WILL SENATE ACT TO PROTECT U.S. AGENTS?

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00845R000100120006-8
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: December 23, 2010
• Sequence Number: 6
• Publication Date: February 6, 1982
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/12/23: CIA-RDP90-00845R000100120006-8
Liberals Block Legislation,
1411,_j E1EN i'S
o ' ebruaryy 1982
WB Siats Act tu
CounterSpy, Philip Agee's first vehicle for
undermining U.S. security by exposing the iden-
tities of its secret intelligence agents--its eyes and
ears and "first line of defense"-published its first
issue in March 1973. Its blatant subversion re-
ceived worldwide publicity in December 1975 when
one of those it had exposed, Richard Welch, CIA
station chief in' Athens, . was murdered by
terrorists.
There was a brief hiatus in these enemy-serving
exposures when CounterSpy temporarily ceased
publication in late 1976 before being succeeded by
Agee's next instrument, Covert Action -Informa-
tion Bulletin (CAIB), launched at the anti-CIA,
Soviet-controlled 11th World Youth Festival ? in
Castro's Havana in the summer of 1978 (in
December 1978, CounterSpy-began.publishing
again under new management).'.
The CAIB-CounterSpy campaign was supple-
mented by three Agee books---his 1975 Inside the
Company: CIA Diary, which listed over 400 indi-
-viduals and groups he. claimed were CIA agents,
fronts and covers (and -was translated-probably
with KGB help into at least 16 languages); the
1978 Dirty Work: The CIA in Western Europe,
with its list of.over.800 alle ged 7CIA agents and
agencies, and his 1981. Dirty Work 2: The CIA: in
Africa, with its 23S-page CIA."Who's-Who."
Agee continues his."dirty work.'.' Just last Oc-
tober, he appeared in. Managua," Nicaragua,
charged the U.S. Embassy was harboring CIA per-
sonnel disguised as diplomats,-and urged a mob-
near the embassy to "meet violence with violence"
and "Take the place'-over or burn it to the
ground," according to theLondon Times (the U.S.
press, strangely, did not report this incident). The
excited crowd then "burned effigies of Uncle Sam
and fiercely denounced President Reagan and the
CIA."
,.Early in November, the pro-Sandinista?paper,.
Nuevo Diario, listed 40 people it said had worked
for the CIA in Nicaragua in recent - years and ,
published biographies of 13 claimed CIA perso
nel then attached to the embassy...
?
Some of. those named received death.*:,
threats. A number of them, -as well as some
other embassy personnel, fearful for the safe- ?
ty of their wives and children, sent them out of-
- the country. - U.S. officials linked the ex-'
aosures to Agee's visit and accused- the
CONTINUED
Nica Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/12/23: CIA-RDP90-00845R000100120006-8
Earlier, in June 1980, the Supreme Court had'
found that Agee's activities, openly -aimed at seek- I
ing "to have the CIA abolished". and. "to drive
.them [CIA officers and agents] out of the countries
where they are operating," presented "a serious
danger to American officials abroad," endangered
the interests of countries other than the United
States," presented "a serious danger to the na-
tional security"-and "are clearly not protected by
the. Constitution."
CAIBers boast that they have exposed over'
2,000 U.S. agents. The financial cost and vital
intelligence lost by their identifications have been;
incalculable. Their usefulness lost where they were
serving, the ,CIA has had to transfer exposed
agents to new localities, find new covers for them
or restrict them to other than clandestine assign-
ments. In their new assignments, foreign language
problems, unfamiliarity with the local culture, lack,
of contacts and similar factors have tremendously!
replace-
reduced their effectiveness. In addition,- replace-
ments for- those exposed have had to face these
same problems-when substitutes' for them with
the necessary basic qualifications can be- found,
trained and provided new cover. Aside from the
millions in dollar costs, the results, as the Supreme ;
Court found, "have prejudiced the ability of the
United States .to obtain intelligence."_ ? . ;
Almost nine years have passed since CounterSpyj
began its exposures. :. ? :.~
.-What has Congress done about this dangerous'
security-intelligence problem during all these
years?
In 1976, immediately after Welch's murder, bills
to criminalize the exposure of U.S. agents couldn't
even get a hearing in a liberal-left-dominated Con-
gress.- As the exposures continued, the same was
true in 1977, 1978 and 1979..Hearings were finally
held in both houses and bills reported in 1980-but 1
none were passed. More hearings and bills were
reported in 1981-and finally, on September 23,1
the House considered an ineffective measure
reported by its Intelligence Committee. Rep. John!
Ashbrook (R: Ohio) succeeded in pushing through
an amendment that greatly strengthened it and it I
passed the Democratic controlled House by' a
354-to-56 vote. . s,?i;ris ,. -'-` : `_ ..