JOURNALISTS OPPOSE CIA DISCLOSURE EXEMPTIONS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00806R000100090005-6
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: January 13, 2011
• Sequence Number: 5
• Publication Date: June 28, 1983
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/01/13: CIA-RDP90-00806R000100090005-6 STAT
U',TITED PRESS iNT NAT10NAL
28 June 10,0 7
Journalists oppose CIA disclosure exemptions
IRA R. ALLEN
WASHINETON
Journalists told Congress Tuesday a bill exempting key
Freedom of Information Act would give the agency. too much power to hide material
from the public.
"All institutions are answerable to the American people,'' Steven Dornfeld,
a reporter for Knight-Ridder Newspapers, told the Senate Intelligence Committee.
''That ideal crumbles when secrecy for secrecy's sake erodes the responsiveness
and accountability of the CIA or any other part of government.''
The journalists won support from Sen. David Durenberger, R-Minn., a member of
the panel, who said he feared the bill could become ''the nose of an
intelligence camel ... trying to get into the tent'' by setting a precedent for
other government agencies that do not want to disclose documents.
The 1974 revised Freedom of Information Act has allowed citizens - mostly
journalists and historians -- to request documents from government agencies,
subject only to deletions to protect other people's privacy, criminal
investigations or national security.
The CIA does not now have to reveal sensitive information about its sources
of information or methods, but the new bill by Sens. Barry Goldwater, R-Ariz.,
and Strom Thurmond, R-S.C., would exempt the CIA from even having to search
its operational files to determine whether they are exempt.
Critics said it would be possible for the agency, which admitted engaging in
illegal domestic spying in the 1960s and 1970s, to thwart legitimate requests
for information by sticking them in the operational files.
The critics also said the bill needs a provision allowing judges to review
CIA disclosure decisions and a time limit of perhaps 30 years after which the
sensitive files could be made available for historical purposes.
CIA officials testified last week that since the files in question have
never been released anyway, the search process delays legitimate requests by twr
to three years and could compromise the names of agents and informants.
But Durenberger, citing CIA operations that have become public, said, " It
is the country that will suffer if operational files are put off limits
forever.'
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/01/13: CIA-RDP90-00806R000100090005-6