KEEP CIA AND PRESS SEPARATE

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP99-00498R000100200096-7
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 20, 2016
• Document Release Date: June 15, 2007
• Sequence Number: 96
• Publication Date: April 16, 1980
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Approved For Release 2007/06/15: CIA-RDP99-00498R000100200096-7
CHICAGO SUi-TIM.SS
i6 APRIL 1980
Keep CIA and press separate
President Carter rubbed an old sore the
other day when, in answering a question, he
erularsed the use of reporters as CIA agents
overseas under "extreme circumstances."
That policy isn't new. And Carter did say
that the Central Intelligence Agency is not
now using news people as-operatives.
The problem is it might. Carter said again
he won't give up his "option" to use reporters
in intelligence work, with. his approval or-that
of CIA Director Stansfgeld Turner.
Carter. and Turner equate that-no. doubt
sincerely--with duties of citizenship. Press
Secretary Jody Powell said he saw no need
for a-law saying reporters "should not act in
the interest of national security ''-
It all sounds reasonable. It isn't.
ID might mean, among, other things, that
CIA-hired newspeople disseminate; CIA-plant-
fed stories (the Soviets call, such propaganda
"disinformation") to mislead :readers.
The press, like government, is an institution
whose purpose is to serve the. people..Th
press can't do that if it is seen by the public
as an arm of the government instead : of a~
watchdog. If the. public loses confldenee-in
the press as a vital element in the democratic
process, the democratic process loses, too.
Carter and Turner fail-to see that.any link
with the spy agency threatens the-credibility
of news organizations. Or.. that keepinci..the
press independent of government is a form of
patriotism. The duty. reporters have to their.
country includes preserving their integrity. by.
reporting honestly..
To do less- is- no .modet. for-democracy. In-
much of the world the press already is seen
as a voice of the state, not a voice of the peo-.
pie. Soviet reporters are often agents of the.
Kremlin.aThat's .not, the American, way.-
Approved For Release 2007/06/15: CIA-RDP99-00498R000100200096-7