LEAKS CRIPPLE U.S. POLICY AND NEED TO BE PLUGGED

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP91-00561R000100040116-9
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: February 23, 2012
• Sequence Number: 116
• Publication Date: January 20, 1982
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/02/27: CIA-RDP91-00561 R000100040116-9
LOS ANGELES TIMES
20 January 1982
Ieaks
Cripple U.S. Policy
and Need to BePlugge
By STANSFIELD TURNER
President Reagan has established new control leaks, and-some of those attempts
controls to curtail leaks of classified have been unlawful. President Reagan's ap-
government information. The White House proach is certainly neither doomed to failure
ordered officials throughout the govern- nor unlawful. He deserves a trial period to
ment to get clearance before talking with demonstrate that his new controls will not
reporters about national-security matters. be abused by overclassification or by selec-
i And Defense Secretary Caspar W. \Vein- five leaks.
berger is instituting lie-detector tests to One reason it is worth giving the Pres-
ferret out leakers. ident's plan a try is that the dangers of con-
The various news media are not providing trols are being grossly exaggerated. What
the public a balanced response to these do leaks accomplish for our country? They .
commendable efforts. They are telling us often simply advance the time at which the
that inhibitions on public servants will re- public will be informed and, in so doing; pre-
sult in a less-well-informed press and hence empt or destroy a foreign-policy initiative.
a less-well -informed public, that no such Or they release some detail of classified-data
system of controls has ever worked any- that is we1 beyond the interest or compre-
way, and that the government will continue hension of the general public.
to leak when it wants to for its own advan- For instance, when our hostages werdbe-
tages. ing held in Iran, there were particular
What is missing is a discussion of the threats against those whom the Iranians
damage done through unauthorized leaks. identified as having been with the CIA. Two
First, there is the endangering of our major newspapers in this country published
sources of intelligence information. We may detailed descriptions of how to distinguish a
spend billions of dollars developing a new CIA person from-other embassy employees,
technical system for collecting data, then based on records that the Iranian captors
give away the secret for countering it. We held. -I wrote to the editors and complained
may. endanger the life of a foreign agent that the American public hardly needed the
who is taking risks at our request and on our specifics in this instance, and that lives
behalf. Perhaps, even more important, by might be at stake. Both editors responded
lessening confidence in our ability to protect that it was, their duty to publish such infor-
our agents we reduce the probability that mation despite its irrelevance to informing
we will be able to recruit the agents today our public.
whom we will need five to ten years from The principal argument for not discour-
now. aging the illegal practice of leaking is that
Second, we do direct damage to our someone will uncover another Watergate foreign policy, and our military readiness, by this means. That is a risk, but would a set
by tipping our hand or describing our caps- of controls such as the President has estab-
bilities. Perhaps the most significant ele- lished dissuade either a Woodward-ard.
ment here is that we are often denied oppor- Bernstein l:eam or a Deep Throat from doing
tunities to take foreign-policy initiatives what they each did?
just because the risk of a leak is so high. In Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein pro-
my opinion, one of the keyreasons that the vided a valuable public service through
hostage-rescue raid into Iran did not suc- their reporting for the Washington Post, but
ceed was the 'perceived necessity for ex- the popularity of investigative reporting,
treme measures to prevent leaks during the and of whistle-blowing; has risen too high.
planning process. Even at that, the fact that There is little question that the public inter-
an action'of some sort was underway with est today lies on the side of curbing the
respect to the hostages was beginning to be excesses oi' unauthorized leaks to which we
perceived by newsmen by the time the raid have subjected ourselves. Let's give the
took place. President's. plan a fair trial and wish him
. Leaks of security informations are the luck.
single most serious handicap to our foreign
policy within our government. Certainly, Stansf ie . Turner, a former Navy admiral,
in-
leaks are the greatest problem that our in- vas the CIA director in the Carter Adminis-
telligence agencies face. :ration. He is now a consultant on inter- ;
Most
Presidents have had to face this aationala"airs. .
issue. Some have made valiant attempts to
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/02/27: CIA-RDP91-00561 R000100040116-9