THE PROBLEM OF KEEPING SO MANY SECRETS SECRET

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000402700032-7
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: February 28, 2012
• Sequence Number: 32
• Publication Date: April 19, 1983
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/02/29: CIA-RDP90-00965R000402700032-7
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N'E'?' YORK TIMES
19 APRIL 1983
?'he Problem of Keeping
So Many Secrets Secret
By RICHARD HALLORAN In a random check, the oversight of- clearly been necessary. Others have
fice estimated that 600,000 papers had been frivolous, orPed at least have not fit
Special to The New York Times been classified without authority; an- definitions stam on .
WASHINGTON, April 18 - Ever other 800,000 had been classified un. The instance, cover lass fi
since the Government contrived its necessarily. Officials with delegated as top C.I.A.,
secret a report based classi fied
system for keeping secrets during authority marked 1.2 million docu- photographs ~ phs in 19 96h 2 that 33 based Sovi aerial
et mis-
World War II, Presidents have been ments as if they had original author- siles and 23 launchers were in Cuba,
labveng,clmsitiy info ~on fmm it y; in 2.2 wmillion ere imposed.
evidently becausehthe agency wanted
spilling out, except when they want it to conceal the extent and method of
to. Today, more than half the classify- the surveillance.
i. A o
m
b
_ u,C ,,,,,M, t?~,eC?- 11&5 "`="
uring the war in Vietnam, how
.
Defense State, Ene
President Reagan, who a year ago partments Justice and of the Central I
~~ the Joint Chiefs of Staff made
t
lli e
n
e
nce
issued an executive order designed to Agency, all concerned with national teal oegrfamt that tdi ect~t eldn corn
tihten controls over secrets. Last security. The Energy Department manders in Vietnam to minimize pub.
month he reinforced that order by di- makes nuclear weapons while the Jus- licity about American air stri es
recting officials to sign secrecy agree- tice Department includes the Federal
k.
h
d
ments an
, w
en unauthorized disclo- Bureau of Investigation and internal The State Department classified as
surer did occur, to cooperate with in- security. secret a highly sensitive negotiating
vestigators and submit to lie detector Between Oct. 1, 1981 and July 31, Plan to bring the nation's balance of
tests. 1982, the Defense international payments under control
The President's orders, however, classified 11,691,876 pieces of informer in I But it also classified secret
may be unenforceable because of the tion, with 301,355 stamped "top se- ca routine on the Soviet et election staggering expanse of Government cret." The department also had bmentariess
secrets and the chaotic system that 1,210,014 top secret documents in its President Truman in 1948.
has evolved over 40 years to control inventory, according to a departmen_ Evaluation of the F-18
their dissemination. tal report.
The Information Security Oversight "Top secret" is defined as meaning leach paragraph in a classified
Office, which monitors the system for that unauthorized disclosure could paper may bear a different marking,
the rational Security Council, says cause "exceptionally depending on its gravity. In the Penta-
ys grave damage gon's newest Defense Guidance,
in 1980, the year of its latest fur- to the national security," such as an which provides strategic direction for the cl self classifications on 16 million pieces f disclosure could ~causet"serious dame the armed forces, this seemingly in-
information. The office estimated an age," such as compromising a miii- nocuous paragraph was marked se-
annual growth of 10 percent, which tary or intelligence operation, while mot' The Air Force must be able, in
would put the 1983 figure over 21 mil- "confidential" could cause "dam- conjunction with other U.S. forces and
our allies, to deter aggression and de-
lionp age," such as revealing production feat it should aggression data on war munitions. occur. This
Within the Government, 7,150 ,offs- means the projection, application,
cials in 1980 had what is known as 'A Judgment Call' and sustainment of air power."
original authority to declare informa- Each agency has regulations to More recently, the Navy marked as
tion secret. But they had delegated to specify what should be classified and confidential a message from Norfolk,
113,000 other officials the authority to at what level. The Pentagon has 19,000 Va., to Washington last November as-
decide what should be kept secret. Un- guidelines. But officials asserted that serting that the F-18 Hornet fighter
counted hundreds of thousands of decisions are really left to each offi- bomber, after tests, "is not operation-
other officials had access to those se- cial. "It's k Judgment call," said one. ally suitable" and recommending
Over the years, some secrets have against approval for service use.
Random Check for Abuses Earlier, however, the same confi-
While the information office as-
serted that most officials in the 100
Government agencies empowered to
classify information abided by regula-
tions, it acknowledged in a 1981 report
to the President that there had been
abuses.
g
ne
y five agencies: the De-
D
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/02/29: CIA-RDP90-00965R000402700032-7
 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/02/29: CIA-RDP90-00965R000402700032-70Z
dential marking was stamped on a
telegram from the American Em-
bassy in Tokyo to the State Depart-
ment in 1964 reporting that Japan Air_
Lines wanted to fly into New York.
Anyone who had read a Japanese'
newspaper had known that for
months.
An official in the system here ac-
knowledged that there is "an instinct
to overclassify" and said: "Most of
that is done by top political appointees
who haven't worked in the system be-
fore." Checks turn up abuses, he said,
but "the bureaucratic burden to
change is such that most people think
it not worth the effort."
Rules Sometimes Ignored
The President's executive order for-
bids classifying information "to con-
ceal violations of law, inefficiency, or
administrative error" or "to prevent
embarrassment" or "to restrain
competition." Officials suggested
those rules were sometimes ignored.
The order further provides that
abuses could be punished with a repri.
mand, suspension without pay, re-
moval or terminating the right to clas-
sify. But officials could not recall off-
hand having heard of anyone sub.
jected to those sanctions.
Beyond the sheer size of the secrecy
program, trying to enforce it may be
illegal. Congress has never passed a
law specifically setting up the pro-
cess. Instead, the President has relied
on his constitutional authority to con-
duct foreign policy and organize na-
tional security to issue executive or-
ders on secrecy. V
Said one knowledgeable official,
speaking on condition that his identity
remain secret: "There are no laws
giving the President the authority to
classify anvthine."
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/02/29: CIA-RDP90-00965R000402700032-7