PRESS LEAKS FROM THE TRANSITION: WASHINGTON'S VERSION OF A SOAP

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00552R000505420021-4
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 17, 2010
• Sequence Number: 21
• Publication Date: December 9, 1980
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/08/17: CIA-RDP90-00552R000505420021-4
A -LE A?-`
PAO__r_
ON
THE WASHINGTON POST
9 December 1980
- By John M. Goshko
Weshingwn Post Start Wrtter
. It lacks the universal appeal that caused mil
lions of television viewers to become fascinated
by the question "Who Shot J.R?" But in Wash
ington, with its special appreciation of the fine
points of bureaucratic knife fighting, the in-.I
coming Reagan administration's production of;
"Who Leaked What?" is proving to be an almost-
equally. engrossing saga.
The cast includes a group of young, ultra-'1
conservative Republicans who spent four years:!
.in the. opposition wilderness skillfully using the.;
press leak as a weapon to, wage guerrilla warfare;i
against -the: Democrats in the White House.
Now they are the central characters in a po-,
litical drama that turns on the questions of
whether they can adjust to being on the winning
side and break their old habits or whether they
are turning their particular talents to trying to
discredit Republican moderates as part of a,.
.campaign to win control over the new admin-,
istration's-. foreign policy.
The story began to unfold several days ago-
with a series of leaks, mostly: to The New York'
Times, about some Reagan transition team l;
members' preliminary recommendations on fu-
ture policy directions. It reached a flashpoint
Saturday when, in art-apparent attempt to em
hawses Sen. Charles Percy (R-111.), secret cables
were leaked to the Times describing Percy's re-
cent b0 m in Moscow with Soviet leaders.
In yesterday's. installment of the story, The-!
Waashgton Star led ogwith a front-page article !
quoting-an-'-unnamed--top- Reagan official" as
sayirgshe Percy leak came from John Carbaugh, I
an aide ttx archconservative Sen. Jesse Helms (R- i
N.C) and. a leading member of the rightist net-
work of Capitol Hill aides that calls itself "the.
Madison Group."
Carbaugh angrily denied the charge and de-'
nianded the opportunity "to prove my inno-,
cence" by taking a lie 'detector test. By the end'
of the day, the air was filled with. charges and.
countercharges - all coming from sources who-
insisted on remaining anonymous - about who.
the culprits really were. ' -
Some insisted that the leak -had come from `i
the State Department transition team of which;
Carbaugh is a member, some hinted it could'I
be traced to Democratic staffers on the Senate; I
Foreign Relations Committee who are disgnrn-
tied at the prospect of ;losing, their jobs when;
the new Republican majority takes over next::
month under Percy's chairmanship,- and some,
against him were a "smear campaign" orches-1,
trated by what one called "discredited Ford ad-I
ministration retreads" trying to put the young!,
conservatives In disfavor with the Reagan team!
leaders. The president-elect's senior foreign policy ad-
visers appeared to be trying to stay above the
battle, deploring, the leaks while insisting that!
the transistion was- proceeding' smoothly and
without internecine warfare between Republican
factions. Some. tried to dismiss the matter as
a "boys will be boys" sort of incident.
That was the tack taken by Reagan's chief
foreign policy adviser, Richard V. Allen, who of=
fered a tongue-in-cheek solution for dealing
with the problem. "We've instituted a conspiracy
hour," he said. "Anyone who wants to have his
conspiracy considered has to have it inscribed
'on the agenda by quarter to 10 each morning.
Otherwise, forget it."
Still, beneath the levity, some sources familiar,
with the workings of the Reagan camp said
there is a definite rivalry between the "Madison
Group" and the "retreads" who served under
President Gerald R. Ford and, to a lesser extent,
his predecessor, Richard M. Nixon.
In addition to Carbaugh, "Madison Group"
members holding key positions in the foreign'
policy and national security transition apparatus
include such former congressional staffers as.?
Richard Perle, Michael Pillsbury, William l
Schneider, David Sullivan, Angelo Cordevilla,
Sven Kraemer an _1 Tack Schneider.
According to the sources, they want to out-.
flank and undercut the influence of old Ford
hands such as William Timmons, deputy di-
rector of the transition, and Tom Korologos, di-
rector of congressional relations for the transi-`?
tion. As part of this effort, the sources continued,.'
some of these young conservatives have been.i
leaking transition policy papers reflecting their:;
views in.an effort to foster the impression that
these are the ideas that will predominate in
The sources said a key figure in this process
has been William Safire, a conservative-leaning
'columnist for the Times who last week wrote '
-a generally admiring article about the `Madison 4
.-Group." Safire, the sources said, has been the 1
conduit through which most of the transition re-.
ports have been leaked to. the Times.
However, the sources were divided in their op-1
inions about how seriously the struggle should 1
be taken. For one thing, they noted, those re-
ports that have been leaked so far are "first-cut
STAT
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/08/17: CIA-RDP90-00552R000505420021-4