THE CIA: SOMETHIGN SINISTER?

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000403690005-8
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: January 13, 2012
• Sequence Number: 5
• Publication Date: April 1, 1986
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/13: CIA-RDP90-00965R000403690005-8
LSE AP
PEAR'EB . 7
WASHINGTON POST
1 April 1986
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Joe Laitin
The CIA:
Something
Sinister?
Today marks the end of my first
month as ombudsman. This isn't the
first time that I've been in an adver-
sarial relationship with editors and re-
porters. In government, it was that way
all the time. In this capacity, even when
I had conclusive proof that a news story
was wrong, the reporter's excuse of last
resort, once confronted with the facts,
was: "Well, you must remember, we
news people are only human." As a gov-
ernment official, I always felt this ex-
cuse was based on a false premise.
Now that I am an inhabitant of the
Post newsroom, I find I like the climate
and the people. It is filled with hard-
Ombudsman
working and dedicated men and women
who set out each day to report the news
as fairly and accurately as possible. In
observing them gather the news, I have
even detected slight traces of humility,
something I'd never sensed before. Con-
sidering the deadline pressures, the in-
stant decisions that must be made all
through the day, I'm genuinely sur-
prised with the quality and that more
errors do not appear in print.
Now, having said that, let me state
that there's plenty of room for improve-
ment. My internal critiques have been
blunt. I'm not much on grammar, al-
though I love the English language; ac-
curacy, fairness, good taste and content
are my main concerns.
For example, I noted that entirely too
much space was given to John Hinck-
ley's effort to gain more freedom. No-
body listened. The use of photos that
were unfair or unflattering to the sub?
ject bothered me. I got nowhere. I took
exception to feature stories that told me
more than I wanted to know. You've no-
ticed, I'm sure, how brief those articles
have become.
The month has not been without
some reward. For instance, one of my
first internal memos came back from
the office of Donald Graham, the pub-
lisher of The Post, with this handwritten
notation: "I disagree with what you
wrote ... but keep it up. Terrific." The
last time a newspaper publisher disa-
greed with something I wrote, guess
which one of us went looking for an-
other job?
In reading The Post with close scru-
tiny the past few weeks, I was panc~u-
larly incensed over two stories, one
about some members of a Hass c o
the other about the CIA. Both stories
used language and innuendo un' tl .
Let me deal with the offending story
a ut -the -CV. (The Hasidic article was
effectively dealt with in a letter to the
editor Saturday)
The dateline was Oman, a tiny sulta-
nate so strategically situated in the Mid-
dle East that you don't have to have a
Ph.D. in geopolitics to sense its vital im-
portance to the free world.
The Post correspondent wrote of one
James H. ritchfield of Arlington, Va.,
who is president ot a company oing
business in Oman. Mr. Critchfield is a
former CIA official, and the corres nd-
ent referred to in a way that made
it seem as ou a d uuneRUFRW
dark side of his life, the implication
being that t ere was something sinister
about an ex-CIA employee running a
business in Oman.
Mr. ritch is eld, who was phoned at
his Arhng!on number by The Post,
"confirmed" his previous association
with e , wtuch was already known
to The Post and practically everybody
else. It may come as a surprise to some
reporters an editors thmat many CtA
operatives were and are tine, u -
i g, patriotic Americans who, naive as it
may seem, really and truly believe they
serve their country honorably.
I haven't seen a person indicted by
the use of language this way since a
newspaper in a Republican stronghold
reported that "The witness admitted
under cross-examination that he had
once been a member of the Democratic
Party."
is difficult to say at the moment
how often this column will appear. So
far, most of my time and energy has
been spent on internal memos. I func-
tion better that way, even in govern-
ment. Others were whistle-blowers; I
fought my battles in the back room.
But I may avail myself of this space
when I feel it necessary to help facilitate
communications. It is a little trick you
learn in government. When you aren't
getting through to your colleagues in
the Cabinet or to the president himself,
the most effective way to get their at-
tention is through the pages of The
Post.
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/13: CIA-RDP90-00965R000403690005-8