DRIP, DRIP

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP91-00561R000100060038-4
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 24, 2012
• Sequence Number: 38
• Publication Date: July 17, 1980
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

STAT
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/08/24: CIA-RDP91-00561 R000100060038-4
v
ARTICLE AP EA.PED
ON PAG;sk
C
THE WASHINGTON POST
17 July 1980
P ERHAPS the press pays'a bit more attention to To plug leaks, there have evidently been no plumh-
these things than the_rest-of you;-but you will ers, no wiretaps and, on another level, there has been
forgive us for observing that a hallmark of any ad- little, significant (and ultimately self-defeating) nar--
ministration is the way_.it defines the secrets it really 'rowing of the circle of those brought into the policy-
means.to keep.:the measures it-takes to keep those se- making process. But there have been a.-number of
.crets secret, and the further, measures%'it takes when FBI investigations; predictably; they .appear: to have
it discovers;. as it invariablyd`oes,_that its precautions gotten 'nowhere.. And Mr. Carter has gotten.iiad
have been :ate least selectively>hreached Certainly enough to threaten to fire State Department officials
nothing better.- characterized, or. ;more - hurt, The from .whose "area" the leak came-though his pre-
Nixon administration ,than its approach to the vari- cise words in this matter are uncertain. Frankly, we
:, ohs sorts of secrets it generated It hardly seems have no complaint about all this, if; as we believe, its
stretching. things to suggest that in 1976 Jimmy (Tar- up to the press to dig` but secrets-- it's rip to the gov
.- ter -ran ; principally ? on-aganist Richai d Nixon's ernment to keep them. Presidents tend : to.see a neces-
-record on secrets : ?-So . it is :entirely =understandable sity. where journalists often see at hest. a mere con-
.-that people should.be curious toseehow Jimmy Car-
_
to
on his o n
c e
'i- '
ts
handles se
,
What does the Carter record show so far? There have
venience, in maintaining confictentiatity in- internal
decision-making and in certain dealings-with foreign
governments. That is where the war-is fought and,.
been ne serious-allegations that-Mr Carter- has,'for ei-
ther`personal or political gain .abused- the.label of na-
-
tional security and the procedures of -secret-keeping
`available to a president in orderto over up the kind of.
abuses-of power that, when uncovered;'finished Presi-
dentNixon.In that important'respect,`his claim to
t
.is: respectable._At .the. same time,
"open".. governmen
dlr.artec has been sorely vexed by'foreign-policy
leakss. BAs= indicated yesterday by reporter Scott Arnl-
strong;the`list is =short on- bombshells but medium-to-
long on sensitive nuts and bolts items-tor. Instance,
uhat.kind'of arms should besoldto 1lorocco?_=that no
government-would-wish to discuss publicly, least of all
while the question was still undecided. As-'always, these-
leaks havey come, by- the'-administration's' reckoning;
:from. disgruntled, insideis~~
we would say, Jim my Carter has'ioug _'ht;
Something else cries out to be said, however, about
the report that, with respect to the Morocco story last
October, -1-didn't-leak-it affidavits .were 'either, so-
- licited from his top national security; aides by Mr.,
Carter or volunteered' by them. There may be no way
for an administration to chase leaks without bruising.
the sensibilities of people,down in the ranks, as the
.president has done. But to - noiirish an atmospher=e in
which the.confidence of one's;elite.advisers is some
how catled into' question? 0nly'a'few months earlier;
.in hiis-"malaise" period?:1Ir:2 Carter had-brought about
a set of circumstances in which his `whole Cabinet
-was allowed or encouraged to- say, iresin:
,There's a. pattern here.. It is a strange way to earn the
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/08/24: CIA-RDP91-00561 R000100060038-4