LOOSE LIPS SINK AN AIDE

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP91-00561R000100130019-7
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: February 7, 2012
• Sequence Number: 19
• Publication Date: May 12, 1986
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/02/08: CIA-RDP91-00561 R000100130019-7
ARTICLE APP
ON PAGE
.2-4
American Notes
Loose Lips
Sink an Aide
Getting fired for shooting off
his mouth is nothing new to
Michael Pillsbury, who until
last week was the Defense
Department's assistant under
secretary for policy planning.
Although he had been sacked
from two other jobs, Pills-
bury's latest pink slip, issued
for allegedly telling reporters
that the Administration had
begun supplying rebels in Af-
ghanistan and Angola with
U.S.-made Stinger missiles,
disturbed civil libertarians.
The firing was based partly
on Pillsbury's answers to
questions on a polygraph test.
The case has also been re-
ferred to the Justice Depart-
ment, apparently as a stern
message about the Reagan
Administration's resolve to
plug leaks. Pillsbury's defend-
ers suggest that he spoke out
to influence policy, not jeop-
ardize national security. Says
Morton Halperin, legislative
director of the American Civ-
il Liberties Union's Washing-
ton office: "Leaking for policy
reasons is an established
Washington custom."
Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/02/08: CIA-RDP91-00561 R000100130019-7
12 May 19 8 6