatory rather than discretionary.
. And _ it would turn . the . existing
reasonable-doubt standard : upside
down by. telling officials to keep in- ?
:formation'secret whenever they have
a 'reasonable _doubt" about the need
to do that.
So what's going on here? Is' the
Reagan White House saying one
thing and doing another? Has Ed
IAteese changed his mind?.---
answer appears to be straight
out of George Orwell's Ministry of
Truth. The proposed executive'order
for the CIA and the-other intelli-.
gence agencies, according to _admin-_
istration. officials, does not, really
mean what it says.' Nothing in it;
according to administration officials,
would expand the CIA's ability to
.engage in domestic espionage.
Criticisms of the draft decree; by
the . same token, are being assailed'.
from the highest quarters as despi
cable "propaganda.". News `'stories
regarding CIA domestic spying have
'been labeled "deliberately mislead..
ing." The publicity, as Orwell's New-'
speak dictionary would, put it, has,
been "doubleplusungood".and in
needof "rewrite fullwise" `
'As soon. as' all the - corrections ,
'whieh. happened to be necessary in
-any particular number of the Times '
had been assembled and 'collated,,
that - number' mould be reprinted,
Me original copX'destroyed, and?the
corrected copy placed on the files in.
its stead.. This process of continuous:'
alteration was applied not only to
? newspapers, but to.. books, 'period
day and almost minute: by minute,
the past was brought up to date:'
O_
ll Molt _ _ .
we
'As forthe proposed presidential
`
proclamation to establish new class
sitication practices, that, too, officials
"I'm not saying '
You're going= to
have less classification under, this:
"
order,
says the man in charge of the,
of the executive, branch's In'for'ma
flan Security Oversight Office. "But-
is not intended to increase the ma-
terial that's classified, by any appre_
The key word is'"intended " Ap-
acted, classifying-about.as'm'uch~as.
they usually do.7~ hich=is to say too
proposed. changes from the existing.
1978; -were mode:. primarily" to;get;
, around?.court rulings and -litigation
remain classified.. and what: should
r~tBut then doesn't the'new piopo
I
s
have :at least the potential of vastly
in
i
'
creas
ng
the amount.-of classified
documents in the:government's do-
then
ew. order:oa iattll'eri~ce activ`
The ela9aifcattoti r5' s fl
Garfinkel said he would radier'not
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/07/06: CIA-RDP90-00552R000404180016-9