CIA DUCKS AGAIN AND CIA OFFICIAL DISPUTES EDITORIAL]

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP88-01314R000100430018-9
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 5
• Document Creation Date: December 15, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 30, 2004
• Sequence Number: 18
• Publication Date: September 22, 1976
• Content Type: NSPR

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ON -7"GIZ
A letter on this page froril , is capacity" for U.S. news agen_
Andrew T. Falkiewicc, assistant to cies. Previously, in a Feb. 11 state-
the director of the Central I.ntn:ili- ment, Bush had said that the CIA
pence Agency, complains about would not have relationships with
"factual inaccuracies" in ;a.n Aug. anyone "accredited" to U.S. news
23. Register editorial about the CIA., media.
The editorial critici2ed"the CIA for.` ; The, "accredited" qualifier deft
ducking questions raised by the Na- the agency free to put on its payroll:
tional Conference of Editorial free-lancers and others who
Writers and for not putting in . worked for U.S. publications but
writi ng a policy. the agency haai were not "accredited." The CIA's -
stated privately statement to the National News
The- chairman of the, editorial- Council that it would not,have ties '
writers' organization wrote to CIA to anyone working in a "journalist-'
Director George Bush cn three oc- is capacity" was an important ela-
casions. Each time, concern was boration, but, as we said Aug. 23,
expressed about the planting by the the CIA did not put this in writing.
CIA of false and misleading stories Falkiewicz's letter quoti' ; the old
in. foreign publications and..t.he "accredited" language x lakes us
hiring by. the CIA of foreign jour. wonder whether. the Ct,,,c_onsiders
nalists. itself bound by what it told the
The CIA answered each lettpz,_: News Council.
but each response evaded both, Our Aug. 23 editorial also said:
questions. As the chairman of the: _,'The agency has refused to drop
editorial writers' group said at one foreign journalists from its payroll
point, "The response, I am sorry to and has refused to stop using
say, was no response. at all." covert propaganda abroad. There
Bush refused to meet with repre- is no way to prevent phony stories
sentatives of the National Confer.....'.planted abroad .from being picked-
ence of Editorial Writers after first up by the U.S. news media."
agreeing-.to a meeting. CIA of.fi- Readers-will note that Falkiew
cials did meet with representatives.. icz's letter does not. address these
of the National News Council. ' issues, as .the ' CI.A refused to
At that meeting, CIA officials address them, when they were
said the agency would not have ties raised earlier by the National Coir-
to anyone working in a "journalist- feyrenc;e of ]editorial Writers.
disputes p
eito.i
To the Editor:
The Aug. 23 Register editorial, "Run-
around by the CI" has just been
brought to my attention.. .
There are important factual hear-
curacies in [the editoriall....
1. The extensive exchange of carve- 4
spondence between senior officials of
the. Central. Intelligence Agency and
the National Conference of Editorial.
Writers is anything but strategy of
"ignore the critics." We have no objec-
tion to the r' cipient making-our letters
availabie to you for publication, so that
I your readers can properly judge the
extent' to which we have sought to
respond to "the concerns expressed by
the editorial writers."
2. The most cursory but accurate
reference to -the published text of
the director's statement of Feb. 1 t
would have prevented your erroneous'
assertion that the CIA "has not put ,.,`
in writing" guidelines for the agency's
relations with "anyone working, in' a
journalistic capacity for U.S. news
agencies." The relevant quotation from
the Feb. 1l staterent is: :.
"Effective immediately, CIA will not
enter into any paid or contractual rela-
tionship with any full-timeeorpart-tirae.1
news correspondent'accredited by any
U.S. news service, newspaper, periodi-:.
cal, radio or television network or_
station."
This represents a voluntary, self-?'
imposed limitation on legitimate ac-
tivities of this agency of the federal
CO,'1FlNrUP" D.
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!government, undertaken in response to'l
{ constitutional 'concerns which wa,
1 respect and share, and in order to avoid
even the appearance of.impropriety.
3. . The business of foreign intelli-
gence is serjous, responsible and im
portant, since the only alternative to
knowledge that the policylnaker has is
ignorance. It is false to describe the.
process of collection, analysis, and pro-'
duction of intelligence as "cloak-and=
dagger work" in your context. It is mis-
leading to ignore the established pre.,.,*
dential and congressional direction and-
full accountability procedures in exist=i
ence. It is false and dangerously. mis;.
leading to present the public with the
premise that the CIA attempts to ma-
nipulate this nation's free press,,`...
Public discussion of American
foreign intelligence activities-, is too
of ten.debased_by'those-who either
pursue. sensationalism at any price or.
are, in fact,' cynically, dedicated toda
magi.np this nation's intelligence and
counter lntalligence capability. When a
newspaper of the caliber of The. Reg!--,.-
ter errs in its editorial presentation of
verifiable facia, potential for harm,
however unintentional, is equally,
great.... Andrew T }'alkle'wiez, as-..
sistant to the dire'etorr, Centrial Iatelli-`
genre Agency, Washington, D .C 2Dai75
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UNCLASSIFIED
OFFICIAL ROUTING SLIP
TO
NAME AND ADDRESS
DATE
I I ALS
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DCI
4 OCT 1976
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ACTION
DIRECT REPLY
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APPROVAL
DISPATCH
RECOMMENDATION
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~ 11 X**OWV& Aeqhtcy ,
DCI,
You will remember that we
anticipated some rebuttal on the
(related) themes of foreign
journalists and foreign placement.
We had not commented on these points
of the resolution, other than to
label them, by implication, as
irrelevant. These are, of course,
legitimate sources and methods. Any
further exchange with the Register
is unproductive. It is one thing to
clarify misunderstandings or
distortions -- another to try and
adapt your policy directives to local
criticism. We have made, I think,
a sporting effort at the former; we
should not yield to the Register's
editorial pressure to do the latter.
And, in all honesty, as between the
two presentations, we do not come off
badly.
25X1
Andrew T. Falkiewicz
4 I it ItMi,)@
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