BROWN SAYS PLANE REPORT WAS AIMED TO HIDE DETAILS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP91-00561R000100060025-8
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 24, 2012
• Sequence Number: 25
• Publication Date: September 5, 1980
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

STAT
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/08/24: CIA-RDP
tRTICI,E
ON PAGE
NEW-YORK TIMES
5 SEPTEvt~ 1g8o
Brown Says Pl ne Re o Was
By RICHARD BURT
WASHINGTON, Sept. 4 - Secretary of.
Defense Harold Brown asserted today
that the Defense Department's confirma-
tion of a program for building aircraft un-
detectable by radar was meant to protect
'vital details of. the highly secret project ?
Mr. Brown, appearing before a ? joint
meeting of investigative subcommittees
of the House Armed Services Committee,
said that he had "absolutely no evidence"
to suggest that early- disclosures -about
the Air Force's so-called "stealth" air-, uostaze Iv2w Yorit, can' nian or-1 -
craft originated in the Pentagon. ,investigations subcommitee, said -that
He said that after reports appeared in
two periodicals and on television from
Aug. 11-14, he decided that the best way to
hold the line against further disclosures
"protecting information by giving a little
bit out is a strange strategy."
Meanwhile, Representative Robin L.
Beard Jr., Republican of Tennesse ,
criticized M
ot o
deri
B
`
r.
rown
or n
r
ng an
was to "declassify" the existence of the
s investigation of the initial leaks- until
project. Aug. 2S, the day the subcommittee held
Briefing Before News Conference its first bearing on the rnatter. -
The controversy over the Pentagon's Mr. Brown said that it was more impor-
role in the disclosure of the "stealth" pro-; tant to guard against future disclosures
gram was ignited late last week when De- on the program than to track down the
fenseDeoartmentofficialsacknowledged original sources of reports appearing in
that BenTarriin F. Schemmer, editor of Aviation Week and Space Technology and
The Armed Forces Journal, had been The Washington Post and on ABC News.
briefed on the project before Mr. Brown's "A curious note, meanwhile,. was in-
news conference on the subject. jecte.d into the growing controversy by
Several members of the Armed Serv- the discovery that the secret project was
ices Subcommittee on Investigations sug- (discussed in some detail in Jane's All the,
gested that the disclosure to Mr. Schem- !World's Aircraft, the authoritative listing
mer had been designed to enable the Pen- oi planes in operation and under develop..
tagon to publicize.its success in develop- meat around the globe, in the most recent
ing planes that would be practically invis- edition, published last September.
ible to Soviet radar.
Mr. Brown and his deputy for'research Jane's says that the Lockheed Aircraft.
and engineering,' William J. Perry, Corporation in Burbank, Calif., was
strongly denied that the disclosure to Mr. building a single-seat, reconnaissance-'
i Schemmer br'the'suhsequent news-con- 'strike aircraft "of which a primary
fee
ference had been politically inspired. ture is low radar, infrared and optical!
Instead, Mr. Brown told the committee signatures," probably first flown in 1977. E }
today, after discussions with Mr. Perry Mr. Brown acknowledged when these i
Wand senior Air Force personnel, he de-1? reports appeared, General Richard H."
cided the best way "to limit the damage"' Ellis, the commander of the Strategic Alt
caused by news leaks was to acknowledge Comma~,d,- had urged the Pentagon 'to,,
the project's existence but refuse to talk discredit the story.
about any details of its technology.
In adopting this course, he said "we{ -
have, in effect, created a 'firebreak' to!
prevent the spread of the technical' de-
tails, tails, which, because they are at the heart,
of operational effectiveness, must re-
main highly classified." ;
This ? rationale was sharply criticized
by several committee members. Repre-
.sentat ve Samuel. S.. Stratton, Democrat
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/08/24: CIA-RDP91-00561 R000100060025-8