ESPIONAGE - COVERAGE POSES RISKS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP91-00587R000200890011-3
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 24, 2010
• Sequence Number: 11
• Publication Date: March 24, 1986
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/08/24: CIA-RDP91-00587R000200890011-3
ARTICLE LOS ANGELES TIMES
ON PAGE 24 March 1986
Espionage
-Coverage
Poses Risks
By THOMAS B. ROSENSTIEL,
Times Staff Writer
When the story broke so promis-
ingly earlier this year, the New
York Times called the mysterious
KGB master spy "the most valua-
ble defector from the Soviet Bloc
... in recent years."
It was the first spy tale of 1986: A
major general in the Soviet KGB
had defected to the West. The CIA
was keeping his existence a secret,
but he was more valuable than
Vitaly S. Yurchenko, the turnabout
defector who had been lost back to
Moscow.
Then, within 72 hours, the story
of the secret defector became, as
United Press International put it,
"the mystery of the spy who may
never have been."
Seen as Trespassers
And now it seems this tale may
be best remembered as a parable to
the press about the risks of report-
ing on the secret world of intelli-
gence.
In this darkest part of the gov-
ernmental forest, the values of free
press and an open society are often
regarded as unwanted, even dan-
gerous trespassers. The chance the
press will err or be manipulated by
its sources is greater than any-
where else, and some say the
consequences of mistakes are po-
tentially more harmful.
By publishing at all, the press
can abort an American clandestine
operation-as the Washington Post
is said to have done in Novem-
ber-or even cause the death of an
American agent.
"It is terrible to say it, but one
who does stories about the intelli-
gence community has to lower his
expectations of accuracy," said for-
mer New York Times reporter
Seymour M. Hersh.
'Fifth Man' L Here
The story of the KGB major
general's alleged defection began
Jan. 25, when U.S. News & World
Report published a report entitled
"Defectors: The 'Fifth Man' Is
Here."
"In addition to the four spies that
the government acknowledges fled
'
to the Went," the magazine wrote,
a KGB major general-the high-
est-ranking defector of them all-
was brought to the U.S. last year,
well-informed sources told U.S.
News & World Report."
He supposedly fled by helicopter
from West Germany last spring,
was hidden to prevent press leaks
before the Geneva summit meet-
ing, and then later settled in the
Midwest under a new identity, the
magazine reported.
What transpired in reaction to
that item is a primer in competitive
Washington journalism, particular-
ly when it touches the furtive
world of intelligence.
First, when competing news me-
dia received advance copies of the
magazine, they tried to get inde-
pendent confirmation and break
the story before U.S. News &
World Report reached the stands
on Monday.
New York Times reporter Philip
Shenon spent the preceding Satur-
day combing Capitol Hill. On its
front page Sunday, Jan. 26, the
paper quoted what it said were at
least two unnamed congressional
sources saying the high-ranking
KGB officer was providing infor-
mation that "'is much more impor-
tant' than any provided" by Yur-
chenko or other recent defectors.
The story received prominent
exposure nationwide via the New
York Times news service, it was,
for instance, the lead story in that
djiy's Orange County Register.
Other wire services also moved
stories, citing U.S. News & World
Deport and the New York Times as
sources.
As usual, competing media pre-
pared "reaction stories" for Mon-
d y. Notable was an Associated
Press story that said the intelli-
gence committees on Capitol Hill
"had been told nothing" about any
such defector.
In its third paragraph, however,
the AP story offered what seemed
additional confirmation:
"However, House Intelligence
Committee Chairman Lee Hamil-
ton (D-Ind.) said he had received a
'preliminary report' on the alleged
Soviet defector. He declined to
comment further until he received
a more thorough briefing on the
case and said he was 'not yet sure
about the information."'
Hamilton's press secretary, Nick
Cullather, now says his boss did not
intend to confirm the defector
story, and the AP says it did not
mean to imply Hamilton was doing
so.
M Taatalizlse Resaarks
But nonetheless, said AP Wash-
Bureau chief Chuck Lewis,
ton's remarks were "a tanta-
using equivocation."
? As official Washington resumed
b-ork that Monday, the gtory had
entered the city's information
bloodstream. Reporters tried the
papal sources for comment-the
White House, Capitol Hill officials
charged with overseeing intelli-
gence agencies, the State Depart-
nt and the CIA itself.
a At the daily White House brief -
ig for reporters, presidential
spokesman Larry Speakes issued
)chat the Washington Post called
an unusually flat denial."
"That story is not correct,"
peake$ said Which part? "The
whole thing."
Off the record, the denials were
even stronger.
The CIA, as usual, refused to
comment publicly. But off the
record, reporters may, the agency
jlenied the story in unusually direct
terms.
,As that Monday went on, we
were getting total negatives on it,"
said one reporter who asked for
anonymity. We couldn't find a
single source who would confirm in
any way."
Tuesday morning, however, the
Washington Times quoted Sen.
Chic Hecht -the first confirm-
ing ing the story-the
confirmation."
"Where there's smoke there's
fire, and I'm sorry about the leak,"
Hecht, a member of the Senate
Select Committee on Intelligence,
was quoted as saying
cryptically. The senator, the paper
said, "would not provide details."
Reporters went scurrying again,
and at a briefing, National Security
Adviser John M. Poindexter tried
to restate the Administration's de-
nial.
When reporters-who scrutinize
all official denials in Washington
for possible loopholes-thought
Poindexter's denial ambiguous, the
White House issued a more cate-
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/08/24: CIA-RDP91-00587R000200890011-3