WHITE HOUSE SEEKS INPUT ON INFORMATION SAFEGUARDS
Document Type:
Collection:
Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST):
CIA-RDP90-00965R000807490032-2
Release Decision:
RIPPUB
Original Classification:
K
Document Page Count:
1
Document Creation Date:
December 22, 2016
Document Release Date:
March 9, 2012
Sequence Number:
32
Case Number:
Publication Date:
December 3, 1985
Content Type:
OPEN SOURCE
File:
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Body:
Declassified in Part -Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/03/09 :CIA-RDP90-009658000807490032-2
Y
LOS ANGELES TIMES
3 December 1985
White House Seeks Input
on Information Safeguards
sy MICHAEL w1Nrs,1~i>-~ Staff w,~iter
WASHINGTON-The White
House, criticized for lax security
after the recent extraordinary
string of spying arrests, has begun
Lo seek eongrdaional comment on
13 proposals to curb the unauthor-
ised flow of classified information,
including measures to toughen in-
vestigations of news media "leaks"
and restrict photocopying of secret
documents.
National Security Adviser Rob-
ert C. McFarlane will act on the
recommendations in about a month
and is ezpected to grant them "a
fair degree of approval, if not
complete approval," said Steven
Garfinl~el. head of the federal In-
formation Security Oversight Of-
fice.
The proposals were sent Friday
to 10 Senate and House committees
with Jurisdiction over classified
materials, with a request that they
comment before the year's end.
None of the proposals would re-
quire congressional consent .
The measures, prepared for
McFarlane by an 11-agency panel
that included the CU, the Justice
Department and the military ser-
vices, would largely revise a 1982
preaident3al order that itself had
tightened restrictions on classified
materials. They were drafted in the
wake of last summer's Walker..
family spy arrests, which spurred a
growing congressional debate over
the supposedly wide leeway given
the military.and other agencies to
clasedfy and distribute government
secrets.
The measures would address
several criticisms raised during
that debate, including "overclassi-
fication"-the tendency by officials
to stamp too much material as
secret for fear apt accidentally re-
leasing valuable data-and "over-
distribution" policies that give too
many persons access to secrets.
A summary sent to the congrea-
sional committees acknowledges
that some efforts to curb alleged
shoed of the security system have
failed to get results
The summary concludes, for ex-
ample, that many executive-
branch agencies distribute classi-
fied material 'bn an automatic and
recurring bash" without deMding
whether readtrs need to know
certain secrets. And it warns that
programs giving some workers
special access to secrets outside the
normal security system have "pro-
liferated" without internal con-
trols.
Among other steps, the proposals
would:
-"Encourage" agencies to place
controls on photocopying of all
classified material. Current rules
restrict copying of "top secret"
material but leave restrictions on
lesser secrets to the discretion of
the agencies involved.
-Order the attorney general to
toughen the rules for investigating
news media "leaks" because~ "cur-
rent investigations ... usudlly do
not lead to successful prosecutions"
of news sources.
-Require workers to report in-
stances of improper classification of
secrets, rather than giving them
discretion on whether to do so, and
set up a system to protect employ-
ees from retaliation for criticizing
the classification system.
-Require all agencies to review
the distribution of classified mate-
rial at least annually.
Some of the same problems were
cited two weeks ago in a Pentagon
report that complained of sloppy
controls on defense-related secrets
and recommended strict new curbs
on military employees' access to
classified mat~riala.
Declassified in Part -Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/03/09 :CIA-RDP90-009658000807490032-2