PANEL APPROVES GATES AS CIA DEPUTY DIRECTOR

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP99-01448R000301220047-0
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 15, 2012
• Sequence Number: 47
• Publication Date: April 11, 1986
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/08/15: CIA-RDP99-01448R000301220047-0
Rif
WASHINGTON POST
11 April 19.86.
Panel Approves Gates
As CIA Deputy Director
Nominee Pledges to Try to Stem Leaks
By Tim Ahern
Associated Press
Some of the information is com-
ing "from the highest officials in the
executive branch," said Cohen.
Sen. Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.),
vice chairman of the panel, told
Gates that "many times, the infor-
mation that has appeared in the
press about intelligence has not
only been earlier, but more com-
plete, than official notice to the
committee."
In response to the complaints..
Gates said he thought most leaks
were due to a "lack of discipline" by
pedple with access to sensitive in-
formation.
. He told the panel that "I'm pretty
certain that some of the more sig-
nificant leaks of the last few days
have been reported to the FBI" for
investigation.
"If they haven't, they will," he
said, without detailing the specific,
cases he had in mind.
Gates also agreed with Cohen
and Sen. Frank H. Murkowski (R-
Alaska) that the CIA had mishan-
dled the case of Vitaly Yurchenko, a
former high-ranking KGB agent
who had defected to the United
States last year. ;
Yurchenko apparently became
unhappy,. walked out of a George-
town restaurant. Nov. 2, and then
showed up two days later at the
Soviet Embassy, claiming he had I
been drugged by the United States.
He returned to the Soviet Union. i
The CIA has changed its method
of handling defectors so that a sin-
gle case officer will now deal with a
defector from the start to build
rapport and try to sense trouble
before it develops, Gates said. Yur-
chenko was appalled by leaks to the
press about his case, Gates said.
He said that defectors have not
been restrained in the past and they
should not be restrained in the fu-
ture, but he added that "we ought to
step back a bit" from that policy and
change it enough so "they can't just
walk out the.door and into the So-
viet Embassy."
Gates also said he considered
covert action "an appropriate in-
strument of foreign policy, as long
as it is taken within a broader con-
text."
The Senate Select Committee on
Intelligence approved the nomina-
tion of Robert M. Gates as the new
deputy director of the Central In-
telligence Agency yesterday, but
first it got. him to promise to try to
reduce leaks to the press and to
concede that the.CIA botched its
handling of a :Soviet defector last
year..
Gates was endorsed 10 to 0 after
a rare public hearing by the Repub-
lican-controlled panel, which has
been feuding with the Reagan ad-
ministration over who is leaking
national security secrets to news
organizations.
Before his nomination to succeed
John N. McMahon was sent to the
Senate floor, Gates also defended
the increasing use of covert action
by the administration.
Gates, 42, is a career intelligence
officer whose most recent post was
deputy director for intelligence.
CIA Director William J. Casey
named him to the No. 2 slot after
McMahon quit in February.
Several senators criticized leaks
they said came from the executive
branch about possible U.S. military
actions against either terrorists or.
Libya, which the administration has
claimed is a backer of terrorism.
"The way it's coming out is dev-
astating to our national security,"
said Sen. Sam Nunn (D-Ga.).
Sen. William S. Cohen (R-Maine)
said some of the leaks appear to be
politically motivated, and he dis-
puted Gates' contention that the
information is being leaked by low-
level staffers.
-:77 _*
tl*MES K.W. ATHERTON-THE WASHINGTON POST
Robert M. Gates is sworn in_at hearing on his nomination for No. 2 CIA post.
Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/08/15: CIA-RDP99-01448R000301220047-0