SHULTZ CALLS FOR 'CRACKDOWN' ON DISCLOSURE OF CLASSIFIED DATA

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000302240029-3
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 27, 2016
• Document Release Date: November 14, 2012
• Sequence Number: 29
• Publication Date: March 16, 1985
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/11/14: CIA-RDP90-00965R000302240029-3
N17-1171 YORK TIMES
16 "arch 1985
Shultz Calls for `Crackdown'
on Disclosure of Classified Data
6
Special W The New Yak Tim..
WASHINGTON, March 15 - Secre-
tary of State George P. Shultz said to-
day that "we need a crackdown"
within the Government to prevent the
disclosure of highly classified informa-
tion.
Mr. Shultz, apppearing before the
Senate Foreign Relations Committee,
was questioned by two Democratic
Senators, Claiborne Pell of Rhode Is-
land and Paul S. Sarbanes of Mary-
land, about recent comments made by
senior department officials about
Leslie H. Gelb, national security corre-
spondent of The New York Times.
An article by Mr. Gelb, published in
The Times last month, described
American contingency plans to deploy
nuclear depth charges in some coun-
tries that do not possess them. The arti-
cle noted that information about the
plans had been published and discussed
in those countries.
'Considerable Damage' Cited
Mr. Shultz, while conceding that re-
ports on the plans had been published
and discussed abroad, told the Senators
that the article "has done us a consid-
erable amount of damage."
He added that because Mr. Gelb had
served in the Government, "in a post
which is a particularly sensitive post,"
his writings took on "special author-
ity." Mr. Gelb was director of the State
Department's Bureau of Politico-Mili-
tary Affairs from 1977 to 1979.
"Therefore," Mr. Shultz said, "in my
opinion, I think having held that post,
you have a special responsibility, and I
know that Mr. Gelb tries to exercise
that responsibility, but still, publishing
things that are harmful is hard to
.take," he said.
'You Have a Responsibility'
"I know I feel, with respect to any of
the high Government positions that I
have held, when I'm out of them, that
in a sense, you can't leave them," Mr.
Shultz said. "You have a responsibility
to those offices."
At the same time, he described Mr.
Gelb as "a person of tremendous stat-
ure, great ability," and said, "I don't
want to in any way run him down."
After Mr. Gelb's article was pub-
lished in The Times on Feb. 13, Lieut.
Gen. John T. Chain Jr., current direc-
tor of the Bureau of Politico-Military
Affairs, forbade his staff to talk to Mr.
Gelb. He also ordered the removal of
an official office portrait of Mr. Gelb
that had hung alongside those of other
previous directors of the bureau.
In addition, General Chain posted a
sign that said the picture had been re-
moved "for cause," because. Mr. Gelb
had "did willingly, and knowingly, pub-
lish in 1985 classified information, the
release of which is harmful and dam-
aging to the country."
General Chain later allowed his staff
to talk to Mr. Gelb and removed the
sign but did not return the picture to its
place on the wall. A State Department
spokesman said this week that Mr.
Shultz supported General Chain but
also believed that Mr. Gelb was an
"able journalist and a patriotic per-
son." '
'I'm Not Prepared to Apologize'
When Senator Pell asked Mr. Shultz
today if Mr. Gelb had been extended an
apology for the general's actions, Mr.
Shultz, citing Mr. Gelb's "special re-
sponsibility," said, "I'm not prepared
to apologize to anybody."
Mr. Shultz said that while in Iceland
on a brief stopover Thursday, he found
that the subject of the contingency
plans "comes right up."
Noting that President Reagan is to
travel to Canada on Sunday, the Secre-
tary added that "I imagine the sub.
ject's going to come up" there as well.
Iceland and Canada are two of the
countries where the document was first
I divulged and made a matter of record
before Mr. Gelb wrote about it.
Mr. Shultz said that General Chain
had done "a tremendous service " in
drawing attention to the matter. The'
Secretary said he would like to sit down
with members of Congress and the
press to discuss the issue.
"Don't misunderstand me," he said.
"I'm not saying we need to crack down
on the press, but I think we need to call
attention to the seriousness of the prob-
lem".
We need a crackdown within the
Government," he added, "but also
there need to be some standards set.
There are no standards of performance
left around any more, and I think we've
got to get back to that. It's sort of an
old-time religion here."
'An Authoritative Statement'
When Senator Sarbanes asked Mr.
Shultz if it were not true that much of
the material in Mr. Gelb's article had
already. appeared in foreign publica-
tions and in debate in foreign capitals,
Mr. Shultz said, "That's correct."
But he added, "The material that ap-
pears some place in a paper in another
country may come or go, but when it
appears under the byline of a recog-
nized authority in a paper of the stature
of The New York Times, it is taken as
an authoritative statement.
' "That being the case, the bearer of
those responsibilities has a special im-
pact," he said.
"The harm came, basically, in other
countries from the added authority
given to the material by the publication
here in a newspaper of the stature of
The New York Times," Mr. Shultz
said, "which has the reputation of
checking things out carefully and by a
writer who is probably about as es-
teemed in this field as anyone in the
world and who is known to have great
access to material, and who served, as
you noted, for two years in a post where
the full stream of the most sensitive in-
formation about the United States Gov-
ernment's activities flow by. So that
lends a credence and authority to what-
ever is published."
'A Special Problem'
Mr. Sarbanes asked if Mr. Shultz
meant that there would have been "no
problem" if it had been published in
'some weekly newspaper somewhere"
by "some cub reporter."
"No, I don't say that," Mr. Shultz re-
plied. "I just say there is a special
problem."
Mr. Shultz added, "I don't sit here
saying that I know the answers to this
problem."
In New York, Seymour Topping,
managing editor of The New York
Times, said in a statement: "The deci-
sion to publish the article in question
'was made by the editors of The Times,
not by Mr. Gelb. The editors took into
account factors affecting national se-
curity and our obligation to inform our
readers. Mr. Gelb consulted with White
House and State Department officials
before writing the article.
"Mr. Gelb left Government service
in 1979 and joined the staff of The
Times in 1981. He has fulfilled his
duties as a reporter without making
use of privileged information that
might have been obtained when he was
an official, and in full cognizance of all
his responsibilities."
Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/11/14: CIA-RDP90-00965R000302240029-3