IN PURSUIT OF SECRETS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000402650013-4
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 3
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: February 8, 2012
• Sequence Number: 13
• Publication Date: June 11, 1985
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

STAT
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/02/08: CIA-RDP90-00965R000402650013-4
*4ASHINGTON POST
Private Liver'"~ 11 June 1985
T T ?
By Nancy Hathaway
One of the rituals of beginning
friendship is the exchange of secrets.
For some, this is a difficult step, sel-
dom undertaken. For others, it is a
cathartic, thrilling event, and once the
process has begun, revelations tumble
but one after the other.
The mere fact that we classify a
particular piece of information as se-
cret means that it matters to us.
The content is not crucial. What is
important is simply this: Secrets have
power. They have power when we
don't tell them, and they have power
when we do. They are charged.
"Everyone has secrets that don't
get revealed to anyone," says Dr. Paul
Fox, a Los Angeles family psychia-
trist. Some of those are serious heavy-
duty secrets-the kind that can shape
entire lives, because the weight they
carry is more than symbolic.
Consider the woman with three
children who has never told her hus-
band-or anyone else-that she was
the victim of incest. Or the homosex-
pal who has been "in the closet" for
years. Or the new employee who re-
cently spent several months in a men-
tal institution and lied about it on his
job application.
But if these heavy-duty secrets are
revealed, consider the aftermath-as
in the recent revelations of Barbara
Walker, former wife of alleged spy
John Walker. According to published
reports, she suspected for some time
that her ex-husband may have been
selling secrets to the Russians. When
she did inform the FBI, her accusa-
tions led not only to the arrest of John
Walker, but also four others, including
Fier son Michael. Also, the alleged
felling of the secrets to a foreign gov-
ernment may have seriously compro-
mised national security.
Most of us, however, carry much
smaller secrets; we may not even
think of them as secrets. We just nev-
er talk about them. Ever. To anybody.
These secrets include fantasies,
wishes, feelings, sensations and mem-
ories-events that can range all the
of secrets
Way from the classically Freudian "pri-
mal scene"-seeing our parents make
love-to what might appear to be
ordinary, totally forgettable incidents
of childhood play. It doesn't matter
bow innocent or how minor they look
now. When we were children, they
didn't feel unimportant, and they
didn't seem innocent either-which is
one reason we kept them secret.
"A child's discovery that he alone
knows something can come as a relief
and a great joy," writes philosopher
Sissela Bok in SeeretS On the Ethics of
Concealment and Revelation. "To re-
alize that one has the power to remain
silent is linked to the understanding
that one can exert some control over
events-that one need not be entirely
transparent, entirely predictable."
i By its very existence, a secret dis-
iinguishes its bearer. In this way, the
subject matter is irrelevant. But in
another way, it is precisely the con-
tent that matters most, and in this (as
in so many other areas), we are fairly
predictable. Research findings from
the University of Michigan and psy-
dhological surveys taken in Holland
point to the same conclusion. We keep
our mouths shut about two major ar-
eas: sex and failure.
There are, of course, infinite vari-
ations on these themes. Today we are
more open about discussing sex than
we once were, but, says psychiatrist
and UCLA assistant clinical professor
Carole Lieberman, M.D., "sex is still a
secret. At its core, there's a really
secretive element." We feel relatively
free to discuss what we did; how we
truly felt about it is another matter.
As for failure, it can render us prac-
tically inarticulate. Almost every ex-
pression of it silences us; we keep
quiet about phobias, weaknesses, hu-
miliations and anything else we sus-
pect might diminish us. And when it
comes to sexual failure and rejections,
we just aren't talking.
We keep quiet not just about failure
per se but also about anything that
may cause us to reflect upon it. Chief
among this is money. A survey con-
ducted by Psychology Today maga-
zine suggests that most of us don't
discuss finances with anyone other
than our spouses. Only 44 percent of
those who answered the survey would
talk about their financial successes
with friends and relatives; only a third
would discuss financial failures. And
the more money we have, the less
likely we are to talk about it. It is a
subject that fills us with anxiety, and
our reactions to it can seem contra-
dictory. We want more of it, yet we
distrust it and those who have it.
Love has its own secrets-the ones
we share with one another, and the
ones we create together. Among
these are the light, playful secrets of
love: the secret names, the secret
games, the secret inexplicable feel-
ings. These secrets strengthen the tie
at the same time as they increase the
distance from the rest of the world.
Ideally, this creates strength and a
certain kind of autonomy.
At other times, however, keeping
the secret can have very negative
repercussions. A secret can form a
shell between us and the rest of the
world. While it increases the intimacy
among those who know the secret, it
also divides us from everyone else.
Within some families, there are things
that you're not allowed to discuss-
either inside the family or out. This
decision is conveyed by the total si-
lence that descends when the subject
is broached. Soon it is never even re-
ferred to, as if no one ever noticed
that Dad gets falling-down drunk or
that Mother and Father are always
screaming at each other behind closed
doors. "It becomes apparent that
there are things -not to be talked
about, and that's a damaging thing for
all concerned," Fox explains. "When a:
secret becomes a distortion of reality,
it's a problem." That's one reason we
need to grow beyond the family.
One way to move into the new
world is to reveal our secrets. For
some, this is extraordinarily difficult.
"If the style of the family is to main-
tain a lot of secrets, this could lead to
the children growing up and feeling
very uncomfortable about sharing
themselves-and especially sharing
anything that might not appear really
positive," comments Los Angeles psy-
chiatrist Dr. Leslie P. Lipson.
Secrets that remain hidden grow in
importance. When people have been
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harboring a secret for a long time,
Lipson says, "their own view of that
secret, their internal representation,
becomes very powerful compared to
what an outside, objective person
might think of it."
"The key is to be able to pick the
right people to share our inner secrets
with," says Lieberman. "Sometimes
people don't have many friends, and
they want them so badly they pick the
wrong people in hopes of turning
them into friends." Perhaps our
would-be confidants spread our se-
crets around. Or maybe they react in
a neutral, noncritical way and pass out
of our lives rather quickly. "In that
situation, a person sometimes feels
incredibly exposed and foolish," Lip-
son . states. By sharing our secrets
indiscriminately, we end
up feeling disappointed or
betrayed.
"Exchanging se-
crets is a kind of rit-
ualized courting that
goes on between two
people," says Lieber-
man. It is a necessary.
step on the road to
a relationship.
Each person draws from us a new
combination of secrets, for we don't
always share the same secrets with
everyone. But on some significant
level, the sharing must take place if
the relationship is to grow. "You can't
really be dose to people unless you
share some secrets, because that's
part of what builds up the trust," says
Lieberman.
Discussing other people's secrets
offers a way to gauge one's own re-
action to them, by providing a social
context and an opportunity to artic-
ulate. Hearing secrets illuminates the
inadequacy of one's previous concep-
tion of the world. We tell other peo-
ple's secrets because we believe it will
increase intimacy with the person we
tell.
We tell because we hope it will con-
fer prestige; we will show ourselves to
be in the know, and our status will rise
accordingly. We tell to demonstrate
our power. And we tell because we
cannot resist the lure of many happy
hours of discussion and analysis.
In many fields, the ability to be self-
contained, to keep secrets, is consid-
ered essential-but even then it is not
necessarily assumed. Consequently,
people in business and industry are
often asked to sign agreements that
specifically forbid divulging secrets
about such things as new products and
marketing strategies.
As difficult as it may be to keep
secrets about new manufacturing
techniques or advertising campaigns,
it can be even harder to keep secrets
about personnel. The executive sec-
retary who knows long before anyone
else that a company takeover is in the
works and that several staff members
are about to become unemployed car-
ries a different burden because she is
forced to prioritize her loyalties. Cor-
porate duties may conflict with per-
sonal feelings. The question of values
cannot be overlooked, for as soon as
secrecy becomes an issue, moral con-
siderations arise.
When we want to discuss a deeply
personal secret, we usually choose
someone we love. But sometimes
knowing what we know about human
nature and the grapevine, we may
break outside of our usual circle and
look elsewhere. Perhaps we seek a
professional-a doctor, psychiatrist,
priest or rabbi. We tell them, the se-
cret is diffused, we feel a lot better,
and we go about our lives.
But what about the people we tell?
"I suppose in the first year there was
an eagerness to come home and talk
about it:' says one psychiatrist. "But
when you've encountered the unusual
situation for the 45th time ..."
Medical and psychiatric secrets are
always personal, even when they are
small. A patient confides to her doctor
that her arthritis is acting up and it
makes sex painful and she is afraid to
tell her husband. "Medical secrets are
trivial on the one hand and contain so
much despair on the other," says phy-
sician Elliot Abravanel. "People need
comfort, and it's sometimes so un-
available. The difficulty for the doctor
is not the burden of keeping the se-
cret. It's the burden of :knowing other
people's dreams."
But what happens when the secret
revealed is an unusual one? What hap-
pens when the. patient is extremely
famous and the secret is very inter-
esting? "Strength forms around the
secret, and one realizes that one can
function fully and still have a lot inside
that carries energy. That's part of it,"
explains Abravanel. "The other part is
you're dying to tell. But it's intrinsic
to the contract that an important con-
fidence only go one way. The conse-
quences of betrayal are so devastating
and the value of betrayal-what you
get out of it-so trivial, that there's
no inclination to tell."
The issue of confidentiality is easily
clouded, however, especially when the
medical facts become significant to
others. If the president has a stroke, if
a candidate's cholesterol level is dan-
gerously high, the confidentiality must
be questioned. What is a physician's
responsibility when facts such as
these come to light? The greater ne-
cessity of public knowledge may out-
weigh the professional assumption of
confidentiality.
Confidentiality is perhaps more of
an issue with psychiatry than with any
other area. "The professionals that we
impose the highest level of secrecy on
are the therapists," says Los Angeles
social worker Maggie McGee. "I think
it has something to do with the atti-
tudes the general public has about the
contents of psychotherapy. There's a
stigma on psychological treatment.
Many clients don't even tell anyone
they're in therapy."
The entire arena is ringed with em-
barrassment and secrecy. When ther-
apists do discuss cases, they change
or omit certain aspects in order to
assure anonymity. And therapists
tend to rely on formal networks for
discussion-seminars, study groups,
conferences, journals.
. Under certain circumstances, how-
ever, a psychiatrist must reveal what
a patient has confided, no matter how
deeply personal that confession might
have been. Ever since 1969, when a
particularly gruesome case brought
these issues to public awareness, the
law has required it. The case took
place in California, where a student
had confided to his therapist that he
wanted to murder his girlfriend, Ta-
tinan Tarasoff. Believing it to be more
than just an idle daydream, the ther-
apist notified the police, who talked to
the young man. The matter was
dropped along with the therapy. Two
months went by. Then one day the
student went to Tarasoff's home and
killed her.
The girl's parents sued everyone
concerned for failing to warn either
them or their daughter that she was
in danger. The California Supreme
Court ruled that, indeed, the potential
victim should have been warned. Re-
ferring to the whole question of con-
fidentiality, the court wrote, "The
privilege ends when the public peril
begins."
But the question remains: "When
do you decide that someone is going
to harm someone else?" says Lieber-
man. "With many psychotic patients
who are very angry, who have vivid
fantasies and talk about killing, it's so
fuzzy you really can't predict."
Psychiatrists have wrestled with
these considerations, as have Catholic
theologians, regarding the confiden-
tiality of the confessional. The general
agreement is that there comes a point
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at which confidentiality must bow be-
fore society, where morality takes
precedence over therapy. But where
exactly that point is is not a simple
matter to determine.
The moral overtones of secrecy,
examined in detail by Sissela Bok in
her book Secrets, do not begin only at
the moment when human life is in
danger. Daniel Ellsberg, who sent the
Pentagon Papers to The New York
Times, was accused of treason by
some for spilling military secrets and
applauded by many others for a higher
patriotism. Ellsberg is somewhat of a
legend in the literature of secrecy, for
the drama surrounding him illumi-
nates many issues. When political con-
cerns center on the question of secre-
cy, moral issues are at stake. Secrecy
on behalf of national security, for ex-
ample, is revered by some as a most
important principle, necessary for our
freedom, while many others see it as a
threat to our civil liberties, a mask
used to cover the sometimes tyran-
nical blunders of government. The
military and the CIA have been ac-
d of abusing the privilege of se-
crecy: the press has been accused of
not respecting the need for secrecy
and of invading people I s privacy
Privacy and secrecy are, course,
not the same thing, although they are
often equated. "A private garden need
not be a secret garden; a private life is
rarely a secret life," Bok writes. As a
rule, we associate an open society
with individual privacy and an absence
of official secrecy; conversely, official
secrecy and an absence of individual
privacy are linked with an authoritar-
ian climate. "Secrecy and a free, dem-
ocratic government don't mix," Harry
Truman once said. Which is not to
say, however, that the issues are al-
ways clear. Whose desire matters
more: adopted children who want to
learn the identity of their birth par-
ents, or the parents, who gave up the
children and expected the records to
be sealed? How can we distinguish
between what ought to remain hidden
and what needs to be known?
"Secrecy may accompany the most
innocent as well as the most lethal
acts," writes Bok. "It is needed for
human survival, yet it enhances every
form of abuse."
This is why, politically, we distrust
secrecy. It's the difference between
the police and the secret police; what-
ever police abuses there might be, the
role of "secret police" sounds consid-
erably more ominous.
We are, then, of mixed minds about
secrets, because we wish to be set
apart and we wish to be joined togeth-
er; so sometimes we revel in having
secrets, and - sometimes we yearn to
tell secrets, and sometimes we itch to
hear secrets.
When we reveal our secrets we
open ourselves up to parts of us that
are most hidden, most idiosyncratic,
we reveal our deepest humanity and
our truest self.
49 1984. Nancy Hathaway;
distributed by LA Times Syndicate
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/02/08: CIA-RDP90-00965R000402650013-4