UNDER COVER: THE GOVERNMENT RETURNS TO SECRECY

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00806R000100160007-6
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 5, 2010
• Sequence Number: 7
• Publication Date: May 4, 1980
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/08/05: CIA-RDP90-00806R000100160007-6
GARDEN CITY NEWSDAY(N. Y.)
4 May 19 8 0
STAT
n er Cover:
The Government Returns to- Seeree-
., g n in 1975. As a conditon;of his the benefits of his iai essness.
By 'Townsend Hoopes employment by,the.CIA, Snepp had The arbitrary, treatment of the
There area number of indicators,' ,signed an agreement promising not;1 case and the veheu1ence of the lan-
in the wake of-the Soviet invasion of to publish "any-information relating. guage employed in the final judg-
Afghanistan; that the government,Is _to the agency," either during or after ^~ ment have suggested to quite a few
the Congress and. the courts are im." the term of his employment,without Washington observers that the Su-
pelled toward.a return to greater sew : specific prior approval'ofthe CIA. By preme Court was reflecting, in part,
crecy in dealing with the public and ? separate -.undertaking, - he hound its frustration at the "faithlessness"
toward a greater insistence on inter himself "not to disclose any classified - or disloyalty of its own clerks, as re-
nal discipline -within governmene,^?nformation-relating to the agency vealed in the pages of the best-selling
departments- and agencies: y ? without proper; authorization..". > ..1 book, "The Brethren,": that the
Seizing the-moment, the CIA has' Snepp did not submit the ma nu-., court's hard line in support of greater
been seeking -A_ total exemp ionP script-for CIA review, and it :was employee discipline throughout the
tion ? published by Random House. His ra _ .-government was, to some- extent, a
f I
f
dom '
h
f
orma
n
o
rom t
e ? free
Act, under which citizens cans re- tionale for evading his contractual. visceral reaction to.a perceived em-
`que E-and obtain unclassified mate-- I agreement was that the manuscript.' barrassment in its own house.
rials relating to operations o contained no "classified" informa- The net result of the Snepp litiga-
h. -
on-that is no secret or sensitive _ tion is to narrow the First Amend=
government departments and agent, f -formation-and that publication . ment rights of present and former
The CIA's efforts seem now to, =
Gies
.
was accordingly his right under the- government - employees associated
have been largely achieved through. 'First Amendment. The CIA 'sued with agencies. handling national se-
the collapse, last week of congzes him for breach of contract, arguing curity information and to create se-
sional efforts to write a comprehen that the question of whether the in- vere deterrents to their readiness to
vior for the
h
f b
i
d
e
a
e o
ve co
s
formation disclosed was secret was test those rights.
intelligence community that would lirrelevant.- For purposes of the liti- Beyond the CIA, the decision
have specified restraints. , gation, the CIA conceded that the . logically fits the situations at the
The CIA is already amply pro- information. was not secret. , State and Defense Departments and
vided with legal safeguards against- The case reached the Supreme a few others-But the most disturb-
the release of secret or sensitive in Court
and that body's strange and ing aspect of the Supreme Court de-
,
formation andpioposed legislative abrupt handling of the case has cre- cision is its failure to indicate any
"reforms" would not have changed ated. a firestorm of controversy and limits on the use of pre-publication
that. Journalist Robert Lewis,. anxiety in the publishing industry- review agreements. In theory, the
speaking as chairman of the Free-. Instead of- inviting formal i briefs -Snepp decision opens the way for
dom of Information Group of the So--.'. from both sides, studying these, and., the Department of Agriculture or
ciety of Professional Journalists hearing. oral. .argumerit which' is the Bureau of Mines to impose simi-
before the Senate Select Committee the- usual procedure-the court -de- lar contractual obligations on their
on Intelligence, stated that"the, rided the case
summarily without .:workers
which-could of course
,
s
Freedom of Inf'ormation Act repre any briefs : or,argument., T'ervote ; serve primarily to protect such gov-
~
sents an equitable balancebetween against S pgg was
' ernmer%t operations against. disclo-
hi
secrecy and. suns
ne. . : f . fL~4 Not ;only of the court re cures of-wrongdoing or even
The blanket exemption from, the .:gne '~io1ioais fei t ` alegitimate criticism in the press.
~'
this act that. the CIA appears..,,-.7
< submit the