THE NATION: KEEPING THE C.I.A. AWAY FROM HOME

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00552R000404180019-6
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: July 6, 2010
• Sequence Number: 19
• Publication Date: March 22, 1981
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/07/06: CIA-RDP90-00552R000404180019-6
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O NY P.! P
NEW YORK TIMES
22 -MARCH 1981
STAT
KeeP'ng Tne C.Q.A.-
Away from Hot>e-4
closing how much extra leash he wants.'
to give thCentral Intelligence Agen-'T
cy. Last week; in an apparent attempt.
to douse a. controversy over proposals
urging a much freer hand, drafted by
officials of the C.A. and other-intelli-
gence agencies,.a senior White House
aide asserted that his bosswasn't con-
templating a return to the agency's old
:.ways.. What Mr. Reagan will likely an- '
nounce, Presidential counselor Edwin
Meese 3d said, is a relaxation of some
restrictions on intelligence operations
abroad. "We are not going to put the
C.I.A.. into domestic espionage," he
asserted, "or the F.B.I. into foreign in-
telligence."
Earlier in the month, it was reported
that= the intelligence officials had
drafted for Mr. Reagan's considera-
'tion a kind of spook's dream sheet that
appeared, among other things, to give
the C.I.A. permission to conduct cov-
ert operations on the home front-Mr.
Meese, and, the Deputy Director of
Central Intelligence, Adm. Bobby R.
Inman, in testimony in -mid-March, I
downplayed the significance of the
draft order and its drafters.-Theiras-
surances might or-might not have as-
suaged` civil libertarians' concerns;
C:I.A. officials, including the general
counsel -of'the agency,: had -a hand in
the drafting.
Protecting civil liberties has been
one professed concern of Administra-'
tion spokesmen.. Another, given less
public attention, is safeguarding turf. ,
In Congressional-testimony, Attorney
:.General William French Smith; asked
about proposals for reducing?bis de-
partment's responsibility for monitor-
ing-,intelligence ? activities,' said he
.would "certainly anticipate", playing
4-significant role in the process."
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/07/06: CIA-RDP90-00552R000404180019-6