BILL ON AGENT DISCLOSURE MOVES FROM HOUSE PANEL

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00806R000200970061-6
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: July 29, 2010
• Sequence Number: 61
• Publication Date: September 12, 1980
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/07/30: CIA-RDP90-00806R000200970061-6
ARTICLE A?Pr '"
ON PAGE 13-
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
12 September 1980
Bill on Agent Disclosure
Moves from House Panel
A House Judiciary subcommittee has
approved a bill that would severely un-
dermine the efforts of the congressional
intelligence committees to pass legisla-
tion barring journalists and other
writers from disclosing the names of se-
cret U.S. agents. But the measure re-
ported by the subcommittee on a 5-1
vote August 26 faces stiff opposition
from Republicans as well as the Demo-
cratic leadership of the full House.
Bills were rushed through both
House and Senate intelligence panels in
the aftermath of the attack last July 4
on the home of the CIA station chief in
Jamaica. The attack occurred just days
after his name was disclosed in the anti-
CIA publication, Covert Action bifor-
mation Bulletin.
The House and Senate intelligence
committees passed bills that were de-
signed to enable the government to
prosecute those who publish the names
of covert CIA agents. They thought
they had drafted the bills carefully
enough to avoid First Amendment con-
flicts.
To get at the publisher of the Covert
Action Information Bulletin, Louis
Wolf, the bills would allow prosecution
of those who establish a pattern of at-
tempting to impede U.S. foreign in-
telligence activities. The House In-
telligence Committee included FBI in-
telligence in its bill's coverage, an
action that sent it to the Judiciary Com-
mittee that has FBI oversight responsi-
bilities.
News media groups immediately op-
posed the two bills, claiming they
threatened the freedom of the press to
report on intelligence issues.
The bill drafted by the House Judi-
ciary Subcommittee on Constitutional
Rights, headed by Rep. Don Edwards
(D., Calif.), wed allow prosecution of
present and past government officials
who disclose names they learn in their
official capacities. But it would ban
prosecution of journalists or anyone
else.
Both the Association of American
Publishers and the Society of Profes-
sional Journalists opposed the bills of
the intelligence committees.
AAP Vice-President Richard P.
Kleeman told the subcommittee in a
letter: It is imperative that dis-
tinctions be made between those who
intend to undermine U.S. intelligence
operations and those who report legiti-
mately and specifically on intelligence
matters, whether in newspapers or in
books."
He also asserted that "a distinction
must be made between those who mis-
use information contained in classified
materials to which they have had ac-
cess and those who publish information
obtained from public or nonclassified
materials or who come accidentally in-
to possession of information which
may have at one time been classified."
Rep. Robert F. Drinan (D., Mass.),
who offered the amendment to exempt
journalists, said that the measures writ-
ten by the intelligence committees pre-
sented constitutional problems. "Be-
trayal of trust is what needs to be pun-
ished" by congressional action, he
said.
The subcommittee also voted, again
5-1, to eliminate the mention of FBI
agents in the bill, the portion that caused
the Judiciary to receive the measure in
the first place.
The more sweeping versions of the
bill approved by the intelligence com-
mittees have the backing of the House
leadership of both parties,. But the bill
already has gained controversy, hurt-
ing its chances for action in this session!
of Congress. HOWARD FIELDS
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/07/30: CIA-RDP90-00806R000200970061-6