2-MONTH INQUIRY BY F.B.I. FAILS TO FIND SOURCE OF DISCLOSURES

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP91-00561R000100030014-3
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: February 9, 2012
• Sequence Number: 14
• Publication Date: November 24, 1983
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Si Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/02/09: CIA-R
ARTICLE APPEARED - NEW YORK TIMES
01 PAGE 24 November 1983
2-Month Inquiry by F.B.I. Fails to Find
By STEVEN R.WEISMAIV (Source of Disclosures
S
pecial to YLe New Yort Timm
WASHINGTON, Nov. 23 - A two-
month-old investigation ordered by
President Reagan has failed to deter-
mine who disclosed information about
United States military options in Leba.
non, Administration officials said
today.
Several officials said further that
they doubted the Federal Bureau of In- j
vestigatton would succeed in uncover-
ing the sources of the information given
to news organizations in September.
But they said the inquiry would at least
have the effect of warning people in the
Administration against giving out clas-
sified material.
According to the officials, the investi-
gation was the most widespread at-
tempt by President Reagan to clamp
down on unauthorized "leaks" to the
news media.
They said it had entailed interviews
by F.E.I. agents with Secretary oi'M
State George P. Shultz; Defense Secre-
tary Caspar W. Weinberger; William
3. Casey, Director of Central Intelli-1,
gence; James A. Baker 3d, the White'
House chief of staff, and others.
An Administration official, remark-
ing that it was extraordinary for the
F.B.I. to interview such senior offi-,
cials, emphasized that the investiga-
tion was criminal, not civil, in nature
and therefore all the more explosive.
He would not discuss what criminal
violations might have taken place.
By several accounts, the investiga.
lion has raised tensions and suspicions
at the White House and created enor-
mous controversy over its advisability.
Several Administration officials, ask-
ing not to be identified, deplored it.
One official said it was "entirely pos-
sible" that wiretaps had been author-
ized for both Administration aides and
news reporters.
Administration officials said Mr.
Reagan had authorized the investiga-
tion in a letter to Attorney General Wil-
liam French Smith. The letter was de-
scribed by officials as ambiguous with
regard to the means the F.B.I. could
use in its inquiry.
It could not be determined today
whether the bureau had tried to use
polygraph, or lie-detector tests,. or
associated with him," had given out
the information.
Clark `Overreacted'
Still another official said that Mr.
Clark had "overreacted" and created
needless internal suspicions. Mr.
According to Administration offi-
cials today, these particular reports
did not alarm Mr. Clark or others.
Rather, they were said to be alarmed
by some reports at the time, including
one in The Washington Post and on
some television broadcasts, that Mr.
McFarlane had urged this course of ac-
tion.
An Administration official said there
was widespread skepticism in the Ad-
ministration of Mr. Clark's argument
that Mr. McFarlane's life might have
been in danger because of these news
reports. Another official said Mr. Clark
suspected that Mr. Baker, "or someone
whether there was any truth to the sug- 1 bontinue ana that it might be suppie-
ggesti
th that telephone taps had been mented by air strikes.
n
Danger to McFarlane
Edwin Meese 3d, the White House
counselor, told reporters today that the
investigation began because of Mr.
Reagan's eoooern that disciosures
about American military actions en-the safety and mission of
Robe tCC. McFarlane, who in Septem-
ber was the special Middle East envoy.
Mr. McFarlane has since become Mr.
Reagan's national security adviser.
Administration officials said that
William P. Clark, then the national so-
curity adviser, instigated the investi-
gation after news reports that Mr.
McFarlane had urged American mili-
tary retaliation against antigovern-
ment forces in Lebanon.
Mr. Meese, the only official who
agreed to be quoted by name in discuss.
ing the investigation, said the fear was
A White House official described the
investigation as "a typical shot across
the bow" by Mr. Clark, who had a long
history of disputes with colleagues at
the White House over unauthorized dis-
closures of information and other mat-
ters. Another official said Mr. Clark
had found an ally in Mr. Meese in get-
ting Mr. Reagan to approve the probe.
The official said Mr. Clark himself
had submitted to an F.B.I. interview.
Unauthorized disclosures would be
prosecuted as violations of the Espio-
nage Act or as theft of Government
property, according to an Administra-
tion report last year.
that the articles would "add to the jeop- Clark, who was sworn in this week as
ardy" that Mr. McFarlane felt in his di- Interior Secretary, was at his ranch in
plomacy involving constant travel to San Luis Obispo and not available for
Syria, Lebanon, Israel and other places comment, according to his Interior De-
in the Middle East. partment office.
there appeared that a criminal law had
been violated, and. so he made the re-
quest for an investigation," Mr. Meese
told reporters in Santa Barbara, Calif.,
where he was staying with Mr. Reagan
for the Thanksgiving holiday.
An unusual aspect of the investiga-
tion appeared to be that it centered, not
on accounts of the military plans them-
selves in Lebanon, but on the report
that Mr. McFarlane had recommended
military action.
Security Council Accounts
The articles in question were said
today to have followed a National Se-
curity Council meeting Sept. 12, sev-
eral days after United States warships
began shelling the hills southeast of
Beirut. From those hills, Druse militia-
men had been firing on the area where
American Marines were based.
Throughout this period, American of-
ficials warned : that the United States
would take actions to defend the Ma-
rines. At the time, Administration offi-
cials seemed to be wanting to get the
word out that the naval shelling might
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/02/09: CIA-RDP91-00561 R000100030014-3