LEAHY DENIES HE DISCLOSED CIA SPY TACTIC

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000301890018-5
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: September 25, 2012
• Sequence Number: 18
• Publication Date: October 30, 1986
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/09/25: CIA-RDP90-00965R000301890018-5
UNITED PRESS INTERNATIONAL
30 October 1986
LEAHY DENIES HE DISCLOSED CIA SPY TACTIC
BY DAVID KALISH
MONTPELIER, VT
Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., vehemently refutes charges he disclosed valuable
CIA intelligence information during a network news show last year.
An article published in the November issue of Reader's Digest accuses the
three-term Democratic senator of inadvertently revealing a secret CIA spy
tactic while appearing on the CBS "Morning News" show on Oct. 11, 1985.
In the story, authors Rowland Evans and Robert Novak say Leahy disclosed
classified information obtained during a CIA briefing the morning of the
boradcast. The disclosure tipped off governments around the world about a CIA
tactic of intercepting phone calls to gather intelligence material, according to
the article.
During a television discussion of the Achille Laura hijacking incident,
according to the article, Leahy revealed that the United States knew the
hijackers were still in Egypt despite claims by Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak
to the contrary. "Our intelligence was very, very good," the story quotes
Leahy as saying.
In a letter to Reader's Digest, made public Thursday, Leahy vehemently denied:
the charges that he revealed the secret CIA tactic, and demanded an apology
for publishing the "gross error."
In the letter, Leahy said administration officials had already revealed the
information at a news conference the night before the broadcast. Leahy also sent
the magazine excerpts from various news organizations that indicate the
information was made public before his television appearance.
Leahy called the article's contention he disclosed secret information "a
well-timed, politically motivated libel by two writers known to have close ties
to the far right."
Leahy, who is running for re-election, is the ranking Democrat on the Senate
Select Committee on Intelligence and has emphasized his congressional seniority
while campaigning.
In another letter to Reader's Digest released Thursday by the Leahy campaign,
James Schlesinger, a former CIA director, demanded that an apology be
published for Leahy. The letter urges the magazine in the future to "check such
serious charges against the historical record - before they are published."
The authors of the article say they stand by their story.
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/09/25: CIA-RDP90-00965R000301890018-5