CIA CHIEF SAYS: 'WE ARE TRYING TO BE MORE OPEN'

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP91-00561R000100070067-1
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: February 27, 2012
• Sequence Number: 67
• Publication Date: April 7, 1979
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/02/28: CIA-RDP91-00561 R000100070067-1
EDITOR & PUBLISHER
Article appeared 7 April 1979
on page 20
CIA chief says:.
'We are trying
to be more open'
By I.L. Stein
The Central Intelligence Agency is try-
ing to be "more open with the media and
the public" by passing out unclassified
material and being responsive to in-
quiries, Director Stansfield Turner said
in Los Angeles (March 30).
"We're no longer stuck in the 'no
comment' grove," Admiral Turner add-
ed. "although we sometimes have to
sav 'no comment.' "
Speaking at a breakfast meeting of the
Greater Los Angeles Press Club, the!
CIA chief said, "We are doing a vital job
and we want you (the press) to know as
much about it as we can. But sometimes
our need for some level of secrecy is in
contradiction to the media's job of keep-
ing the public informed."
Turner noted that, like the press, the
CIA also has a responsibility to protect
its sources. The organization, he con-
tinued, must also protect government
policy makers...
"When we have an 'exclusive' we try
to hold on to it as long as we can,"
Turner admitted. "But still, we can un-
derstand each other's purposes and mo-
tives so we can keep you informed while
protecting our sources and our policy
makers."
At the same time, however, Turner,
was sharply critical of newspaper ac-
counts that, in his opinion, dredge. up 1
"well worn" CIA stories and present. i
them as news.
"We read about some charges against
the CIA and then in the last paragraph
we find that it happened in 1952." he
explained.The director also took a swipe
at government employees who leak in-
formation to the press.
"A large percentage of the leakers
have motives which are not alturistic,"
he said. "To publish their information
may not be in the public interest."
The director said he favored prosecu-
tion of persons who release classified in-
formation.
Turner expressed further distaste for
ex-CIA agents who have written critical
books exposing the inner workings of the
agency.
In a question and answer session,
Turner claimed that the publication of
the Pentagon Papers weakened the CIA
and "led to more disclosures by irre-
sponsible people." Turner said he favored
tightening the rules for releasing clas-
sified information, noting that the United
States exchanges some secrets with
friendly countries.
"These nations will not want to share
their secrets if they are to appear in the
US press," Turner pointed out.
However, the director said the CIA
has made changes in its handling of clas-
sified and unclassified material so.that
standards are more specific and author-
ity to classify more limited.
To another questioner, Turner con-i
ceded that the CIA had miscalculated:
events in Iran but added, "the press ins
academia didn't do much better."
* *
The Deputy Director of the Central In-
telligence Agency (CIA) told a Harris-
burg, Pa., audience March 10 that the
Freedom of Information Act is "erod-
ing" the ability of the agency to recruit
and protect agents overseas.
Frank C. Carlucci, in an address at a
meeting of the Keystone State Chapter
of the Association of Former Intelligence
Officers, said the "Principal impedi-
ment" facing CIA agents is the ability to
"protect their sources and methods",
adding that this ability has "eroded"
under FOI.
"Everyone is 'claiming a legitimate
need to know, but it's axiomatic, the
more people who know, the more leaks
are likely.
"It's not the workload" of handling 88
requests a week at a cost of $3 a year,
"but the 'chilling effect' this has on our
work overseas. We seem to have laws
that help our enemies. No one is going to
confide in you if his information or his
name is going to come out in the news-
paper or congressional hearing." Car-
lucci said. i
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/02/28: CIA-RDP91-00561 R000100070067-1