FACING DOWN GOVERNMENT SECURITY LEAKS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP91-00561R000100010035-2
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: February 17, 2012
• Sequence Number: 35
• Publication Date: April 11, 1986
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/02/17: CIA-RDP91-00561 R000100010035-2
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CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR
11 April 1985
CURTIS J. SITOMER
Facing down gsecurity leaks
BRITISH Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and Presi- the magazine that printed the photographs supplied by
dent Reagan are firm believers in tradition - Morison.
particularly when government security is at stake. What this now means is that the trial may proceed without
And both are banking on laws enacted in the early part of the government prosecutors having to show injury to the US.
the century to help plug growing leaks of classified informa- The US need only prove that the material in question was
tion in their respective lands. More important, Mrs. Thatcher classified and improperly used by the defendant.
is eager to preserve her country's Official Secrets Act (OSA) If Morison is found iltv, he would be the first in the US
of 1911, which is under fire in Parliament and could be ulti- to a convicted-under the Espionage Act who did net knnw-
cons
ith
f
?.
u , w
a
oreign power. A maximum penalty
The United States, at present, has no OSA. But it does co a 40 years in prison and a $40,000 fine.
have an Es ion e Act atin ac to 1917, which Mr. Expectedly civil liberties groups are alarmed over the
Reagan and administration would like to see broadened First Amendment implications of using a "spy" law to plug
for prosecuting private citizens who leak government rlacsi- security leaks by government employees. In 1971, the Nixon
fled information to the press and others.
and Anthony nusso for giving the Yen-
then, in effect, have its own offical-se- ? -f -
this a very real issue - and, to many, an
imminent danger.
Mrs. Thatcher recently lost a key defendants.. \ ..,. w l~sal wue pY~S vi trig
round in this battle when a British jury
refused to convict civil servant Clive i : _ Dore recently the Reagan adminis?
Ponting for violating the 1911 law. A? cidedn consi eyed. but ultimately de
senior government official of. the De- ~I `w T ci a against. pursuing a propos v
~ . ' the Central Intelligence Agency to make
fense Ministry, Mr. Ponting was in in.' -
~..-"Lev 1V.L close national secrets without
E. giving classified material to a member of -
auhoriti
zaon.
Parliament. His disclosures on the sink "It's a chilling wind " says John:.
ing of an Argentine cruiser .during the Shattuck, Harvard University vice-
r Falklands war, with the loss of more president and former counsel to the
than .350 lives, were at odds with the American Civil Liberties Union. "The
government's version of the episode.. fact that the CIA proposal was even : -
Ponting's acquittal is said to be a po- .made is a disturbing matter It would,
tentially. devastating blow -to Britain's Real secrets are protected by in effect, have created an official secrets
OSA. The secrets law likely won't be re- a range of laws in the US, Says act for classified information, Mr.
.
pealed. But important changes.may be -John Shattuck of Harvard... Shattuck says.:~_
in the wind - such as limiting its appli-'- The Harvard official insists that "real-
cation to only the most serious offenses,:- University. And the equivalent -. secrets" are protected by a range of stat-
-such as major violations of national se- of Britain's Official Secrets Act . utory law. And he says the equivalent of..
curity, as. opposed to minor infringe- Britain's Official Secrets Act in the US
mens of civil service rules here would be in direct conflict = would be in direct conflict with they
Meanwhile. on this side of the Atlan- with the Constitution. - - - Constitution.' < t,`
tic, a feder court in Baltimore is h ar- _
.-:.: :. .. ~ . Alan Adler, legal counsel for the Cent
in-ea case brought by the government against Navv intelh ter for National Security Studies, has similar concerns. And
gence analyst Samuel Loring Morison. Mr. Morison is ac- ' he says the media'should be especially worried. Mr. Adler ex-
cused of selling classified photographs to a British magazine, plains that Judge Young's ruling in the Morison case sends the
"Jane's Defence Weekly which publish d them last summer, message that "espionage laws apply to unauthorized disclo-
The photos showed a Soviet aircraft carrier under onst, ic:_ _sures of classified information to the press."
{ tion at-4-port in the Black Sea. The media are worried. What the government sees as a
There were no spies involved or any hint of traitorous con- bolsterino national security by using the clout of criminal
duct. And the case seemed to be of minor interest until US prosecution (even a "s v ' law) against of en ers wo
District Judge Joseph H. Young recently ruled -in denying a sureviewe by the press as a muzzling o ormation
motion to dismiss - that Mr. Morison could be prosecuted an a censoring of the public's right to ow
under the 1917 Espionage Act. The government had argued -
that this law applied to the situation since foreign agents read A Thursday column
Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/02/17: CIA-RDP91-00561 R000100010035-2