WHITE HOUSE TACITLY APPROVES LEAK PLUGGING

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP91-00561R000100040123-1
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: February 22, 2012
• Sequence Number: 123
• Publication Date: January 16, 1982
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

STAT
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/02/22 : CIA-RDP91-00561 R000100040123-1
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THE WASHINGTON POST
16 January 1982
white House Tacitly Approves Leak 'lugging
The White House gave tacit approval yesterday to the
Defense Department's decision to have officials take lie-
detector tests in its search for a news leaker, but it said
the Agriculture Department has gone too far in its media
crackdown.
Deputy press secretary Larry Speakes said the White
House regarded the use of lie detectors at the Pentagon
as "an internal Department of Defense matter."
"I would assume that if the president objected, he
would take it up" with Defense Secretary Caspar W.
Weinberger, Speakes said.
Frank C. Carlucci, deputy defense secretary, volun-
tarily took the first lie-detector test the other day to
prove that he was not the person who leaked a budget
projection figure to a reporter. Defense Department of-
ficials say the tests are now being given to other Penta-
gon officials.
Over at the Department of Agriculture, concerns are
about parity, not- weaponry.
Agriculture's senior officials received a memo the other
day from the department's press secretary explaining
that the White House would be coordinating all major
media appearances-"including print interviews."
But Speakes said that the White Houseeven as it is
in the midst of its new get-tough policy on leaks and in-
terviews--does not want to go quite that far.
"I think there has been a large amount of confusion
here between classified information and the coordination
of major television appearances," Speakes said.
The White House wants to coordinate appearances by
administration officials on television talk and interview
shows to avoid duplication, he said; it has not asked
agencies to coordinate interviews of officials with news-
paper and magazine reporters.
Agriculture's deputy press secretary, David Lane, said
the memo was written by his boss, John Ochs, who is
now traveling in Africa with Secretary John R. Block.
Lane said he did not know if Agriculture would now'
ease its policy. "Our rules might be different than the
White House's," he said. "There's nothing that prohibits
us from being more restrictive, if you want to put it that
way.
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/02/22: CIA-RDP91-00561 R000100040123-1