JAMAICA INCIDENT IMPROVES CHANCES OF BILL TO CURB NAMING OF AGENTS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00552R000201080031-8
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: June 28, 2010
• Sequence Number: 31
• Publication Date: August 24, 1980
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/06/28: CIA-RDP90-00552R000201080031-8
By JOHN. E: MULLIGAN
"WASHINGTON Louis Wolf is' al
soft;spoken researcher: and wtiter-?who
edits a small-circulation -magazine in a
cluttered little- office in = the National
Prass_ Building
Sen. Iohn H Chafee would like to see
people like Wolf prosecuted.for 'printing
a "treasonable" regular feature that, for
tlit;time being, is.perfectly:legal:; "Nam
ing-.Names,"
'in'that section of his. bi-monthly Co-
verEAction 'Information Bulletin, Wolf
identifies and briefly describes people het
say.are American spies. The disclosures,.
dedpced. and sometimes culled directly,
fr?rn books; and documents available to
anybody, are "substantially correct," of
Iict Js: have conceded
Officials of the Central Intelligence
.A ency- also -claim that similar. disclo
suEe bave"imperiled many. U.S., agents
anti" led to the murder of one, 'a Rhode
Islander'narced: Richard $.: Welch in-
197
Irgefy because of a.shootmg mcfdent
in ,Jamaica: last.-Inonth%that Wolf's an-
tagonists.. blame .on .Chafee.'"and
otl{er-. backers of the, intelligence.,estab-
:Usbment have revived a bill that, among
othac. things,.:-would make. disclosures
likp,W,olf'& punishable by. three years in,
ent 1n ?Jamaicd.-the ' names;- addresses
.aideother~particulars"on the, men` he
'Wives t6., be CIA-agents "preparing"a
massive destabilization ;effort"against
that. nation's government.
Two'days.later,.bullets were fired at
the home of Richard _N. Kinsman,.whom
Wolf had described as CIA station chief
Another agent. was., also reportedly. at
tacked t ?,,; ? s -s::.
A. few weeks {after `that, a' newly
re'vived Intelligence Identities Protection'
Act . -.which had appeared-doomed for
this- session. of Congress passed the
-Senate- Select Committee:on Intelligence,
(despite some misgivings about Its possi-1
'bte;conflicts?with.the'First Amendment.]
Sanitized
"It's very popular right'now," Chafee!
said of his bill,.which probably needed:
something like the Jamaica. incident to I
have a chance of :passage this year, he
agrees s .i
Some reform-minded legislators had
intended to use the agents. protection
bill to press for a new CIA charter, with
clear .limitations on its duties and pow-
ers, to prevent recurrences of illegal
domestic spying and other abuses un-
earthed in the mid-1970s. i
Now, according to Chafee, his bill has
an excellent chance- of passage by itself,
along with another CIA-backed vestige]
of, the abandoned charter bill, a cut in
-the number of Congressional panels that;
must.be told about certain covert oper
ations
"IT: IS QUITE CLEAR by the lan-
guage Wolf said of the bill, "that a
number of-senators, Chafee included,'
view this with mein mind." But he said
there is: no=evidence that the gunfire in
Jamaica stemmed from his statements.
Wolf named Kinsman in.the.his maga-I
tine last. year, months' before the Julyj
press conference. He said he mainlyi,
repeated disclosures that :were widely,
.,available .:.to. terrorists' or ?anyone: elsel
who might have wanted to attack Kins-j
man . _
He even. suggested without offering
any evidence thatsomeone friendly to
the CIA could easily have. shot at: Kips-i
man's l'o'ne;=since the agen"c"y 'h
clea, ly;
profited from the publicity surrounding 1
the incident
In -'any `event, Woif, -who is =:3J and
started.- looking into' American.: intaii-
gence ;abuses while writing, about'' the
Vietnam 'war,',is:unrepentant about nairi
ing names and,the`possibility thatit does
endanger "American agents
'.'Ourpremise'is that' you. cannot sepa- i
rate what the 6LA-is.dointfrom who. it
Is'that: is ;doing'it;: for, them,' ,;he. said.'
"They're spies I'm; not, being :rhetorical
about it; but.that's their. jobs That's their
occupation'" .N;
And Wolf. accepts the charge of "Ch- a.
fee, Intelligence ?Committee-.Chairman.
BircliBayh`andothers. that,his purposeis
to-,make. the, spy agency' Jib ,more I
difficult, as Iong"as the job is --- as he
claims - secret and improper meddling
in the- affairs of _ other govern'm.ents,
some friendly ones. included.
IN THE CASE of Jamaica, Wolf prom-
ises a full report in his next issue on the
"destabilization". campaign. he says the
CIA is waging against the local govern-
ment. -
"If there'were any evidence to support;
the belief that it is possible to reform the"
CIA" and end. the. domestic, mail-open-
ings and drug: experiments, the overseas
coup attempts:. and-other abuses that
Congressional :investigators found' .out
about a few: years ago, Wolf.- said,.. be
would not be so zealous in. his efforts to.
name- names
But,as things stand, he believes he and.
his' associates-?, are. protected-. in;their.
writings by'the First -Amendmeht free-
dom` to. utter` and publish- dissentfrom
the government. line
Personally- and through his assistan't
on -irate igence -issues,-. a former CIA
agent named Rob.Simmons, Chafee has.
scof a at Wolf's' contentions
Simmons, who said he first piqued his
boss' interest in. this'issue,: has called
Wolf's magazine::"garbage":and said. that.'
it,frequently errs in its exposes:'of CFA`
conduct, as welt as in some o'f its-listings
of supposed.agents in "Naming Namea',-
But-he partially conceded Wolf's clam',.
that identities, homes and associ
ations of.CIX .agents'-have sometimes;
been easy: to?,learn
'A NUMBER Oy official government`
lists.-of employees once-contained. codes
-that.distinguis#ied the intelligence agents
from Stdte -'Department employees., at.
American embassies` abroad. These pub-
lications have been; classified or.discon
tinued' partly because they made; it so
sirnple'.to identify CIA agents but Wolf'_
said. there are still -many active.,agertts.:
whu,, once picked out from the'govern
inept books, --are easy to follow: from...
country-to country .,;; .R. ,~
That is one of his'.methods of deduc _"
tioii, that goes into ."Naming Names."
--"'''here -is. a: lot ?f :truth in'.-that'2
conceded.' .Chafee's aide Simmons , h
ILLEGIB I
Copy Approved for Release 2010/06/28: CIA-RDP90-00552R000201080031-8