NEW CLOAKS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00845R000100160017-2
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: July 14, 2010
• Sequence Number: 17
• Publication Date: November 17, 1981
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/07/14: CIA-RDP90-00845R000100160017-2
ARTICLE 112L?AF _.D
ON PAGEE_._L<
VILLAGE VOICE
11-17 NOVEMBER 1981
STAT
On September 23 the House of Repre--
sentatives voted 354 to 56 to enact a piece
of legislation that perilously abridges free-
dom of speech and of;the press. On Octo-
bec 6 the Senate Judiciary Committee
vote{ 17-0 in favor of a similar bill making
final passage a certainty- What follows is
the history of this extraordinary piece of
legislation, purportedly designed to pro-.
:tact the identities of -intelligence-.agents
but perhaps marking a- fatal turning point
in the history of liberty in America.
The story begins with former Central
Intelligence Agency officer Philip Agee.
But although Agee's.personal odyssey is by
now all too familiar, the complex series of
actions he initiated had repercussions far
different from anything he intended-and
repercussions that even today are little-'
known.
In London, on October 3, 1974, Agee,
--? ~, -~., ?-~ ~??~ ~~-v?c. vun,cf }JU u, u fence that the [;antral Intelligence c y
went more quixotic than most. He in- favorite pastime of Foreign Service Of- is in
tend fact an "intelligence gathering" serv-
ed, he.said; to wage unremitting 1 ficers and their wives was to point them ice. Blaring headlines about a CIA-backed f
private war against the Agency which had l out whenever the opportunity arose." coup in Chile and shocking employed him for 11-1/2 years. According. Even stay-at-homes can identify they a stories about
to Agee, who entered Lhe'CIA a rabid anti-- }CIA lads working under embassy cover CIA attempts to assassinate foreign rulers
gave the American eo lea tantalizing
Co munanwh eleft it in 68 arabid . with. the help of various unclassified gov- glimpse of the lonpeople
hidden truth. The CIA's pro-Communist, unforgivable ernment publications.'If you want to know chief activity of the CIA is to intervene
sin . was its- success in. forestalling the bow it's done, read "How to Spot a Spook"
worldwide triumph of revolutionary Marx- in the November 1974 issue of the countries in politically in the the world. d. affairs
The CIA CIA A halfthe
ism. Since that isjust what the CIA claims, eminently respectable Washington more, in fact, enormous bureau of
ureay to
Agee's opinions disturbed nobody at Monthly. One "indicator," as the CIA calls incessant meddling, than orking constantl
the Langley, Virginia, headquarters of the it, is the fact that no CIA official at an Prof -Amworking governments, nby to
t subvt i how-
larger busiest and most- inept "intelli- embassy npro-American
t,. is allowed to be listed as-a foreign ever inept
gence'service" in the world. What did in- service office. This is because foreign serv- ant or vile, and to seopularnor
-.minnd ded rulers, however because popular 's
furiate-the CIA was the strictly practical ice people, who have to take a stiff test to worthy. It
aspect of Agee's little war. In order to win that coveted title, refuse to let it be embassy es chiefly fe the CIA's
cripple the Agency, 'announced Agee, he worn, unearned. by some ill-educated CIA lators, not t spies spies, that their e are
t "cover" is of s manipu-
cripple "cover" is of so
intended to identify, and to train disciples clodhopper. So much for America's famed little le consequence.
-to identify, "CIA officer -and agents,".and clandestine service. -
by doing so to "drive.them out of the-. This great CIA trade secret would be All such "covert action," as it is called
countries where they are operating." something of a joke if the American people at Langley, is no secret to the Kremlin,
A self-important sort. of person (re- !shared it. Most Americans do not, and which, interestingly enough, makes no ef-
sembling in this respect the" Agency he because they do not, Congress, at this very fort to impede it. Indeed, it is no secret to
abhors), Agee did not divulge the CIA moment, is exploiting that ignorance to anyone in the world except the American
trade secret on which his prospective war carry out one of the deadliest assaults on people, whose knowledge of what their
depended-the almost 'comical truth that First Amendment liberties ever attempted government does overseas constitutes the
the identities of undercover CIA officers on Capitol Hill. The assault has been more only danger to "national security" Ameri-
are not a secret, have never been a secret, than a year and a half in the making and ca's rulers really fear.
and are not even meant to be a secret. the slow. pace is readily understandable.
These officers work at U.S. embassies un- 'The real CIA is a secret state, and by
Given a Constitution which states catego- mid-1979, the time was ripe for shoving
der the thin guise of~ States Department rically that '}Congress shall make no law this secret back in the box-The political
employees and their "cover is as trans- I abridging freedom of speech or of the atmosphere was changing. Detente and
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/07/14: CIA-RDP90-00845R000100160017-2
parent as a plastic raincoat, beneath wh
they wear, metaphorically speaking, C
T-shirts in order to make it easier for t
natives to find them.
In a foreign capital you can identify t
CIA crew at the embassy by asking'anyo
at the bar favored by newsmen and politic- - "" -
y embassies around the world. Con-i
os. The habitues can always give you the ressiorial lethargy - stemmed from many!
name of the CIA chief of station because he' sources, but. chiefly from the fact that we
probably gives conferences-or even were still in the era of detente; that popu-
cocktail parties for that matter. Or you can lar support for the Cold War had broken
ask an embassy janitor to point out the down, and that the CIA itself was in ill-
Americans who all work in the same room repute. Thanks to Watergate's endlessly
and only talk to each other. If you travel in ramified revelations, the Agency, by 1975,
diplomatic circles, you don't even have to had
l
t l
h
"
"
a
mos
ost t
e only
it h
overas ever
c
ask who the CIA people at the embassy really cared el,.,??- t_ nn ___ __ ,