IN CASE YOU MISSED THIS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90B01390R000200300002-3
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: October 14, 2010
• Sequence Number: 2
• Publication Date: May 30, 1986
• Content Type: MEMO

Approved For Release 2010/10/14 :CIA-RDP90B01390R000200300002-3
' CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY j 4 ~%.
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NOTE FOR: The Director
VIA: The Deputy Director ~'
FROM: Dave Grie~~4
In case you missed this.
~~~~ FIFE .~.~.~.~.._7
Approved For Release 2010/10/14 :CIA-RDP90B01390R000200300002-3
 Approved For Release 2010/10/14 :CIA-RDP90B01390R000200300002-3
Letters to the Editor
Congressional Leaks Erode Security
As a member of the House Intelligence
Committee, I must take strong exception
to Sen. Durenberger's critique (Letters,
May 12) of Suzanne Garment's April 18
Capital Chronicle regarding Congress's
oversight of intelligence. My Senatorial
colleague fails to refute Ms. Garment's
basic contention that too many Members
and staff are "in the intelligence loop" and
"when it comes to secrets, the U.S. Con-
gress is a sieve."
To imply, as the Senator does, that the
current arrangement is leakproof is at var-
iance with the facts. I am aware of Con-
gressional leaks that have damaged U.S.
intelligence interests in Asia, the Middle
East and Central America. Overriding se-
curity concerns preclude me from elabo-
rating.
No less a journalistic authority on leaks
than Daniel Schorr noted in a Washington
Post article (Nov. 14, 1985) "...that it has
never been suggested that a Member of
Congress could be disciplined other than
by Congress itself. This is relevant because
(I don't think that I am baring any great
journalistic secretsl the exposure of covert
intelligence questions is frequently a form
of Congressional whistleblowing. Aleak of-
ten occurs when a clandestine plan runs
into substantial opposition during a brief-
ing for Congressional committees." Mr.
Schorr cited a number of specific exam-
ples involving Congressional leaks of infor-
mation on Angola, Chile, Nicaragua, El
Salvador and Libya.
Missing from the Senator's discussion of
background investigations for Intelligence
Committee staff is the fact that no Mem-
ber of Congress is subjected to a commen-
surate security check. Such a loophole is
an egregious security vulnerability that
warrants immediate remedial action.
Sen. Durenberger also indicates that
creating a Joint Committee on Intelligence
as a remedy for the leak problem would
essentially eliminate Congressional over-
sight of intelligence. That observation sug-
gests that he believes that the oversight
and analytical capabilities of Senators and
Congressmen sitting together around a
Joint Committee table would somehow be
dramatically diminished or even muted. I
don't follow this. logic. I view a Joint Com-
mittee arrangement as analogous to an
open-ended conference committee. Anyone
who has observed a Conference Committee
in action knows that the often intense
"competitive analysis" of 'the issues that
goes on between Senate and House con-
ferees is one of the most salient features of
these gatherings.
The thrust of Ms. Garment's article is
right on target, and I am pleased to report
that my Joint Committee proposal now has
150 cosponsors in the House.
HErreY J. HYDE (R., Ill.l
House of Representatives
Washington
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