ADMINISTRATION SEEMS TO SOFTEN PRESS WARNING

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000403710014-5
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: February 27, 2012
• Sequence Number: 14
• Publication Date: May 31, 1986
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Declassified in Part -Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/02/28 :CIA-RDP90-009658000403710014-5
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31 May 1986 ~
LT. GEN. WILLIAM E. ODOM
...proposed threat of prorecutios
Administration
Seems to Soften
Press warning
By George Lerdner Jr.
Washington Post Stall Writer
The White House appeared to
take a softer line yesterday on the
administration's controversial warn-
ing to journalists at an espionage
trial in Baltimore to confine their
reporting to the government's dis-
closures.
White House spokesman Edward
Djerejian also declined to expand
the warning concerning the trial of
accused Soviet spy Ronald W. Pel-
ton into a general rule that might be
applicable to reporting on national
security matters.
"The immediate focus [is] at the
Pelton trial, and the information
that is involved at that trial," Djere-
jian told reporters. He said there as
"a larger question" beyond that, but
he went on to describe that larger
issue as how the admirastration can
best prevent leaks of sensitive in-
formation by its officials.
"It's not a question of going after
the press; Djerejian said. "I think
that's been hyped."
Central Intelligence Agency Di-
rector Wiliam J. Casey and Lt. Gen.
William E. Odom, the director of
the National Security Agency, is-
sued ajoint- statement Wednesday
following the pubGcatioa of stories
about the first day of the Pelton
trial. It "cautioned" reporters
"against speculation and reporting
details beyond the information ac-
tually released at trial."
The statement, approved in atd-
vance by President Reagan's na-
tional security affairs adviser, John
M. Poindexter, warned that such
reporting would not constitute "au-
thorized disclosures" and might
"cause "substantial harm to the na-
tional security."
A final sentence in a draft com-
posed by Odom admonished jour
nalists that they could be prose-
cuted under a 1950 law prohibiting
publication of classified information
about U.S. code-breaking activities.
That line, however, was deleted
from the official statlrftent.
In opening state~'nts at the trial
of Pelton, a forme~IC,snid-level staff
officer in the I'~bnal Security
Agency's Soviet communications
unit, the government made what
many regarded as extraordinary
disclosures about IJ,S, abilities to
intercept and decode Soviet mes-
sages. Subsequent news stories and
broadcasts contained background
and details that, combined with
leaks over the last six months, con-
cerned Casey and Odom, the NSA
director said.
By Thursday, Casey, facing crit-
icism from journalists and First
Amendment authorities, told The
Associated Press he was not trying
to "scuttle the First Amendment."
Criticized especially for seeming to
say that journalistic "speculation"
could: result in criminal prosecution,
Casey add'ed' that "if I had to do it
over again, I might not use that
word."
Ajerejian agreed that "a better
word tt2an speculation could have
been found."
He also said the White House
endorsed only "the genera! thrust"
of the Casey-Odom statement. "In
no way do we mean to imply, by the
use of 'speculation,' prior press cen-
sorship or press censorship or in
any way impinging on the freedoms
of the press to report information
and events," Djerejian said.:
Casey was scheduled to Ae at the
White House yesterday fora cer-
emony at which Reagan.awa~ded a
Distinguished Service Medal. post-
humously to Navy Capt. Joseph J.
Rochefort, whose long:unrecog-
-1
STAT
nized code-breaking successes led
to the U.S. victory at Midway Is-
land in World War II. Casey, for
unexplained reasons, did not come
to the ceremony, but a White House
official joked that if he had, "He was
going to come with instructions tell-
ing the press not to speculate on
how Rochefort did it."
Staff writer Lou Cannon
contributed to this report.
Declassified in Part -Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/02/28 :CIA-RDP90-009658000403710014-5