DANGEROUS IMPLICATIONS OF TAMPERING WITH THE FIRST AMENDMENT

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00552R000605830024-5
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 20, 2010
• Sequence Number: 24
• Publication Date: August 4, 1980
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/08/20: CIA-RDP90-00552R000605830024-5
ARTICLE APPBAR
O*T PAGE 2
VFW YORK TIMES
6 AUGUST 1.980
Letters
.. .
`Dangerous Implications' of Tampering With thez1~
To the Editor: though, is it legitimate for your paper
Your July 14 editorial attacking us to expose the Pentagon Papers or des-
was so unusually vicious and replete tabililization by the C.I.A. in Chile, for
with misstatement that it requires a "example, but not legitimate for the
response. Covert Action Information. Bulletin to
First you 'assert both that our work expose destabilization in Jamaica? As
in exposing U.S. intelligence abuses, . Ford Rowan testified before the House
operations and personnel endangers
lives and that we do not care. In so
doing, you misstate not us, or.an out-
sider, but your own reporter..:; Times; it was designed to protect peo-
Not one of the "several thousand ple like Covert Action."
C.I.A. personnel exposed, by many.- When you say "the United States
publications in - many countries. has. needs spies abroad; every country em-
mat'l., afiwiv fly the_
,Intelligence Committee in January,
"The First Amendment wasn't de-
ploys them," you misrepresent the
premises from which we operate. We
do not object to intelligence gathering;
we object to the covert interference in
.the affairs of other nations, the refusal
to let the people of those nations decide
for themselves upon their leaders,
their systems of government, and the
forms of institutions they desire.
Finally, when you call upon Con-
gress to look for laws that might "get"
us, without, of course, "getting" The
ing" and what constitute "a legiti
publication; you assert,`should decide
what Is "valid and necessary report-
its arrogance, Is quite revealing. Your
Your outrage over ours "mocking" of
the First Amendment, even stripped of
Admiral Turner has admitted that
"this enterprise," as you put it.. had
nothing to do with the killing of Rich-
ard Welch in Athens in 1975. As a num-
ber of publications have revealed, Mr..
Welch was killed by a group stalking
his predecessor shortly after he had
moved into his predecessor's home, ig-.
noring cabled warnings.from C.I.A.
headquarters not to live there.
More significantly, you assert that
Mr. Wolf expressed "indifference,"
that "he doesn't- care," and that, "As
he told Philip Taubman of The Times,
he has no qualms about the fate of indi-
viduals." As Mr. Taubman will con-
firm, Mr. Wolf expressed quite the con-
trary, noting that. he was against vio-
lence and abhorred the inflicting of any
injury to persons exposed, and pointing
out that it had never, in fact, occurred
and in any event was totally counter-
productive, giving the C.I.A. sympathy
and support it does not deserve. More-
over, it diverts attention from the real
Times, your outrage blinds you. There
is no such law. Our research involves'
unclassified material, and no C.I.A
"sources." As the American Ci
ably constitutional can, in fact, pr&.
vent the publication by the Covert Ac-'?
tion Information Bulletin ... of the
names of C.I.A. officers who are as-
signed to positions in American em-
bassies."
You believe that what we do is mor-
ally wrong; we believe that what we do
is morally right. If, one wants to urge
the C.I.A. to develop better cover, that
is one's right, but if one asks Congress
to make it a crime for private citizens
to publish unclassified information ob-
tained from unclassified sources, that
has dangerous implications. :
LOUIS WOLF, WILLIAM SCrnAAP
ELLEN RAY
Co-Editors, Covert Action
Information Bulletin
Washington, July 18,1980
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/08/20: CIA-RDP90-00552R000605830024-5