WHITE HOUSE REPORTED ACTING TO STEM INFORMATION LEAKS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP91-00561R000100080049-0
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: February 23, 2012
• Sequence Number: 49
• Publication Date: May 14, 1978
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/02/23: CIA-RDP91-00561 R000100080049-0
STAT
The following article was. written by Nicholas M. Horrock on the basis of his
reporting and that of Anthony Marro and Richard Burt ;
ARTICLE APPEAR$D
ON PAGE A-1. 24
NEW YORK TIMES
14 May 1978
!WhiteHouseReportedActing
To Sterrr_Informatian'Leaks
WASHINGTON, May 13-The Carter
Administration is -moving to..tighten its
control over. the -flow -of.-unauthorized-
information -from:. thew Government. -ac-.
cording to :, defense,;,intelligegce.' -.and
White:Houseofffcia7s?
These. sources report that.high-level
!
;concern`-oiler' f[ow of information has
become as' great 0. IGwae fit17 the the. early
months of the Nixotr-Administration.
They add that there is the- same tend-
ency to lump together all forms of unau-
thorized disclosure, - ranging from. so-'
called "news leaks"- that embarrass the
Administration to unapproved books and
articles by former officials, including in-
telligence officials, and release of sensi-
tive national security information.
There is no "evidence that the Carter
Administration, which came to Washing-
ton 15 months ago pledging. "open" gov-I
-ernment, has 'taken measures similar to
those used in the Nixon Administration,
'which ordered- the:,Federal Bureau of In-.
vestigation to- tap the telephones of 17
-Government officials and reporters in an
attempt to choke- off information.
Embarrassment a Cause
,But the' Carter Administration has
.mounted a.- rangy of. internal. inquiries,
tightened National Security Council regu-
lations on- interviews, opened the prose..
cution' of ? one- espionage-case and filed..
a'breach of contract suit against a former
employee of the Central Intelligence-
Agency who wrotean' unauthorized book.
At -first, the Carter Administration did
seem more open but, like, previous admin
min-
istrations, includinj those of Presidents
Kennedy, Johnson and Nixon,' it ' moved
.to tighten control over the flow of infor-
mation when officials were increasingly
embarrassed -by public disclosures of in-
ternal debate, disputes and policy deci-
So far, the Carter Administration-bas
apparently refrained from directing an
y
inquiry against a.' news 'organization o
a reporter, but several inquiries have' had
a chilling- effect-:on, some: Governmentl
;sources.: Moreover,...seierak -Justice ,De-{
lpartment.-lawyecsl: now;:required=tacsign.
affidavits .about' their contacts with re-
porters as- a part of leak inquiries, have
[iecomeunwilling to talk- with reporters.l
----=----Problem Is Diverse- r.. ;?;.:
Internal investigation. experts ?in two
departments. said that. the. Governmen
has been looking fora case that would
be,. as-.'one put- it,,."an-example--a: case,
that would.really .slam .an employee-and
possibly embarrass the news. organizatio
that' dealt with him."
At' the, moment, government, sources
said,.. there ; are two important. investiga.
tions of alleged security breaches under
way that appear to blur the line betwee
efforts tocope .with news leaks and. mor
serious counter-espionage measures.
If the countermeasures to leaks are
diverse, so is the problem. There are, of
course, traditional. types 'of disclosures
that hava plagued most modern presi-
dents: those designed to force them to
adopt a policy position and those by Gov-
ernment agencies lobbying for budget
preference.
But interviews with various officials
i;olated two forms of disclosure that ap-
pear to have grown more troublesome
in the last year--the unauthorized publi-
cation of books 'or articles by former gov-
ernment employees and leaked docu-
ments.
In one continuing -investigation a
leaked document is a key factor. On
April 14 a Defense Department official J
prepared a memorandum urging that the
Administration develop' a missile that
could be used on land or on submarines.
Two key government sources said that
on the same day the memorandum was
prepared it appeared In the West Coast
office of a defense contractor, which sug-'
gested that it,might have been transmit-
ted by either a telephone or telegraph
device that uses a microwave system and
thus might be vulnerable to eavesdrop-
ping by the Soviet Union.
What complicates the matter is that
the contents of the. memorandum became
part of a news article several days later."
The inquiry into the document's transmis-
sion, described as a national security in-
vestigation, has now become a search for
a news source as well.
According to one well-placed Govern-
ment official, the dual nature of this casel
further confuses the distinction between;
investigations based on assertions of;
national security and efforts to control!
Government investigators in a recentlyt
ordered F.B.I. investigation. Several
weeks ago, The New York Times queried
Government officials about a potentiiali
critical national security investigation o
Government official. The reporters i
were assured, after several days, that the i
matter h: td been closed and no wrong-
doing had been found
But other well placed Government
:sources said that the F.B.I. had opened
an inquiry to discover how information
about the investigation leaked to The
Times. The result of a security inquiry
could be disclosure to the Government
of confidential news sources. ? --r
With the' traditional maneuvering
among the armed services for the-defense
dollar, leaks from-the Department of De-
fense have been particularlity numerous
in the last few months:
Why Brown Is Concerned ;
A top-level Pentagon official. said that
this back door lobbying for shares of the'
defense budget was not unusual, but that
Harold Brown, the Secretary of Defense,
and others were concerned because the
leaks so often took the form of 'secret
memorandums and other doc-iments.
"I can remember when a. reporter
wouldn't touch a secret document," he
sa?d. Another top-level defense official
said he understood that the leaking of
documents is so brisk that reporters "get
unsolicited documents in the mail." .
These officials and other security ex-
.perts argued that leaking whole. docu-
ments' sharply increased- the possibility
th't true national security Information
might be compromised. While the public
misht need to- know the main thrust of
a memorandum, the officials saids they
,contended that leaking the whole. docu-
ment needlessly exposed details.
What has severelycomolicated'- the
government's ability to halt, the unau-
thorized disclosure of documents is that.
there ..has been-little attempt to; revamp.
the security classification system-,--Under
the system, millions of documents con-
taining innocuous - information.. arel
stamped "secret" and "top secret"and
given other restrictions.
Disagreement Over Secrets
For example, in a trial of a United!
States Information Agency officeri
charged under the espionage act with giv- -
ing secret documents to an alleged agent'
for the - Socialist Reoubiin_ of _Yietnrm-1
government officials disagreed oven
whether disclosure,. of certain . classifieds
documents had actually been harmful _tol
the national defense:.._, . '
As in other administratons, another,
major source of news leaks -are the Act-I
ministration officials who are trying tot
covertly publicize their position on a poll
cy question in an effort to manipulate
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/02/23: CIA-RDP91-00561 R000100080049-0 ' '