'DANGEROUS IMPLICATIONS' OF TAMPERING WITH THE FIRST AMENDMENT

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00845R000100160063-1
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: July 1, 2010
• Sequence Number: 63
• Publication Date: August 6, 1980
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

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Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/07/14: CIA-RDP90-00845R000100160063-1
ARTICLE APPPARZP NEW YORK TIMES
0'I PAGE_. ' O 6 AUGUST 1-98O
Letters
`Dangerous Implications' of Tampering With the ir5tarncnurneril
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 i. 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 Intelligence Committee in January,
lives and that we do not care. In so z'-"The First Amendment wasn't de-
doing. you misstate not us,-or.an out- signed to protect' The New York
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-
been harmed on account of it. Even - ploys them," you misrepresent the
Admiral Turner has admitted that premises from which we operate. We
"this enterprise," as you put it,. had do not object to intelligence gathering;
nothing to do with the killing of Rich- we object to the covert interference in
and Welch in Athens in 1975. As a num- ..the affairs of other nations, the refusal
her of publications have revealed, Mr. to let the people of those nations decide
Welch was killed by a group stalking for themselves upon their leaders,
his predecessor shortly after he had their systems of government, and the
moved into his predecessor's home, ig-. forms of institutions they desire.
noring cabled warnings .from C.I.A. Finally, when you call upon Con-
headquarters not to live there. - gress to look for laws that might "get"
More significantly, you assert that us, without, of course, "getting" The
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
abuses we are criticizing?
Your outrage over ours "mocking" of
the First Amendment, even stripped of
its arrogance, is quite revealing. Your
publication, you assert, should decide
what Is--"valid and necessary reporting" and what constitutes- -a. legiti-
mate Rhuly nt tho r~sy
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
Liberties Union recently remind
Congress, "no bill which is concei
ably constitutional can, in fact, pre.
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 it 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 SCFIAAP
ELLEN RAY
Co-Editors, Covert Action
Information Bulletin
Washington, July 18, 1980
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/07/14: CIA-RDP90-00845R000100160063-1