U.S. WEIGHS ACTION ON CIA EX-AGENT

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP81M00980R000400040022-0
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 15, 2016
• Document Release Date: June 8, 2004
• Sequence Number: 22
• Publication Date: August 31, 1978
• Content Type: NSPR

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tiVASHI~i~ -i'C75FI~or Release 2004/07/08 : C~DPB?1 I~0(9~ ~0,0
0022-0 pAGE ,~
U.S. Weighs Action on CIA F~-Agent
By Charles R. Baboock
_. ? waehlncton Poet ~talf Writes
The Justice .Department is investi-
gating wlie'ther it is possible to bring
espinna;ge charges against former
('ventral Intelligence Agency officer
Philip-Agee-or perhaps hts publisher
-aver. aforthcoming-book that i~;aaid
to #dentfy hundreds of :undercover
CIA operatives. ;
Th? department also fs considering
taking civil aciion in an effort to stop
publication of the new. book, "Dirty
'Work; The CIA in Western Europe,'?
which is scheduled to be published
next month by Lyle Stuart Inc, of Se-
caucus, N.J.
..Justice. officials. emphasized in re-
cent interviews, however, that they
.have made no decision on whether to
proceed against Agee. It is possible,
they said, that legal problems may
preclude taking any action.
:_~ 3us~_l~st year, for instance, the Jus-
tice Department decided it would not
prosecute Agee for secrets he dis-
closed in an earlier book,"Inside the
Company:. CIA. Diary."
In that book he described his years
as a CIA- agent in Latin ,America in
the 188Qs and identified sev8ral other
undercover operatives.
CIA officials were upset at the time
by what they .considered the failure
of the espionage laws to punish such
disclosures.. But 'one knowledgeable
source said that an espionage charge
against Agee-then or now-could be
counterproductive because it would
give him. a platform to discover still
more CIA secrets that might be dis-
closed at a trial.,
Civil action-such as the breech of
contract suit the department won
against Frank Snepp, another former
CIA agent-turned-author-is compll-
Gated bacause Agee lives abroad and
cannot be reached by regular court
proceedings.
Justice earlier moved successfully
against 'Victor Marchetti, coauthor
with John D. Marks of "The CIA and
the Cult of Intelligence," to hold up
publication while a judge reviewed
CIA deletions.
But a proposed injunction against
Agee's publisher is complicated, offi-
cials acknowledge, because Lyle
Stuart signed no secrecy agreement to
protect CIA material. Thus in such a
case the government. }vould have to
meet the difficult standard of irrepar-
able harm, which the U.S. Supreme
Court raised in the celebrated case in-
volving The Ne1v York Times and the
Pentagon Papers.
A possible espionage charge against
the publisher, perhaps for receiving
classified information, also is ,being
looked at, ane official said. But that
would be an unprecedented attack on
the press and raises the .same prob-
lems of possible disclosure of secrets
as such a charge against Agee.
Justice officials have been reluctant
to discuss the specifics of the Agee
case, though some have confirmed
that the CIA claims the new book will
reveal the fdentit.ies of many under-
cover agents.
Such unauthorized disclosure of
names could be prosecuted because
the identities are classified, officials
said. --
Another recently formed project by
the former agent also is a cause for
concern at the CIA and Justice. A
new magazine called the Covert Ac-
tion Information Bulletin announced
it would fight the intelligence commu-
pity by "exposing CIA personnel and
operations whenever and wherever we
find them." The first issue identified
a man alleged to be the CIA station
chief in Jamaica.
Though the magazine could be a re-
curring source for releasing unauthor-
ized,classified material, legal action
against it is not being considered as.
part of the current review of what to
do about Agee's book:, officials said.
Approved For Release 2004/07/08 :CIA-RDP81 M00980R000400040022-0