REAGAN WARNS U.S. EMPLOYES AGAINST LEAKS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP91-00561R000100030068-4
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: February 17, 2012
• Sequence Number: 68
• Publication Date: September 1, 1983
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/02/17: Cl
ARTICLE APPEAR
01i PAGE:_ - 1
Reagan Warns
U.S. Ernol oyes
Against Leaks
By Michael Get.ler
\ ,,_,nmztonPostStaff Writer
Millions of federal employes soon
will receive a toughly worded mem-
orandum from President Reagan
reminding them that unauthorized
disclosure of classified information is
"improper, unethical, plain wrong"
and "illegal." and warning that "ap-
propriate administrative action" will
be taken against, anyone found to
have made such a disclosure.
."Where circumstances warrant,
cases will also be referred for crim-
inal prosecution " the memo adds.
The memo is the lateest, step in
Reagar.'s continuing campaign to
shut off leaks to the media of clas-.
sified information dealing with dip-
lomatic, military and intelligence
activities. The t.wo-page document
was given to Cabinet, officers Tues-
day for distribution within their
agencies.
Long-standing government direc-
tives fnrbid unauthorized disclosures
by emah yes of agencies that normal-
h d a'. y:ah national security policy.
such the Department of Defense,
CIA and, the National Security
Agenc..
Bu: ;:chnmistratloll officials said
they could not recall any previous
in,.ance where a president had sent
a personal memorandum dealing
WASHINGTON POST
1 September 1983
"it.h a national security issue to all federal
employes, who now total about 2.6 million.
"It is unusual. and it is intended to he."
said one senior administration official.
In his memo, the president said he was
doing this to "underscore ... the serious-
ness" of the problem.
While most administrations have com-
plained of media leaks, Reagan has made a
.special point of it, saying in February that
he was "up to my keister" with leaks.
On March 11 the president signed a new
executive order that significantly expanded
previous directives. Among other things, it
directed all persons in any agency with ac-
cess to classified information to sign a non-
disclosure agreement.
It also ordered a revision of existing reg-
:-ulations so that all federal employes could
be required to take lie detector tests, and it
approved "adverse consequences"-as a min-
imum punishment for persons refusing such
tests.
The March directive was challenged
sharply by civil liberties groups and many
journalists as an attempt to curtail freedom
of information, intimidate the bureaucracy,
stile public debate on security policy and
inhibit news reporting.
Many critics also argued that informa-
tion frequently is classified for reasons hav-
ing little to do with national security and
that the government frequently leaks such
infar:nation v. hen it suits its purpose.
in duly. the House and Senate both
voted to prohibit, the Pentagon temporarily
from expanding use of lie detectors.
Administration officials made the mem-
orandum available to The Washington Post
yesterday and consented to be interviewed
provided they were not be identified.
They portrayed the document as an at-
tempt by the president to appeal directly to
government employes' sense of responsibil-
ity and public trust.
"As public servants. we have no legiti-
mate excuse for resorting; to these unautho-
rized disclosures." the president said, aru-
ing that "there are other means available to
express ourselves." including the right to
quit and speak out later.
(The March directive, however, requires
all former bureaucrats to submit future
writings based on their government work to
pre-publication government security re-
view.)
Officials say the Tuesday memo's per-
sonal appeal to duty is not really connected
to the March 11 directive. The earlier doc-
ument established government-wide. ma-
chinery for legal obligations, investigative
policy and regulation of contacts with the
media. In his latest action, one official ex-
plained, Reagan "wanted to say something
more, an -expression of concern to each. em- .
ploye." .
The administration has declined fo cite
publicly any instances where national se-
curitp -has been 'hurt by. news leaks, con-
tending that 'this would tend to confirm
information or intelligence-gathering capa-
bilities.
Officials claimed that the leaks. have con-
tinued despite the. _ivlarch order and that
this led to a decision to issue a personal
memo. What is particularly bothersome,
they said. is that some leaks have what one
official described as a "gratuitous quality-
to them. meaning that officials are provid-
ing not only information but details about
how it was gathered. which injures U.S. in-
telligence operations.
Asked for examples, officials cited stories
concerning recent, policy decisions and ac-
tivities in Central America, a New York
Times account in April of a highly classified
document dealing with Central America, a
CBS-TV report about the bombing of the
U.S. Embassy in Lebanon that was report-
edly based on intercepted diplomatic com-
munications. and a Boston Globe story
about the movement of a U.S. aircraft car-
rier in the Mediterranean at a time when a
coup might have been developing in Sudan. i
Reagan's memo says Attorney General
William French Smith has been asked to
look into several recent disclosures. Officials
would not he specific, but said they didn't
think any probe had been completed.
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/02/17: CIA-RDP91-00561 R000100030068-4