JUSTICE PROBE FAILS TO DISCLOSE SOURCE OF LEAKS ON MIDEAST

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000201020016-3
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: January 25, 2012
• Sequence Number: 16
• Publication Date: December 16, 1983
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

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Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/25: CIA-RDP90-00965R000201020016-3
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ARTICLE APPEARED
ON PAGE A -1
WASHINGTON POST
16 December 1983
Justice Probe Fails
To Disclose Source
of Leaks on Mideast
By Lou Cannon
Washington Post titan writer
An extensive Justice Department
investigation into purported unau-
thorized disclosures of U.S. military
and diplomatic strategy in Lebanon
has ended without identifying the
source of the disclosures or deter-
mining whether national security
was compromised, administration
officials said yesterday..
"There is no evidence that report-
ers were told anything we didn't
want them to know," one official
said.
The inquiry triggered an angry
confrontation between then-national
security affairs adviser William P.
Clark and White House chief' of staff
.James A. Baker III, reportedly
prompted Secretary of State George
P. Shultz to say he would resign if
asked to take 'a polygraph test, and
caused widespread concern among
many top administration officials
questioned at length by the FBI.
One official said the investigation
may have had "a preventive effect"
on information leaks. But another
official contended that the inquiry
had damaged the administration by
"trivializing national security" and
involving the Justice Department in
a White House power struggle.
President Reagan ordered the in-
vestigation of his senior White
House staff, Cabinet officers and
foreign policy advisers Sept. 1:3.. He
acted after being told by Clark that
new,, accounts, including a story on
the front page of that, morning's
Washington Post, containing classi-
ired i nformation had jeopardized
special envoy Robert C. McFarlane's
efi'ort~, to obtain a cease-fire in Leh-
anon and may have endangered his
life.
NBC News reported on the eve-
ning of Sept. 12 that "top adminis-
tration officials have asked the pres-
ident to seriously consider ordering
U.S. air strikes on Syrian positions
in Lebanon." The NBC account, by
White House correspondent. Chris
Wallace, was confirmed by admin-
istration officials in time for both
CBS and ABC to carry the item on
their evening newscasts.
The Washington Post. then re-
ported on Sept. 13 that Reagan had
authorized Marines to call for air
strikes "against forces shelling their
positions." This report also was
quickly confirmed for several other
newspapers.
One official said yesterday that
the information had been confirmed
"and apparently disclosed in the first
place" because some administration
officials wanted the Syrian-backed
forces to know that the Marines
would retaliate if fired upon.
In addition, sources said yester-
day, .the threat to McFarlane's life,
though real, may have been exagger-
ated to encourage Reagan to order
the investigation. They said McFar-
lane had been told of concern for his
safety and had declined additional
protection.
Officials said that. Clark and oth-
ers in the White House had received
reports that McFarlane was a likely
target. of terrorists opposed to the
Lebanese cease-fire he was trying to
negotiate. But one senior official said
there was "no warning of an actual
event," meaning a specific attempt
on McFarlane's life. -
Clark - subsequently has become
Reagan's secretary of the interior
and McFarlane has replaced him as
national security affairs adviser.
Clark's recommendation to Rea
gan to launch the investigation,
strongly supported by White House
counselor Edwin Meese 111, touched
off a bitter battle with Baker.
Sources said the original draft of
the letter submitted to the president
by Clark and Meese specifically em-
powered the use of polygraphs and
also put Attorney General William
French Smith in charge of the inves-
tigation. The draft letter gave Smith
the authority to determine the
source of the disclosure and went on
to say that the person so identified
would be instructed to resign, in ef-
fect giving Smith the authority to
fire the suspected "leaker."
Clark reportedly said he was
"damned angry" over what ' he de-
scribed as repeated unauthorized
disclosures of national security in-
formation. But his proposal to have
Reagan approve an investigation of
his own staff provoked an equally
angry reaction from Baker, who op-
posed the use of polygraphs in the
inquiry and also opposed putting
Smith in-charge of it.
Baker contended that Reagan
would be politically embarrassed if it
became known that he had author.
ized an investigation of his own staff
over a relatively minor issue. He also
defended his own prerogatives,
pointing out that Reagan previously
had signed an order putting Baker in
charge of such investigations when
they involved the White House staff.
Baker was backed by Shultz, who
said he would resign rather than
have his loyalty questioned by a lie
detector test, and by deputy chiefof
staff Michael K. Deaver. sources
said.
Reagan deleted the passages spe-
cifically authorizing polygraph tests
and giving Smith the authority to
,COLNINUED
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 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/25: CIA-RDP90-00965R000201020016-3
2.
order resignations. But he 'then
signed a letter directing the attorney
general to launch the investigation
usin,, "all legal means." Despite. the
omission of the reference to he de-
tectors. officials said it was clear the
FBI had authority to use them. '
The inquire spread fear among
White House aides as the FBI con-
ducted interviews centering on meet-
ings of the National Security Council
on Sept. 10 and Sept. 11. Some aides
said they feared that their' phones
were tapped and complained that
the "threat of lie detector tests" was
implicitly present even though no -
polygraph tests were administered.
Officials were reluctant to talk
about the investigation because they-
were warned by the FBI that the
inquiry was classified and that any
disclosure could have serious conse-
quences. But several officials also
praised the FBI for its conduct of
the investigation, and one said that
"it must have been quickly apparent
to them that they were looking for
the source of information which had
been deliberately released."
The investigation was complicated
by the fact that the information dis-
closed was widely known throughout
the government, even though Rea-
gan may not have realized this when
he ordered the investigation. It was
discussed with the president 'at a
small NSC meeting on Sept.. 11, but
also was brought up at, a larger NSC
meeting the day before and -put in'
written form on that day.
"The potential list of suspects was
quite large," an official said.
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/25: CIA-RDP90-00965R000201020016-3