SEN. BYRD DEPLORES RASH OF LEAKS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000403710019-0
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: February 27, 2012
• Sequence Number: 19
• Publication Date: May 14, 1986
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

A Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/02/28: CIA-RDP90-00965R000403710019-0
:., -APPEARED
5
WASHINGTON POST
14 May 1986
Sen. Byrd Deplores Rash of Leaks
One report on newsstands before
the Libyan raid, in Time magazine's
edition dated April 21, quoted a top
Senate Minority Leader Robert intelligence official as saying leaks
C. Byrd (D-W.Va.) yesterday de- were so damaging to U.S. planned
pbred what he described as a ? action that the raid had to be post-
steady stream of leaks and loose poned at least once, Byrd said.
talk from the Reagan administration CIA Director William J. Casey
in the week before the April 14 mil- has recently talked of possible rim-
itary strike against Libya. ina rosecution of five news organ-
A study by the Senate Democrat- izations for publishing details o
is Policy Committee shows the S. intelli ence-gat ering o ra-
leaks amounted to a "hemorrhaging tions, particularly reports a out
of vital military information and interc~Libyan messages. The
planning" that could have jeopar- mocratic Policy Committee stu-
dized the mission, said Byrd, the dy did not address that issue.
group's chairman. The committee's study-"The
"The military action was under- Not-So-Secret Raid Against Lib-
taken only after a full week of news yam-gives a day-by-day chronology
reports that quoted administration of events and news reports follow-
officials revealing the nature of the ing the April 5 bomb explosion in a
mission, against whom the raid West Berlin discotheque that killed
would take place, roughly when it a U.S. soldier and a Turkish woman
would occur, what targets would and injured 204 people.
probably be struck, and which coun- On April 7, U.S. Ambassador to
tries would and would not assist it,-:-/-West Germany Richard
he said in a Senate speech. V on NBC's "Tod y s ow that "there
By George Lardner Jr.
Wa,hington Post Stan Writer
are very clear indications that there
was Libyan involvement" and that
President Reagan was studying the
question of military action "right
now."
That evening, ABC's "World
News Tonight" quoted U.S. intel-
ligence sources as saying that "after
the bombing, there were messages
from Libya to its embassy in East
Berlin which indicated clear knowl-
edge of details of the terrorist at-
tack and which in essence offered
praise for a job well done." CBS's
"Evening News" cited "intercepted
messages dispatched from Libya to
its operatives in East Berlin."
The next morning, April 8, The
Washington Post reported that Burt
had been told to be "more circum-
spect in his public statements" but
said U.S. officials had confirmed the
accuracy of his remarks. The Wall
Street Journal, meanwhile, reported
that Reagan was studying several
possible measures, such as a strike
against two Libyan missile sites.
That night, CBS' "Evening News"
reported that the administration
had "reached a consensus for mil-
itary retaliation" and discussed pos-
sible targets.
The New York Times reported
April 9 that a State Department
official who had been openly skep-
tical of evidence used to link Libya
to last December's Rome and Vi-
enna airport attacks was now saying
"I have absolutely no doubt this
time. We have the goods." ABC's
"World News Tonight" said a strike
against Libya was in the works.
On April 10, USA Today re-
ported two U.S. aircraft carrier bat-
tle groups were ordered to remain
in the Mediterranean, and NBC's
"Nightly News" said the Defense
Department was making "final plans
for a retaliatory strike."
Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/02/28: CIA-RDP90-00965R000403710019-0