CIA CHIEF DEFENDS USING REPORTERS IN OPERATIONS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00806R000100110073-8
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 20, 2010
• Sequence Number: 73
• Publication Date: April 11, 1980
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/08/20: CIA-RDP90-00806R000100110073-8
ARTICLE A??iAR>rD THE BALTIMORE SUN
ON PAGE 4211 April 1980
CIA.Chle def p, ds: usin. g
re-norters in, operafions*
Washington-The CIA's director, Adm.
Stansfield Turner, yesterday defended the
administration policy of- using American
foreign correspondents for secret opera-
tions and said that in three separate in-
stances'he had personally approved such
plans.
Members of the American. Society of
Newspaper Editors, whoare meeting here
this week, disagreed sharply with his de-
fence of the-practice, arguing that it not'
only cast doubt on the professional ethics
of correspondents but put them in danger...
In none of the instances Admiral Tur-
ner cited-, however, did the plan material-
ize, and the journalists were not Used, he
said.-Admiral Turner said no journalists
are currently working for the Central Tin
telligence Agency.
"We fully share the- recognition: that
journalism, religion and academia have a
special importance to our country," Admi-.
ral Turner said. "At the same time, we
recognize that there maybe unusual cir-
cumstarces in which an individual who is
also a member of one of those professions
may be used as an agent."
Admiral Turner said. he, changed CIA
policy 1977 to allow the use of journalists,
shortly after the Carter administration
took office. In 1974, central intelligence
director George- Bush, in the midst of. a
public outcry, banned the use of American
journalists.
Representative Les jlspin (D,., Wis.);
chairman of the subcommittee on over-
sight of the House Intelligence Committee,
and Representative Edward Boland .(D,
Mass), chairman :of tile--House' Intelli-
gence Committee, both have reviewed the
specific cases Admiral-Turner cited and
said that he had-not violated CIA-
regula-tions by approving the use of. the, three as
agents. Mr. ; Aspin said-that one of them,
.was -a nonjournalist. employed- -by', an
American news organization and that the
other two were part-time journalists not-
currently employed by American news or-
ganizations.
agents has long been -a sensitive subject.
Intelligence agencies point out that-Amer.
ican. journalists are valued, as operatives
because they can move about freely and
ask questions without arousing suspicion
and usually have developed good sources
within foreign governments
But most news organizations are ada-
mantly opposed to the use of journalists as.
agents. They say It violates the traditional:
independence of the press from govern-
ment and makes it difficult for other jour-
nalists to retain the trust of their sources.
They point out that in it. country. like Iran _I
the possibility that a- foreign corre:
spondent was a CIA agent certainly would.
endanger his or her life.
Admiral Turner said that there were
now no American journalists actively em-
ployed or paid either here or abroad as
agents of the CIA. He said he had no cur-
rent plan3 to use or hire any but that, in
what he called "very exceptional situz .
tions, I wouldn't hesitate" to recruit one.--
Admiral Turner said he would not bn-j
an agent using a journalist's cover if the
situation demanded it. He said that, to?a"
terrorist situation, for example, the only
way to get to the terrorist might b?}ifa?:(1
_poseas journalists..
The use of journalists as intelligence
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/08/20: CIA-RDP90-00806R000100110073-8