CASEY NEARS DECISION TO SLASH PUBLICATION OF CIA`S RESEARCH

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP99-00498R000200020070-4
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 20, 2016
• Document Release Date: March 23, 2007
• Sequence Number: 70
• Publication Date: July 2, 1981
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Approved For Release 2007/03/23: CIA-RDP99-00498R000200020070-4
ARTICLE APPEARED
ON PAGE q,
THE WASHINGTON STAR (GREEN LI
2 July 1981
o
Casey Nears 15ion
1
To 5!as Publication
ON CIA's Researc
. By Henry S. Bradsher,
Washington Star Staff Writer , ,
CIA Director William J. Casey is nearing a de-4
cision to curtail sharply the agency's publication
of unclassified documents,-but-he will, keep some-
one to answer the phone at the old public. affairs
office despite a new policy of curtailing outside
contacts, *according to CIA officials.;:
. Publications'policy.?has been under review ats
the agency since shortly after-President Reagan>
named his campaign manager to run the intelli-
gence organization. Casey has taken the position
that his job is. to keep the president informed -
not the general public.
Officials say there have been several meetings
to discuss whether- to continue making CIA stud-
ies available to. the public. These officials say the
meetings are now close to producing a decision
to cut back, or even- halt, the practice of distrib-
uting the results of some CIA research - stripped
of classified material - to other branches of the
government,.the press, universities and others.
Some officials raised the possibility that the
State Department's bureau of intelligence and re-
search might resume publishing limited kinds of .i
research materials that it used to issue before the-.,
CIA became active in distributing documents. The
bureau and the agency work closely together, and
personnel often, shift back. and forth between
them.
The CIA has made public two kinds of materials.
One has been research aids that are simply handy
compilations of openly available information,:
such as directories : of government officials
throughout theworld..The other has been sani
tized versions of the agency's research and analy
sis on subjects that are more. obscure or that re-
quire secret. sources, such as Soviet military "I
expenditures. or Chinese energy needs. - .
The agency, also has one of world's best cartog- .
? raphy units, which has issued outstanding atlases-
on specialized subjects, such asSoviet agriculture,
and polar regions. These and some of the other
agency publications have been: sold through gov-
ernment bookstores:
The publication of CIA materials expanded un--
der Casey's predecessor as director, retired Adm.
Stansfield Turner. The ruling to cut it back that
officials expect Casey to make.will probably re-
duce it to even less than was published before
Turner, when the agency circulated some materi-
als to universities but did not offer them widely
in Washington:
Testimony by ager
sional committees w
public record.some o
ical conclusions, offi
notorious on Capitol
ficult'about reviewii.
hearings before allo-
A publications cutl
by Casey two-month
agency practice of se:
briefings to journalis., ... ~~ _.. __
lowed by a decision to downgrade the office that
arranged the briefings and distributed publica
Lions-.
This office of public affairs became more active
under Turner, who brought in a retired Navy-cap-
tain to head it. As Turner's man, Herbert E. Hetu
had been considered likely to be leaving the agen-
cy before'long, but Hetu's own decision to depart
has now been speeded up by cutting him off from,
direct access to the director.
A reorganization has dropped the public affairs
office from being directly under ,the director to '
being three levels down. It will be a branch of.a
new external affairs staff, which also includes a
downgraded legislative affairs office, that comes
under a new office of policy and planning,
A veteran CIA man, Robert M. Gates,. who was
on loan to the Carter White House to work as an
executive assistant to National Security Adviser
Zbigniew Brzezinski, will head policy and plan-
ning. Gates was also briefly an executive assistant
to Turner when Turned was head of the agency's
Soviet analysis division.
The public affairs staff will be cut roughly in
half, officials said,. but the same information of-
ficers will still be there to take questions.. There
will be, however, fewer and slower answers than
ever from an organization that has always been
cautious about passing out information.
AA proved For Release 2007/03/23: CIA-RDP99-O0498R00020002007f1=4