SECRECY: IT'S A CRIME

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP91-00561R000100030101-6
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: February 9, 2012
• Sequence Number: 101
• Publication Date: May 3, 1983
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sl Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/02/09: CIA-RDP91-00561 R000100030101-6
V
ARTICLE ffEARED - '1
ON PAGE - - .-~7
LOS LNG. LES TLS
3 MAY 1983
Secrecy: It's a Crime
Last month, President Reagan issued a " broad
security directive designed to plug leaks of govern-
ment information that is classified as secret. Its most
significant feature -was the requirement that
government employees with access to classified
information must submit their writings to pre-
publication review. -The order, -which also covers
former public employees, gives federal agencies the,
authority to censor books,;newspaper articles and
texts of speeches :by their -employees and former
employees.:
As comprehensiveCana as-xlrastic as that order
Was, it has been exceeded by a new. proposal
advanced by -an ad hoc committee of government
officials. The committee recommended legislation
.making it -a crime for -any present or former federal
employee to divulge. information classified as secret.
To anyone not familiar -with the -operations of
-government, the word -secret carries with it an
,-impressive aura of importance. A .natural -question
arises: Why shouldn't -the person who reveals a
'-secret be subject to prosecution? But millions of
pieces of government paper that are stamped secret
have no relationship to national security. They
often have more to do with the 'desire of federal
agencies to protect themselves from public scrutiny.
Most "leaks" are deliberate disclosures from high
officials seeking to defend and promote their
policies. As President John F. Kennedy . once
remarked, the ship of state is the only ship that
leaks from the top. One member of the ad hoc
committee said that unauthorized- disclosures by
high officials -should be , penalized . in the same
-manner. as are. other. leaks. That-is a nice theory. Can
anyone foresee that it-will happen?,;.-
.-The government has the authority .o.prosecute
the - disclosure -of real secrets whose -revelation
actually damages national security. But-it is:another
matter to,attempt to.applythe criminal law to the
disclosure of routine information that is routinely
classified because some bureaucrat :is handy with a
rubber stamp. When piles. -of - information are
classified, it blurs .the line between genuine secrets
and spurious secrets.
It -is -uncertain whether the Reagan -Administra-
tion -will push Congress to enact the legislation,
which is the latest in a series of moves by the
Administration to close off sources of information.
The idea should be dropped. Such legislation would
contribute nothing to our security; instead, it would
further restrict information that is essential to
informed public-debate.
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/02/09: CIA-RDP91-00561 R000100030101-6