SENIOR WHITE HOUSE OFFICIALS TO DISCUSS PREVENTING LEAKS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000504750003-1
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: February 24, 2012
• Sequence Number: 3
• Publication Date: May 24, 1986
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/02/27: CIA-RDP90-00965R000504750003-1
A55UCIATED PRESS
24 May 1986
SENIOR WHITE HOUSE OFFICIALS TO DISCUSS PREVENTING LEAKS
~By W. Dale Nelson
WASHINGTON
The White House is preparing for a meeting of high-level officials to discuss
tightened procedures for preventing leaks of classified national security
information, an administration official said today.
The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said papers had been
prepared by the National Security Council staff and distributed to officials of
other agencies for their information and possible comment.
The source said no date had been set for the meeting, which will be attended
by officials of government agencies and departments concerned with national
security.
"A number of papers were prepared in preparation for a senior-level meeting,
which has not yet taken place," the official said. "The papers were meant as an
effort to provide background material for the principals who would attend the
meeting, as well as to solicit ideas for better ways to protect classified
information whose dissemination could possibly be injurious to national
security." CIA Director William J. Casey has raised the possibility of taking
action, under a 1950 law not previously applied to the press, to prosecute news
organizations that reveal communications intelligence.
The anonymous official said no decisions had been made on any issues, such as
whether lie detector tests should be used to identify government officials who
leak classified information.
President Reagan signed an order in December requiring thousands of
government workers and contractor personnel with access to highly classified
information to take routine polygraph tests. Casey supported the idea, but
Secretary of State George P. Shultz said he would resign if ever required to
take such a test. Reagan said he would not be.
Casey has said that he referred to the Justice Department for pos5iblc
prosecution an NBC report on Monday concerning the trial of accused spy Ronald
W. Pelton. He said the report, if true, violated the 1950 law "against
publishing any classified information concerning the communications intelligence
activities of the United States."The CIA has also bEen reviewing an article
publisheo in The Washington Post on Wednesday saying Pelton had compromised an
intelligence operation that used a "high-technology device" to monitor Soviet
communications. The Post said it withheld some details from the story after
appeals from :asey and other officials.
White HOLE ic.okesman Larry Speaker has said it would be up to the Justice
repartment whether to prosecute such cases if asked to do so by Casey, and the
White House would not intervene.
Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/02/27: CIA-RDP90-00965R000504750003-1