CASEY SAYS NBC VIOLATED STATUTE ON U.S. SECRECY

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP91-00561R000100120060-2
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: February 3, 2012
• Sequence Number: 60
• Publication Date: May 20, 1986
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/02/03: CIA-RDP91-00561 R000100120060-2
Casey says NBC
violated statute
on U.S. secrecy
WASHINGTON (AP) - CIA direc-
tor William J. Casey charged yester-
day that an NBC-TV news report
about U.S. submarine activities vio-
lated a law against disclosing infor-
mation about communications intel-
ligence.
Mr. Casey said he was referring
the matter to the Justice Department. John Russell, a spokesman
for the Justice Department, said he
had no comment on the matter.
The NBC report, aired on the "To-
day" show yesterday morning, said
that accused spy Ronald W. Pelton
might have shared Information with
the Soviet Union concerning elec
,
tronic eavesdropping by U.S. subma
rines operating underwater In Soviet
harbors.
In the report, NBC said that Mr.
Pelton apparently gave away one of
the National Security Agency's most
sensitive secrets - a project with
the code name "Ivy Bells," which the
network said was an underwater
eavesdropping operation by U.S.
submarines inside Soviet harbors.
Mr. Pelton, a former employee of
the NSA - the Defense Depart-
ment's communications intelligence
spy division - is on trial in U.S.
BALTIMORE SUN
20 May 1986
District Court in
charges of spying.
ened to prosecute several news orga-
nizations for disclosing that U.S. in-
telligence intercepted Libyan com-
munications before the bombing last
month of a West Berlin disco, alleg-
edly by Libyan agents.
The CIA director also recently
asked the Justice Department to
block the Washington Post from
publishing an article about U.S. in-
telligence capabilities, but he was
turned down, the Post reported last
week.
Jury selection began yesterday.
Lawyers for the government and de-
fense expect the selection process to
take three or four days. The trial is
expected to last five to eight days.
NBC vice president Tim Russert,
in a statement issued through
spokeswoman Sharon Metcalf, said
that "NBC has referred Casey's alle-
gation to legal counsel to review,"
and she said he had no further com-
ment.
NBC did not repeat the original
story in its evening news broadcast,
but it did report Mr. Casey's action.
Mr. Casey's statement said:
"We believe that the assertions, if
The "Comint law" cited by Mr.
Casey in the NBC incident was en-
acted in 1950 to protect U.S. codes
and code-breaking capabilities. It
has never been used against a news
organization, although several spies
have been successfully prosecuted
under it.
Mr. Pelton has been charged un-
der the law
d
,
an the statute was
NBC -today Show" this morning vio- used to win a seven-year sentence
late the prohibitions in 18 USC 798 against another NSA employee.
against publishing any classified in- Joseph S. Peterson Jr., for giving re-
formation concerning the communi- crets to a Dutch friend.
cations intelligence activities of the Perhaps the best known prosecu-
United States. My statutory obliga- tion under Comint 1950 was the
tion to protect intelligence sources conviction of Christopher Boyce in
and methods requires me to refer 1977 on charges of selling secrets to
this matter to the Department of the Soviet Union. Boyce, a clerk in a
Justice." firm with direct links to the CIA, was
Mr. Casey recently had threat- sentenced to 40 years in prison.
Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/02/03: CIA-RDP91-00561 R000100120060-2