PLAYING RUSSIAN ROULETTE WITH OUR SECRETS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000504400029-1
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: February 17, 2012
• Sequence Number: 29
• Publication Date: November 15, 1985
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Declassified and Apprrro~~ved For Release 2012/02/17 :CIA-RDP90-009658000504400029-1
ON PAGE .J~-
WASHINGTON TIMES
15 November 1985
PLAYING
RUSSIAN
ROULETTE
WRH OUR SECRETS
CORD MEYE~R
urittg the last few weeks,
the U.S. intelligence com-
munit , includin the CIA,
e ~ . an t to enate
and House Intelligence Committees,
has been sta erect b a series of
ma or b ows at m ttate the need
for prompt re orms an even m one
case or rat mstitutionarsur-
~ss- ublicized than the Vitaly
Yurc en co re- a ec ton, u ar
more senous m tts oten sas-
trous im act on the a ectiveness of
encan mte t ence t rou out
tote wor was t e recent ea c to e
p*?~s of the Reagan administration's
clandestine laps to weaken the Lib-
yan dictator, o . uammar a -
dafi.
~7nless drastic and effective ac-
tion is publicly seen to be taken to
reduce the possibility of such leaks
in the future, even the most friendly
foreign goventment will hesitate to
cooperate with the United States in
any joint enterprise that requires se-
crecy. It is no exa eration to state
that 1 cs as senous as t is one. tf
the o tin unished and unre 'red,
can ermanen cn e e s
abiliri to function m a gerous
world.
While the Justice Department's
Internal Security Section and the
FBI pursue the long and usually
fruitless search for the anonymous
individuals who leaked the story, Re-
publican Rep. Henry Hyde of Illi-
nois is finding a surge of new, bi-
partisan support in the House for a
joint resolution he introduced last
January. It calls for creation of a sin-
gle Joint Committee on Intelligence
to replace the two existing Senate
and House Intelligence Committees.
1 ho ugh part of Lhe ad_minietra-
tion's anti-Qaddafi plan appears to
have leaked from within the execu-
tive branch itself, Reagan officials
and tnn IA nffi pi'Q ATP (` n~^.nceA
that many of the details were leaked
Or Confirmed to the rr+cc by c~nrrpc
inside the 'ntelligence coin ittePc
It is Mr. Hyde's.contention that now
if ever i the time fort a Con ress
to clean up its act in its exercise o
. 'nL-telli~nce o_ ve_rci,Tht
The more than. SO House mem-
bers who support the Hyde
resolution believe that a single,
slimmed-down committee in the in-
telligence field would accomplish
two major objectives. As compared
with the 96 members and staffers
who now make up the two commit-
tees, asingle committee would allow
a drastic reduction in the number
exposed to the most sensitive se-
crets. In addition, the present
bloated and politicized staff-
structure could be replaced by a
small group of professional experts.
National Securitv Council
stafferc_ a_nd CLA officials
would warmly welcome this
institutton sure since tt wou
eliminate the duplication o
briefings now necessarv and would
provide the executive with a single
focal point of responsibility in the
Congress to deal with in times of
crisis. Former CIA directors Rich-
ard Helms. James Schlesinger. and
Stansfield TLrner are all on record
in favor of this overdue chan e, and
't o ~remai_nc fo
House leadership to get on the band-
w~n.
As compared with the Qaddafi
leak, the problems flowing from the
re-defection of Mr. Yurchenko are of
a different order of magnitude and
don't require drastic institutional
change.
There is a growing consensus in
~IIE ~? ~e~~'~`
the intelligence community that Mr.
Yurchenko was probably a genuine
defector and made his decision to
return to Russia for a complex vari-
ety of personal reasons. While the
possibility that he might have been a
double agent is being thoroughly ex-
plored, more attention is being paid
to what reforms in the handling of
genuine defectors are necessary to
keep them on our side.
There is general agreement that
the traumatic ex 'ence of defec-
tion re titres sensitive mane ement
by a coros o scecta tsts w o are
f?lly cnnvpresnt with the Rnccian
language and culture. Th testimony
of recent defectors clearly shows
that the CIA has a long wav to ?o to
improve its oerforma_nce .n his
field.
Survivors of the defection pro-
cess also make the point that early
attention should be paid to the defec-
tor's desperate need for the security
of a respectable job and an assured
place in society. Fortunately, a pri-
vately financed institution, the
Jamestown Foundation, now exists
to provide this kind of guidance, and
it has a remarkable record of suc-
cessfully helping many who were on
' the verge of re-defection. In the fu-
ture, this foundation will be called
upon at an early stage in the course
of resettlement.
n dealin with these defection
ro ems an wt so many
of er i~ftc~'tssues~FelTS-in-
telliaence agencies look orward to
thee da whwh_en the clan cooperate
wtt-1-i a QenumeTbtnartisanTnt
committee on Intelligence wtt a
small professional staff t atTi~oes not
'Ibstif in in closed session be-
fore the oversia t commtttees as
~thev are now constituted is for intel-
lt ence offictals like la in Russian
roulette wt t is nation's most valu-
able secrets.
Cord Meyer is a nationally syndi-
cated columnist.
Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/02/17 :CIA-RDP90-009658000504400029-1