BARBARA REYNOLDS, USA TODAY, REQUEST FOR INTERVIEW

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00845R000201200003-0
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 5
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: June 11, 2010
• Sequence Number: 3
• Publication Date: August 10, 1983
• Content Type: MEMO

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10 August 1983
MEMORANDUM FOR: Director of Central Intelligence
Deputy Director, Public Affairs Office
SUBJECT Barbara Reynolds, USA TODAY, Request for
Interview
1. Action Requested: Decline or accept request for
interview by Barbara Reynolds, editor of the Inquiry Column
for USA TODAY.
2. Background: In a letter to you dated 2 August 1983,
Barbara Reynolds requests an interview with you which would
be published in the Inquiry Column of USA TODAY. The
question and answer format allows the interviewee to directly
answer "the most critical questions affecting our nation".
Enclosed for your review, are exemplars of interviews which
have been published in the past.
3. Recommendation: None. Indicate whether you wish to
decline or accept this interview and authorize Public Affairs
to respond in your behalf.
Director of Central Intelligence Date
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MILImmumuum
OF CALL
^ YOU CALLED BY
OF
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^ PLEASE
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CODE/OCT.
^ WILL CALL AGAIN ^ IS WAITING TO SEE YOU
^ RETURNED YOUR CALL 0 WISHES AN APPOINTMENT
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DATE TIME
R (41 CFA 101
GPO 1981 0 341-529 (138)
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August 2, 1983
The Honorable William J. Casey
Director of Central Intelligence Agency
White House
Washington, D.C. 20500
Dear Mr. Casey:
PAO.
As editor of the Inquiry column and a member of USA TODAY's
editorial board, I am requesting an interview at your
earliest possible convenience.
As I know you are aware, USA TODAY, with a circulation of
1.1 million readers is now the nation's third largest
newspaper. The Inquiry column is one of the newspaper's
most frequently read features.
The Inquiry column's question and answer format allows
the interviewee to directly answer the most critical
questions affecting our nation. The time required for
the interview ranges from 30 to 45 minutes.
Those selected for Inquiry are a cross-section of the
nation's leaders. Among those who have been interviewed
for Inquiry include: President Reagan, Vice President
Bush, Rev. Jerry Falwell, Richard Richards, Bob Hope,
Jimmy Carter, John R. Block, Coretta Scott King, Bill
Brock and Malcolm Baldridge.
Copies of several interviews are enclosed. I hope you
will be able to share your thoughts with our readers.
I can be reached at (703) 276-3455.
Sincerely,
Barbara Reynolds
Inquiry Editor
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USA TODAY ? WEDNESDAY, APRIL 27, 1983. 11A
ISSUE: THE PRESIDENCIPS
President Ronald Reagan, 72, expressed his views
Tuesday on Central America, the administration's tax poli-
cy and the defense budget in an interview with USA TO-
DAY Editor John C Quinn, Washington Editor Don Camp-
bell, and Ann Devroy, White House correspondent.
El Salvador needs
more aid from USA
USA TODAY: Are you hap-
py with the House committee
action Tuesday, which halved
your request for $60 million
for El Salvador?
PRESIDENT REAGAN: Not
completely happy. The cup's
half full. We need a full cup.
We will go back for more.
USA TODAY: %A lot of
Americans wonder if you're
getting us into another Viet-
nam. Is that true?
PRESIDENT REAGAN:
There is no comparison what-
soever between this situation
and Vietnam I'll be speaking
more about this Wednesday
night to the Congress. There is
not and never has been any
thought of sending troops any
place here in the Americas -
nor are they asked for or want-
ed. Three-fourths or more of
all the aid has been economic
aid. Less than one-fourth has
been military aid.
USA TODAY: But didn't
Vietnam start In a similar
way?
PRESIDENT REAGAN:
The whole thing was totally dif-
ferent ... to say nothing about
being 10,000 miles away. (In El
Salvador) the duly elected gov-
ernment is being attacked by
guerrilla forces that are spon-
sored by outside countries.
USA TODAY: What is the
difference in the political sit-
uations in El Salvador and in
Nicaragua?
PRESIDENT REAGAN:
Nicaragua is a revolutionary
government that by force took
over the government: but then
you had the internal fighting in
which many of the revolution-
aries were cast aside and the
promises that were made as
being goals of the revolution
were never carried out Our
country had tried to get along
with and negotiate with Nicara-
gua. The arms are coming into
El Salvador by way of Nicara-
gua. We know that the opera-
tions of the Salvadoran guerril-
las are directed by radio from
the capital of Nicaragua....
We're interested in making it
more dWlcult, In fad, impossi-
ble, for Nicaragua to continue
to arm the guerrillas in El Sal-
vador.
USA TODAY: Sen. Howard
Baker suggested that $8 bil-
lion to $19 billion of new taxes
may be needed to save the
third year of your tax cut and
indexing? Do you agree?
PRESIDENT REAGAN:
Right now, with this recovery
at the stage it has reached, no
one should be talking in-
creased taxes. This would be a
good way to set back or cancel
the recovery.
USA TODAY: If the third
year of your tax cut were in
jeopardy, would you accept
some kind of new tax to save
it?
PRESIDENT REAGAN: If
they attempted it, I'd veto it.
USA TODAY: Your Com-
mission on Educational Ex-
cellence has found a tide of
mediocrity in American
schools. Would you support
more federal aid for a crash
educational program?
' PRESIDENT REAGAN: We
think there is a parallel be-
tween federal involvement in
education and the decline in
quality in recent years. What is
needed is more than just
throwing money at education.
Right now, we're spending
more than any other country in
the world, $215 billion on edu-
cation ... but we're not taking
the students to the limit of their
ability.
USA TODAY: Sen. Moyni?
ban told the American News-
paper Publishers Association
Monday they should "roar
like a tiger" and vigorously
oppose press restraints by
Congress and the administra-
tion. Do you agree?
PRESIDENT REAGAN: I do
not think so. I think the press is
free to print those things that
should be printed. To suggest
that we should declassify
things regarding national secu-
rity would be ridiculous.
USA TODAY: Should the
public complain about what
it's getting in the way of news
out of Washington?
PRESIDENT REAGAN:
Yes, I would like to complain.
They are getting too many
leaks.
USA TODAY: Does the pub-
lic have a clear understand-
ing of your defense policies?
PRESIDENT REAGAN:
be-
People
lieve that efense Is just larded
with fat and so you would not
be really hurting the muscle fl-
ber of our secsirity if you took
more money away. To say,
"Let's take $5 billion off or $10
billion off of the defense bud-
get" - there's way you can
budget n-dlitarW that way....
The man who ys, "Let's re-
duce the budgetby $10 billion,"
should be madiito look at that
defense plan. en we say to
him, "What wotod you do away
with that would save $10 bil-
lion? And how much will that
increase the insecurity of our
country?"
USA TODAY: Do you think
the public understands the is-
sue involving the banks and a
withholding tax on dividends
and interest?
PRESIDENT REAGAN: I
think there a perception
built among ions of people
that this was a new tax - that
somehow something that had
never been Ivied before
against them was going to be
levied. They d not under.
stand how the t majority of
them wouldn't den be touched
by this.
USA TODAY: If it passes,
will you veto the compromise
that delays withholding on in-
terest and dividends until
1987?
PRESIDENT REAGAN: rm
going to wait before I make
any comment ,tof that kind
whether I'll veto or not, until I
see what eventually arises .
but the plain truth of the mat-
ter is this isnotdnewtax.ItIs a
tax that people are presently
paying and all that we wanted
to do, the same as we do with
wages with withholding, was to
be able to head-off several mil-
lions of people who are cheat-
ing on their inpome tax.
USA TODAY: A state party
chairman who had lunch with
you last week told friends that
you leaned over and said to
him: "Don't worry. rm going
to run again." Have you told
anybody that?
PRESIDENT REAGAN: I
haven't said that to anyone,
really.
PRESIDENT REAGAN: Not
even Nancy.
USA TODAY: Do you feel
that the press is trying to get
you out of the 1984 campaign?
PRESIDENT REAGAN: No.
Just think, you wouldn't have
all those things to pick on if I
weren't here.
USA TODAY: You've said
before that the media report
too much bad news. But
there's been good economic
news lately. Has the news got-
ten better, or are the media
giving you better coverage?
PRESIDENT REAGAN:
Well, the news has gotten bet-
ter. But I was probably speak-
ing more there of the TV news.
You know show business is
based on the audience having
an emotional experience. The
sad stories were appealing and
there just seemed to be a great
emphasis on this. The other
day there was a news story that
someplace they were setting a
record of 500 businesses going
belly-up each year. But no
mention was made of the fact
... that in the same period
when several thousand busi-
nesses were reported as clos-
ing, 600,000 businesses started
up.
USA TODAY: Some experts
think part of the recovery is
because Paul Volcker, chair-
man of the Federal Reserve,
has loosened the reins on the
money supply. Why do you
want to get rid of him now?
PRESIDENT REAGAN:'
(Laughter). The way you asked
that question, you cannot get a
yes or no answer. There has
never been any discussion over
here about that ... As a matter
of fact, I told Mr. Volcker just
the other day, after all of this
flurry appeared, that there had
been no decision made nor no
conversation of any kind car-
ried on here in the administra-
tion about this. And I hope he
won't mind my telling you his
answer. His answer was to
laugh and say, "I've been
around Washington a long
time. Don't worry."
USA TODAY: Do you in-
tend to do anything about the
feuding that is going on
among some of your senior
aides?
PRESIDENT REAGAN:
Yes. I am disturbed about It
And I think there, again, this
comes up in the subject, gener-
ally, of leaks. And I think it is
time to put a stop to what I
think is incorrect Information.
... Incorrect information has
added to this whole atmo-
sphere.
USA TODAY: How are you
going to do that?
PRESIDENT REAGAN:
Well, I have thought of the guil-
lotine. (Laughter.) But I will
stop short of that
USA TODAY: Is it correct,
for instance, that the National
Security Council people and
James Baker and his staff are
not communicating as well as
they should?
PRESIDENT REAGAN: I
think some of the attacks that I
have seen recently are pretty
reprehensible. Maybe some of
this comes from the way I
chose to do business. It's the
way I did it in California for
eight years. I understand that
in past cabinets, for example,
each person had his own turf
and no one else in the cabinet
would talk about a decision af-
fecting the turf of that cabinet
member. I don't do business
that way. Ours is more like a
board of directors. I want all
the input because there are
very few is9ves that don't lap
over into other areas. Can you
talk about farm exports with-
out being involved with the De-
partment of Commerce and
the Treasury Department and
so forth? I want to hear all the
views and all the input And
then I make the decisions.
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