STEPS WEIGHED TO LIMIT DISCLOSURE OF SECRETS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00552R000404660021-0
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: July 19, 2010
• Sequence Number: 21
• Publication Date: May 26, 1986
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/07/19: CIA-RDP90-00552R000404660021-0
`#`' "- F--'' MrD NEW YORK TIMES
ON PAGE tV 26 May 1986
Steps Weighed to Limit Disclosure of Secrets
By GERALD M. BOYD
Sp" to MW NW Ymt Mum
WASHINGTON, May 2S - The Re _
gan Administration is considering
reducing the number of officials with
access to classified ants as Dart
ma u-
of a broad effort to control the
thorized disclosure of sensitive na-
tional security information Adminis-
tration sources said today.
The sources said that the Adminis-
tration was also considering reducing
the amount of information that falls
within the classified category, in the
hope Oat it will then be easier to moni-
tor those documents and thus prevent
their unauthorized disclosure.
The proposals are contained in a
memorandum prepared by middle-
level Administration intelligence offi-
cials for review at a meeting this week
of President Reagan's top national se-
curity advisers, the sources said. It has
been presented to Adm. John M. Poin-
dexter, Mr. Reagan's national security
adviser, they said.
This most recent study of unauthor-
ized disclosures was undertaken at the
direction of senior White House offi-
cials in response to their increasing
concern that efforts to control such dis-
closures have been largely unsucess-
ful.
Other recommendations in the
memorandum include an increase in
the use of polygraph tests. A similar
policy proposed in a security directive
Mr. Reagan signed Nov. 1 drew a sharp
protest from Secretary of State George
P. Shultz.
A senior White House official said
that some to ence officials in the
vernment believed that such a en-
cies as the Department of Defense and
the Central Intelligence Agency were
administering polygraph tests ad-
equately, while such others as the State
Department were not. The memo-ran-
memorandum all relate to curbs and
other steps that would be taken within
the Administration, the sources said,
and do not include recommendations
for new restrictions on news organiza-
tions.
But the sources said that the Admin-
istration officials regarded the prob-
lem of unauthorized disclosures as re-
quiring a "dual track" solution in
which efforts would be made to con-
vince news organizations not to report
information that jeopardizes national
security. They said this would mainly
be accomplished by calling upon the
media to display more "responsibility"
and woWd be used on a "case-by-case
basis."
White House officials had said Fri-
day in announcing that efforts were un-
derway to find new ways to prevent dis-
closures that the examination was
being conducted only to prevent the dis-
closure of sensitive national security
information and not unflattering sto-
ries about the Administration.
The irritation over unauthorized dis-
closures to the news media Is not
unique to the Reagan Administration.
Mr. Reagan's predecessors were at one
time or another exercised over unau-
thorized disclosures and moved to pre-
vent them.
Another proposal urged by the mid-
dle-level group calls for an expanded
role by the Federal Bureau of Investi-
gation in examining unauthorized dis-
closures. While the bureau already in-
vestigates suspected breaches of espio-,
nage laws, the sources said that the
memorandum suggests creating a spe-
cial bureau unit to examine unauthor-
ized disclosures.
The senior White House official who
discussed the policy on polygraph tests
said that a special F.B.I. unit would
have to be approved by Mr. Reagan
and other senior officials.
Looking for Discipline
One source stressed that other rrieet-
ings of this group might have to be held
before final recommendations go to
Mr. Reagan. 1 ?
Another White House official sdld
that the thrust of the recommendations
were for a more "aggressive" posture
by the Administration in trying to curb
unauthorized national security leaks.
The official said such disclosures had
become a major concern within the Ad-
ministration in recent months-because
of intelligence disclosures connected
with Libya and reports about a classi-
fied intelligence operation involving
American submarines. Reports on the
latter have surfaced in connection
with the trial of Ronald W. Peltoh, a
former National Security Agency-em-
ployee, who is accused of spying fdl- the
Soviet Union.
"We have got a situation where Peo-
ple at lower levels have starting blab-
bing in an irresponsible way," the offi-
cial said. "It is a hindrance in the con-
duct of foreign policy as well as Limit-
ing the President's options."
Looking for Disclosures
The officials described the memo-
randum as reflecting a "more aggzes-
sive" posture in combatting leaks. It
urges measures that could make it
easier to indentify officials who might
engage in such practices, they sald,-in-
cluding the proposal to reduce the num-
ber of employees with access to sensi-
tive documents as well as reducing the
amount of material in such a category.
The recommendation on reducing
the number of employees with access
to classified information is similar, but
broader, than efforts taken last June by
the Defense Department in the wake?of
several espionage cases, including one,
that centered on John A. Walker Jr. a
retired Navy warrants officer, who has
pleaded guilty to espionage charges. In
June, the number of officials cleared to
handle secret documents at the De-
fense Department, more than 4.3 mil-
lion, was cut by 10 percent.
Some of the recommended meas-
ures, such as the use of polygraph tests,
have also been attempted in the past.
The security directive signed by Mr.
Reagan in November called for a "se-
lective number" of individuals in high
levels with accesss to Governments se-
crets to undergo such tests.
After a -vigorous protest by .Mr.
Shultz the White House said in a state-
ment that such tests' were "a limited,
though sometimes useful tool when
used in conjunction with other investi-
gative and security procedures;in es-
pionage cases."
Seeking Agreement
Officials said that there was-some
concern that the directive left it up to
individual department and agencies to
determine when such tests should be
given. The latest recommendation
would attempt to make the . 'tests
mandatory for all parts of Govern-
ment, they said:
The sources said that the recommen.
dations were part of an attempt to gen-
erate what one called "more disci-
pline" in the Administration in the
hope of ending the disclosures of classi.
fled information that officials have as-
serted threaten national security.
Several recommendations could be
put into effect by Mr. Reagan through
executive orders: cutting the number
of officials with access to' classified
material, broadening the use of poly-
graph tests and setting up a new F.B.I.
unit.
The memorandum is to be consict!
e y a group t tnc u es Mr.
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/07/19: CIA-RDP90-00552R000404660021-0