THE NEW PLUMBERS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP91-00561R000100040028-7
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: February 22, 2012
• Sequence Number: 28
• Publication Date: July 1, 1982
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/02/22 : CIA-RDP91-00561 R000100040028-7
S
STATTICLE APPEARED
/oN PAGE
by C. T. HANSON
The new plumbers
The Washington Post reported recently
that a group of Argentine journalists had
provided their own finale to a televised
Buenos Aires press conference on the
Falkland Islands crisis by 'shouting
"Long live the Fatherland!"
This demonstration was not too sur-
prising in a military dictatorship that had
just seized the long-coveted islands. Nor
was it surprising that Ronald Reagan
decided to lend Mrs. Thatcher a hand in
her efforts to restore British democracy
- including, presumably, the benefits,
of a free press - to those beleaguered
Falkland shepherds.
What was ironic was Reagan's simul-
taneous pursuit of a much less libertar-
ian version of Anglo-American solidar-
ity: In April, the administration quick-
ened its effort to impose a de facto,
British-style official secrets act to curb
press criticism of U.S. military policies.
It is a program in the tradition of secre-
tive Whitehall: harsh punishment of
leakers; tougher restrictions on informa-
tion; and, in one instance, evident
cooperation with British intelligence to
keep an embarrassing item from the
reading public in both nations.
Since the president stopped well short
of joining the Falklands hostilities, there
was considerable amazement at an April
27 press conference when Pentagon
spokesman Henry Catto justified the
tough policy on secrets as follows:
"You will remember the posters in
World War Two, 'Loose lips sink
ships.' "
Question: We are not at war.
Catto: That is true [but leaks are] giv-
ing aid and comfort to adversaries.
Question: The Soviets, or congres-
sional critics of the budget?
Catto: I had in mind the Soviets.
There is contrary evidence, however.
Indeed. the a dminictratinn'c nhilncnnhv
COLUMBIA JOURNALISM REVIEW
JULY/AUGUST 1982
chance to be sunk on the high seas.
Take the proposal to build two huge
nuclear-powered aircraft carriers at an
estimated total cost of nearly $7 billion.
As Congress was deliberating the issue,
retired Navy Lieutenant Commander
Dean Knuth drafted an article for Naval
Institute Proceedings pointing out that
such huge carriers had proved very vul-
nerable to guided weapons in recent war
games. But on May 3 the Pentagon
pounced, stamping the article "secret"
and blocking publication. (The next
day, HMS Sheffield was blown out of
the South Atlantic by a single guided
rocket, underscoring the vulnerability of
surface ships, but it was beyond the Pen-
tagon's power to classify that incident.)
Suppressing the carrier article was but
a small part of the larger mosaic. Some
bureaucrats have been forced to sign
pledges never to release official infor-
mation without permission. President
Reagan signed an executive order in
April making it easier for -officials to
classify documents, thereby undermin-
ing the Freedom of Information Act and
impeding the access of writers and
scholars to foreign policy documents.
And then there was the ordeal of John
C. F. Tillson IV. A fourth generation
West Pointer, winner of two Silver Stars
and a Purple Heart in Vietnam, Tillson
stood accused of the ultimate disloyalty
- leaking sensitive information to The
Washington Post.
Post reporter George Wilson wrote
last January that the Joint Chiefs of Staff
thought that up to an additional S750
billion dollars - above and beyond the
$1.6 trillion already requested - would
Soviet threat can scarcely be exagger-
ated, and that it has been overblown by
the top U.S. military officers.
No sooner had the Post story ap-
peared than an inquisition by lie detector
was imposed on the thirty-odd officials
who had been privy to the secret. Till-
son, a manpower analyst, was among
the suspects. He failed the test three
times and so was ordered fired, partly to
set a frightening example to would-be
leakers, according to Henry Catto.
The information Tillson is accused of
leaking was not classified, only "offi-
cial" - a broad category indeed.
Tillson fervently denied the charge
and Wilson says, "I wrote Weinberger
and told him this guy is one hundred
percent innocent as far as being my
source goes." His letter suggested that
Tillson was nervous during the tests be-
cause of prior contacts with Wilson on
Capitol Hill, where the accused man
once worked. r
Yet the Pentagon, in its eagerness to
set an example, continued to rely on
lie-detector evidence that courts deem
highly unreliable. It kept Tillson
writhing in limbo
months while the
for more than four
matter was consid-
be needed over the next five years to
implement Reagan's ambitious global I U1/
anti-Soviet strategy. This report put De-
fense Secretary Caspar Weinberger in C [I (/
thn rnrinncly rnntro`lirtnr., -A-
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/02/22: CIA-RDP91-00561 R000100040028-7