BAD TIME FOR A SECRETS BAN

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP91-00561R000100020029-8
• 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: March 31, 1985
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/02/17: CIA-RDP91-00561 R000100020029-8
NEW YORK TIMES
PLnff 31 March, 1985
ON 4-7
Bad Time for
A Secrets Ban
In Washington's lexicon, trial bal-
loons are vessels that carry "leaks"
about possible policies. High offi-
cials commonly float them to test
political sentiment, though some.
times they send them up to arouse it.
William J. Casey, the Director of
Central Intelli , floated one of
his own w1um on
to
roDosal. --
earlier this mon . a o
make it a crime for Government em-
plloyees deliberately to disclose "am
classified information" without au-
horization- week, said-an Ad-
ministration official who asked not
to r timed it was shot down,
with Mr. Casey's acduiescence.
The Reagan Administration has
been worrying for some time about
disclosures of national secrets. But
its initiatives for containing them,
from lifelong censorship of certain
officials' writing to increased use of
lie-detector tests, have met with
strong opposition an Capitol Hill.
Talk of a broad new official secrets
act was already stiffening Congres-
sional spines. That, Administration
officials said, was one factor in the
decision not to pursue the proposal.
Another, they said, was a sense that
that the timing was off. The Justice
Department is arguing in a pending
case that disclosure is already a
crime on the nation's books, a view
upheld in a pretrial ruling by a Fed-
eral District Judge.
Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/02/17: CIA-RDP91-00561 R000100020029-8