SENATE PANEL SEEKS ACTION TO OUTLAW UNMASKING AGENTS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00845R000200860002-0
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 6, 2010
• Sequence Number: 2
• Publication Date: November 26, 1981
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/08/06: CIA-RDP90-00845R000200860002-0
T !u~P~AD
pro-Sandinist newspaper, Nuevo Diario, of the
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d CIA
WASHINGTON POST
26 NOVE24BER 1981
Intelligence Co
Senate IEanel l Seeps concern over the recent publication in Nicaragua's
uica va a i1U111U r ul auese nmerican ouzclais nave
been evacuated for their personal safety," the sen-
said.
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By George Lardner Jr. publication of these names is linked with the visit
wamrng on Poet statt writer of Philip Agee to Nicaragua last month'"
The Senate Intelligence Committee has ex-
pressed alarm over a spate of disclosures about
the names of CIA officers abroad and asked for
quick floor action on a bill to outlaw the practice.
In letters to Senate Majority Leader Howard H.
Baker Jr.(R-Tenn.) and Minority Leader Robert
C. Byrd (D-W.Va.),.the committee's eight Repub-
licans and seven Democrats urged "that there be
no further delay in bringing this vital legislation to
the floor ... "
The bill would make it a crime to reveal infor-
mation that identifies undercover U.S. intelligence
agents, informants or "sources of operational as-
sistance," even if the information is gleaned from
public documents.
The Senate Judiciary Committee approved it
Oct. 6, but it has been held up, partly] because of
the press of other legislation, partly.because of
"holds" placed on it by objecting senators.
The Intelligence panel, which had primary jur-
sidiction over the proposal last year, said it was
concerned by the publication three weeks ago in
the Covert Action Information Bulletin of the
"In addition," the senators said in their letters,
"the Bulletin reprinted the names of 272 alleged
covert agents which had been identified in the 12
previous editions of the magazine."
The anti-CIA periodical said in a lead editorial
that the issue would mark "our last `Naming
Names' column for some time" because of the im-
minence of the legislation, which is known as the
Intelligence Identities Protection Act.
abroad.
names of 69 alleged CIA officers in 45 countries,
nam es o ega
a
officers stationed in Ma-
outlaw nagua. "Several of those named [in Nicaragua]
have already received death threats, and the fam-
Agee, is a former CIA officer and renegade who
has made a career of exposing agency:
personnel
,
and operations abroad. He is also a member of the
Covert Action Information Bulletin's Board of
Advisers.
The House has already passed a stiff identities
bill that would make even negligent disclosures a
crime. The Senate Judiciary Committee's version
would penalize journalists and others outside gov-
ernment channels only if they acted with specific
"intent to impair or impede" U. S. intelligence
activities through their disclosures.
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/08/06: CIA-RDP90-00845R000200860002-0