LETTER TO HONORABLE CASPAR W. WEINBERGER FROM EDWARD P. BOLAND

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP83M00914R002900050005-5
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 3
• Document Creation Date: December 20, 2016
• Document Release Date: March 1, 2007
• Sequence Number: 5
• Publication Date: December 17, 1982
• Content Type: LETTER

Approved For Release 2007/03/03: CIA-RDP83M00914R002900050005-5
Approved For Release 2007/03/03: CIA-RDP83M00914R002900050005-5
 Approved For Release 2007/03/03: CIA-RDP83M00914R002900050005-5
QRTIc AM=
ON PAGE
.-Political Aim
Vs. Secrecy
NEW YORK TIMES
16 DECENIDER 1982
Said to Reflect Coifosien The key difference between that
The -annoyance of some intelligence briefing and Tuesday's, according to in_
officials apparently reflected confusion telligence officials,- was the use of
among national security officials about Photographs taken by satellite. The.
:
the aim of the Defense Department Government has never made such
briefing and its format. photographs public, the officials said.
The idea of holding the briefing, ac- One reason is concern that publics.
cording to both Defense and intelli. lion of such photographs would reveal j
Xequest ?to Reporters genre officials, was initiated by Secre. a to the Russians information about the {
terry of Defense Caspar W. Weinberger capacity and targets of. the satellites.
At Briefing Explained . . several weeks ago after reporters asked ! Another is a longstanding for information to support the Adminis- Intelligence officials that the fear
public among!
tration's - contention .that the - Soviet closure of even one : such photograph
By PHILIP TAURMAN Union posed a grave military threat to might open the door to .requests . for
speo?~ta I1eNa-Yeettum.~ the United States. A similar briefing on ad-01 pictu es under the Freedom
WASHINGTON. Dec ' 15 -The De- the Soviet military threat is often given ?f ..
i
i
i
s
t
T e n s e Department's request T u e s d a y to v
ng heads o f s t a t e . o safeguard t h e security o f the sate]."
that reporters sign a secrecy agree- There appears to have been general Jite photographs used in Tuesday's
meat before attending a briefing about agreement that osie aim of Tuesday briefing, the Central intelligence Agent;
Soviet military capacity added a new session was to show the Correspond ? cy, which controls access to the pic.
twist to a familiar Washington phe- who regularly cover the Defense tires, insisted that reporters sign a se.
nomenon: the dedassifica- partment that the Government ha Crecy agreement
' acc
di
,
or
ng .th .batII
solid evidence of improved Soviet mili-
tion of inteiti en cenQr-' Pentagon and C.I.A. officials.
NPWS ... .._ ~! ~~~ taro capacity nosing a th.t fn 0-
Aialysis united States and its aloes in Europe.
Pmpo ' -There really is an overwhelming The intent they said, was not to :
tistia r . after weighing body of evidence that shows the Soviets hibit the dissemination of all the i or.
;
political interests against security con- have pushed astride or ahead of the matian about the Soviet military
U
i
d
n
te
states in crucial military buildup but rather to inure that the:
siderations, has selectively disclosed
intelligence secrets that it hoped would areas," .a senior intelligence official journalists did DUI pub or broadcast
/ increaaP public stromrt fn. ariT,,;.,;_ said "Everyone who sees the briefing t W0WQ vmaomt ttie
lion policies. In such cases, the concern `'`"",`;i; 'rte' -my vin, they're acing m u~ dr the mrormanon.
a lot
of intelligence agencies
consternation of some :t
llig that important Both Pentagon and into intelligence to the officials, was a
sources and methods of obtaining Intel- dais said ce ? - blanket se--
ligence might be compromised they had loped that the brief- crecy agreement that sti
swept aside by the White House. m8 might make the reporters more um- the pet "in rit.
The secrecy of the Administration's reporters never
any verbal rbsj "in writ-
the Defense proposed by ing, broadcast or any ettai disooutse"
Department, senior Rea- charges about the Soviet Union, per- the information they would receive. The
Ban Administration officials said today, h'`Ps producing over the long nm more reporters refused to it. .
sympathetic reporting ? about the in- Sign was a flawed effort to reconcile those in mill After extensive discussions between
creases tary spending differences by insuring that reporters by President R proposed
the correspondents and senior Defense
who received sensitive intelligence in- - officials, the Pentagon agreed to
formation did not disclose the means by Photographs Especially Sensitive ceed with the briefing on the basis oof s
which the Government obtained it: The problem was that th
i
e
nforma- verbal understanding that some
report-a
As written, however, the agreement tion that officials felt was
d have prohibited any dissemina- most potentially ers initially interpreted as an agree-
persausive w
l
as a
so the most meat not to publish the information.
on of the information, even to the re- sensitive: data, paricularly photo.
porters' editors, a blanket ban that . graphs, produced by satellites and But reporters who attended the bri
some intelligence officials
irritated b
said tod
la
th
th
t
hi
hl
h
,
y o
g
ay
er
a
g
t
e coidi
y secret electronic systems-:
the Pentagon's handling of the issue, A senior intelligence official today mitred them to disclose of
said negated the point of the briefing- - es uated Tues. ays -.. ~e_..
_ from the briefno nmotdad e%,-
with
out so pedpte would understand now Cuban involvement in Central America.
serious the Soviet threat is," a senior is- In that briefing, which -was on the
~telligence official remarked. .: record, intelligence analysts made pub- ?
ILI
lic photographs of new military instal.
lotions in Nicaragua that the analysts
said had been ?onstivc ted by-Cuba aid
the Soviet Union. The photographs were
taken by high-flying American recon-
naissance aircraft
Approved For Release 2007/03/03: CIA-RDP83M00914R002900050005-5
r
 Approved For Release 2007/03/03: CIA-RDP83M00914R002900050005-5
23 December 1982
MEMORANDUM FOR: DDCI
SUBJECT : Significant Activities During Your Absence
Attached are significant activities which occurred during your
absence 14 through 23 December 1982 and which D/ICS, DDI, and D/OEXA
wish to call to your attention. Other components either had nothing to
report or are keeping you informed through other means,."
Executive Secretary
Distribution:
Original - DDCI (w/att)
ES Chrono -(w/o att)
cj~__ ER (w/att)