'SELF-SERVING' LEAKS EYED

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP91-00561R000100090015-6
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: February 24, 2012
• Sequence Number: 15
• Publication Date: March 9, 1976
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sl Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/02/24: CIA-RDP91-00561 R0001 00090015-6
9
By Murrey Marcier
Ra>h'r.z:on Post Staff Wrier
The State Department
made a commitment yester-
day to investigate itself over
leaks of classified informa-
tion in an article that
lauded Secretary of State
Henry A. Kiissinger's Middle
East diplomacy.
This decision focuses at-
tention on one of the least-
exolored areas iri-the Eontro-
versy over leaks of= govern-
ment secrets:- - self-serving
disclosures by the executive
branch itself.
Kissinger ` was one of
many senior officials in the
State Department inter-
viewed by Edward R. F.
Sheehan during a year's re.
search for an article in the
spring issue of the quarterly
magazine, Foreign Policy.
The Sheehan article, enti-
tied "How Kissinger Did It;
Step by Step in the -Middle
East," contains lengthy re-
ports of -conversations be-
tween Kissinger and Arab
and Israeli leaders. . .
Sheehan wrote that the.
Arab-Israeli war. of October,
1973 "revealed Kissinger at
the apogee of his skill," ma-
neuvering adroitly between
Arab and Israeli demands to
disengage the opposing
forces. -
It was not the praise of
Kissinger that caused con-
troversy, but the unusually
detailed versions of blunt
talk and diplomatic horse-
trading between Kissinger,
former President Nixon.
President Ford, and the
Middle East leaders.
Such conversations always
carry one of the hi_zhest se-
cret classifications. Kis-
sinaer last month exploded
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for
in outrage over the disclo-
sure of "highly classified in-
formation" by the house in-
telligence committee headed
by Rep. Otis G. Pike (D-
N.Y.).
Publication of the Shee-
han article put Kissinger in
the embarrassing position, if
he stood silent, of condoning
selective leaks that served
his interests, and demanding
investigation of leaks that
held him up to criticism.
The House ethics commit-
tee at present is seeking
$350,0QJ to investigate who
leaked to CBS correspond-
ent Daniel Schorr the Pike
committee report, which
Kissinger charged amounted
to "a malicious lie" about
his activities, and "a new
version of McCarthyism."
In this case the State De-
partment already knows to
whoni Sheehan talked--its
top officials on the Middle
East. As one source said,
'This will he an investiga-
tion with a small 'i,' not a
capital I."
Initially, the State Depart:
nient's reaction to the Shee-
han article was a statement
on Frida . sayin_'. rt
''represented 't gr0sa viola-
tion of confidence and was
not authorized by the secre-
tary."
The department said it
understood that Sheehan,
formerly a U.S. information
officer in the Cairo and
Beirut embassies, talked to
"over CO sources on three
continents" and "people in
the State 'Department also
talked to him on a back-
ground basis."
"In his contacts here." the
departmnertt's statement said,
_lIr. Sheehan did not see
any transcripts, memoranda,
or official records, and he
was not authorized to quote
directly anything told hire
Kissinger told a reporter
Friday that he was "thunder-
stnuck" to see in print the
reports on conversations
with Ezyptian President ,\n-
war Sadat, Syrian President
llafcz _\ssad. Saudi _\rabia's
late King Faisal. Israeli lead-
ers. and others.
The conversations are
not verbatim." Kissio:;er
said, '-but obiously sn'neone
has rcad to the author from
memos of conversation." and
"I did not authorize it." He
labeled the disclosures -a
gross breach of confidence
and a gross error of judg-
ment."
The State Department ap-
peared disposed to let the
matter rest there, at least
publicly. Yesterday morn-
ing, however, New York
Times columnist William Sa-
f ire wrote:
"Anybody who accepts the
notion that these documents
could have been leaked
without the permission of
Henry Kissinger is living in
a dream world. Despite hy-
pocritical howls of 'unau-
thorized,' this was what is
known in the trade as an
`authorized leak."'
Contrasting; Kissinger's
outrage over the Pike com-
rnittee- leaks with what he
called the `-figlcaV' dis-
claimer over the Sheehan
lea!k, Safire wrote that "Mr.
Kissinger's fury at leakers
caused the illegal wiretaps
in 1964.' and lilt invil ('IN, led
to creation of the infamous
White House "plumbers"
unit, which helped to doors
the Nixon administration.
I-'aced with a storm,
State Department spokes-
Release 2012/02/24: CIA-RDP91-00561 R0001 00090015-6