BAD IDEA FROM CIA

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP91-00561R000100020037-9
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: February 17, 2012
• Sequence Number: 37
• Publication Date: March 22, 1985
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/02/17: CIA-RDP91-00561 R000100020037-9
STAT LOTISVILLE TIMES (KY)
22 *larch 1985
iidea from CIA
yAnti-Ieak proposal could even snare Reagan
'-' The Central Intelligence Agency
wants to make lawbreakers out of most
F of the upper echelon of the United
States government. That would be the
effect of the agency's proposal for a
U. S. version of the British Official
Secrets Act.
According to The New York Times,
the CIA wants make it a crime for
government employees or former em-
ployees to disclose classified informa-
-,; tion - any of the millions of docu-
mnents the government designates each
'--year, some of which contain no secrets
without authorization. The offense
would carry a maximum penalty of five
years in prison and a $25,000 fine.
The move is designed to remove all
.legal doubts that have been raised in
the case involving Samuel Loring.
Ulorison, who is accused of having sent
-three U. S. satellite photos of a Soviet
i-,`-aircraft carrier under construction to
'.l'ane's Defense Weekly, a British publi-
cajion. Mr. Morison has been charged
~vith violating the Espionage Act,
;passed during World War 1, and with
ii: theft of government property. Both
,laws have been used in this context
only once before - the unsuccessful
prosecution of Daniel Ellsberg and An-
thony Russo for giving the Pentagon
Papers to the press.
'Previous attempts by those close to
Mr. Reagan to drape the government in
a cloak of secrecy unprecedented in
peacetime have included increased use
of lie detectors to trace the source of
unauthorized disclosures and require-
ments that certain officials sign agree-
ments that they will not release infor-
mation to unauthorized persons.
At best these "plumbing" efforts -
especially at the Pentagon - have been
heavy-handed political maneuvers: at
worst, they appear designed to prevent
the kind of public scrutiny and discus-
sion of policy essential in a free and
open society. .
And this latest salvo in the war
against the time-honored Washington
tradition of "leaking" could backfire on
any administration at any moment.
Those at high levels, including Presi-
dents and Cabinet members, have nev-
er hesitated to divulge sensitive infor-
mation when it serves their purposes.
President Reagan did exactly that
when he used aerial reconnaissance
photographs on national television to
support the administration's claim that
the Soviet Union was trying to extend
its military influence into the Caribbe-
an. As former U. S. Sen. Walter "Dee"
Huddleston of Kentucky observed, he
was selectively using classified material
"to promote one side of the debate."
The late President Lyndon Johnson
and former Secretary of State Henry
Kissinger won reputations as "leakers"
of some skill. After leaving govern-
ment, Mr. Kissinger selectively used
classified material in his memoirs in
order to shed a more positive light on
his years of public service.'
Thus far, the administration hasn't
officially acknowledged the CIA pro-
posal. If it officially surfaces, Congress
should reject it decisively. Our espio-
nage laws are sufficient, as former CIA
director William E. Colby acknowl-
edged in 1979. Congress, he said, "has
drawn a line between espionage for a
foreign power and simple disclosure of
foreign-policy and defense secrets, and
decided that the latter problems are an
acceptable cost of the kind of society we.
prefer." That distinction must stand.
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/02/17: CIA-RDP91-00561 R000100020037-9