HIDING BEHIND A 'TOP SECRET' VEIL

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP91-00561R000100030066-6
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: February 9, 2012
• Sequence Number: 66
• Publication Date: September 1, 1983
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sl Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/02/09: CIA-RDP91-00561 R000100030066-6
ATLANTA CONSTITUTION e~Z t_~
1 September 1983
Hiding behind
a `top secret' veil
Two systems of checks and balances have
traditionally leavened White House power. The
first one is formal, written into the U.S. Con-
stitution: All the president's men and women
must answer to Congress and the Supreme
Court.
The other system is not so formal. It is, in
fact, sloppy, unpredictable and sometimes un-
fair. But it has stopped more than one adnxia-
istration from continued abuses of power. It is
the time-honored game of "leaking" to the.
press.
The Reagan administration has had quite
enough of that system. So last week, it imple-
mented a new policy: Federal employees with
access to top-secret material must get prior
government approval for speeches and pub-
lished articles, and they -must sign a pledge of
secrecy. Lie detectors may be used to unmask
violators.
This is a crackdown laden with disturbing
Implications. Certainly, there are government
secrets that must be protected, particularly in
the areas of defense and intelligence. But rules
regulating disclosures should be drawn up with
specificity and restraint. Otherwise, they come
to serve as a smoke screen to c"cficeal official
deceit and folly. They serve to gag officials of
But shouldn't the designation "top secret"
be protected? The answer is: not always. In
practice, top-secret classification is routinely
given to mundane government -.data (even to
the White House menu once), and there are
higher classification ratings.
In truth, this crackdown is part of a larger
effort to limit public access to official infor-
mation. The administration has asked Con-
gress to outlaw "improper" disclosures. It has
relieved classifiers of their duty to consider
the public's right to know. And it continues ef-
forts to weaken the Freedom of Information
Act.
Leaks can damage national security, but
they rarely do - and there are clear legal li-
abilities which deter actual risks to security.
More often, leaks serve to reveal certain unsa.
vory facts that an administration is trying to
hide from the public. Usually, the public
comes away the wiser and an administration
comes away the better. It is not a tidy system,
but it works.
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/02/09: CIA-RDP91-00561 R000100030066-6