AP01]SPACE SHUTTLE]JENNINGS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP88-01070R000301500010-0
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 3
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: January 14, 2010
• Sequence Number: 10
• Publication Date: December 19, 1984
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

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ABC WORLD v'ElVS TONIGHT
19 December 1984
AP01ISPACE SHUTTLEIJENNINGS: 'Good evening. It is not easy in this day and
age, in an open society, to keep a secret. Governments
like to keep their military and intelligence operations
secret and there is often tension on the subject between
the government and a free press. The other day, the
Pentagon. held a news conference to say that a forthcoming
mission of the space shuttle would be classified. And so,.
when details of the mission began to show up in the
American press, there was almost bound to be a fight.
Here's ABC's John McWethy.
MCWETHY: - The secret of what the shuttle will be turning
into space next month is no longer a secret. This
morning, the Washington Post,, followed immediately by the
Associated Press, ran stsries describing the classified
payload of the shuttle as a new spy satellite. According
to those stories, the satellite-would be used to monitor
Soviet missile tests, to intercept radio, telephone and
satellite transmissions from the Soviet Union,.so-called
signal intelligence or sigint. The U.S. has used similar
satellites for years. The new one, however, is more
powerful and, therefore, bigger, too big to be carried
into space atop an expendable rocket. Only the shuttle's.
cargo bay can do the job. The stories this morning
touched off a bitter response from Defense Secretary
Weinberger, who had personally headed a quiet telephone
campaign over the last week to get.various news
organizations not to go with the story. CASPAR WEINBERGER
.(Secretary of Defense):, I can confirm only that it's the
height of journalistic irresponsibility to violate
requests that are made. The Washington Post felt that
they simply had to run the story, which a great many
people had. They ran it with the typical, usual*.
inaccuracies.
MCWETHY: The Washington Post issued a statement this
afternoon claiming that it had revealed no secrets, that
virtually every fact mentioned in its story is a matter of
public record and that Weinberger's reaction is 'not
justified.' The battle over keeping military flights of
the space shuttle a secret boiled into public earlier this
week witha tough Air Force statement.
BRIG..GEN. RICHARD ABEL (United States Air Force public
affairs director).: Publication or broadcast of such
information, speculative or not, would harm our national
security. .
MCWETHY: .But an expert on the U.S, intelligence community
says the Air Force overstates its case. JAMES BAMFORD
COATTEVUED'
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(author): Russians aren't getting their information on
satellite systems from the press. The Russians-have a far'
better source, and that's penetration of the U.S.
intelligence community.
MCW,'ETHY: So when does the media respond to pleas not to
run a story? GEROGE WATSON (ABC News vice president):
When the government calls and says information that we
have may jeopardize national security, we listen very
attentively. And if we are persuaded that that, in fact,
is the case, then we may, and on occasion have, withheld
information.
MCWETHY: That is exactly what the Associated Press did.
It held the story until the.Washington Post ran its
version first. LOUIS BACCARDI (executive vice president,
Associated Press): Time will tell whether the request
made of us was legitimate. If it turns out not to have
been, there is the cry wolf, cry of wolf problem, which is
a very serious one.
MCWETHY: And the issue of credibility is especially
important in this case, because a number of news
organizations claim they have much more information about
the shuttle, classified information they have not yet
chosen to use. John McWethy, ABC News, the State
.Department.
AP021SPACE SHUTTLEIJENNINGS: Joining us tonight from Washington is ABC's
I2lGeorge Will. George, you heard the arguments made in
those.pieces. Where do you stand?
WILL: Let's be clear, Peter, about what the Post did and
did not do. The Washington Post did not accept the
Pentagon's guidelines about what should be withheld. It
did write its own guidelines and hold back information,
the publication of which would, in the Post's judgment,
not be in the national interest. Therefore, the Post's
position is not the journalistic extremism we-heard in the
1970s. Then, after Vietnam and Watergate, a. lot of
journalists said the government is an evil adversary, the
news should be published and be damned, that there is an
absolute public right to know everything and journalists
have a duty not to consider the consequences of what
they're doing.
JENNINGS: What do. you think has led to this change in
attitude?
WILL: Well, I think it's just a general reasonableness
has come over the press, and I don't think the Post is
every guilty; rankly, of_that extreme position. T`,e
public has a right to government that can k-_i~ secrets
that are in the national interest. Nc:+, it is arguable
CONYTfl\ ED
z
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that the Post should have shown more deference to the
government, that it drew the line in the wrong place. It
is also arguable that the dynamic of competition that you
can now see developing with.the AP story might lead to
excessive disclosures. However, the Post has accepted the
premise, as have other news organizations-in this episode,
that we journalists are citizens also. Indeed, that we
are citizens first.
JENNINGS?: George, in a very quick phrase, somebody
suggested to me today the press is anti-American. What do
you think of that?
WILL: I don't think that's so. I think the press
sometimes likes the rule, 'I publish and be damned.' It
spares it the torture of thinking. But journalists do,
indeed, have to think as they work.
JENNINGS: George, thank you very much for joining us.
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