MOYHIHAN WILL SEEK TO ELIMINATE PRESS PENALTIES IN INTELLIGENCE BILL

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00552R000404440193-4
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: June 29, 2010
• Sequence Number: 193
• Publication Date: February 21, 1980
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/06/29: CIA-RDP90-00552R000404440193-4
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NEW YORK TIME S
21 FEBRUARY 1980
over the Soviet Union in 1960. If such a
1 ynihan WillSee to E `i ina a i law had been in effect then, Mr. Abrams
r , said, every publication that used Mr..
Powers's name would have been subject
Proms Penalties
in In re. 0 1 Y a ,? 111.
to criminal prosecution even though the
By IRVIN MOLOTSKY
Special to The New York Times
WASHINGTON, Feb. 20 - Senator
Daniel Patrick Moynihan said today that
he would seek to remove from a pending
intelligence bill a section making it a
criminal act for the press to disclose the
-names of intelligence agents. -
Senator Moynihan, a New York Demo-
cratwho is a member of the Senate's Se-
lect Committee on Intelligence and a
sponsor of the measure, said that he
would move to strike the section when the
committee met tomorrow to take up pro-
posed changes in intelligence laws.
The Senator said in an interview that
he had become convinced of the undesira-
bility of providing penalties for the press
after discussing.it with Floyd Abrams,
the New York lawyer who has made a
specialty of First Amendment cases.
Such a provision "might have a chilling
effect," Senator Moynihan said, adding:
"We have almost always decided those
close cases on the side of accepting the
risks of disclosure as being preferable to
any inhibition on the freedom of the press
to publish."
Asked why he had introdu4d the mat-
ter in the first place, the Senator said he
had done so to speed Congressional action
on measures concerning the Central In-
telligence Agency and other intelligence
matters. "We simply took the House com-
mittee bill, which had been introduced al-
-
ready,"hesaid.
Open to Discussion
Of the part establishing criminal liabil-
ity for the press, Senator Moynihan said
that he had commented earlier that ex-
pressions of concern were a "fair point"
and that "if there is a problem we will
talk about it."
That there was a problem became ap-
parent when editors and lawyers com-
plained about it, with Mr. Abrams telling
a House of Representatives committee
last month that the press measure would
be "flatly and facially unconstitutional."
Mr. Abrams cited as an example the
case of Francis Gary Powers, the pilot of
the U-2 reconnaissance alane shot down
Soviet Union had disclosed the incident
and was holding Mr. Powers in custody.
The rest of the proposed measure, re-
mains intact, Senator Moynihan said.
One.section would reduce from eight to
two the number of Congressional com-
mittees that oversee C.I.A. activities.
Intelligence Bodies Exempted
Another part would exempt the Central !
Intelligence Agency and other intelli-
gence bodies from most provisions of the
Freedom of Information Act. Senator;
Moynihan said that it was "absurd" to
allow "an agent of the K.G.B." to seek in-
telligence under the act. While he ac-
knowledged that no agent of the Soviet in-
telligence organization had apparently;
actually obtained such information, he
asserted that such applications had been
made by Polish officials.
The third part of the measure contains'
two parts - the press section that Mr.
Moynihan will seek to strike and another'
one that he'will retain. The latter would;
make it a crime for a present or former
intelligence agency official, or'anyone
else with authorized access to the names'
of undercover agents, to divulge those:
names.
!I Thus, if the bill passes in the form the!
Senator intends, the person giving the:
names to a publication could be prose-i
cuted but the publication that printed;
them could not.
Asked? to assess the likelihood of suc-j
! cess in removing the press provision,;
Senator Moynihan said that he, thought
his request would do "pretty well."
Mr. Moynihan actually signaled his
change of position in a Senate speech
Feb. 8 in which he reported Mr. Abrams's
concern about the press proposals.
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/06/29: CIA-RDP90-00552R000404440193-4