COMFORT FOR OUR ENEMIES

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000100280004-0
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: December 19, 2011
• Sequence Number: 4
• Publication Date: November 6, 1985
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Declassified in Part -Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/12/19 :CIA-RDP9
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WASH IL'GTON T I1~1ES
6 November 1985
~'' ELMO ZUI~IWALT/ WORTH BAGLEY~'
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SOME GUYSEI.~S
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tNFo~tMAtION
to THE ENEMY
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?o A NEWSPAPER
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AlaoVr "TNE PrroPl.E'S
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0-009658000100280004-0
eon~FO~r ~e ouR ~Enn~~.s
ast Sunday; Washington Post
reporter Bob Woodward
published a story about a
covert operation supported
by the administration and designed
to undermine the Libyan regime
headed by Col. ~luammar Qaddafi.
The information was given to 1~Ir.
Woodward by "informed govern-
ment sources:'
We question the judgment exer-
cised by both Mr. Woodward and The
Washington Posi in publishing infor-
How far must the
unrestrained news
~OYrna~ist be
~~rs he is held
aaounMbls for
actions which do
more harm than
Elmo Zumwalt and Worth Bagley,
retired fYavy admirals, are nation-
~~ ~
ally syndicated columnists.
111tOr0it~~
STAT
oration which impacts so heavily on
our national security and on our ef-
forts to combat international terror-
ism. We would not have written the
story.
'IWenty to 30 years ago, no respon-
sible journalist would have printed
information of this nature without
first checking with the administra-
tion to ascertain what damage would
be done to our security by its re-
lease.
The media today seems blinded
by a competitive spirit in which a
constant emphasis is placed on be-
ing the first to break "the big news
story." However, one must ask how
far the unrestrained news journalist
must be permitted to go before he is
Declassified in Part -Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/12/19 :CIA-RDP90-009658000100280004-0
 Declassified in Part -Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/12/19 :CIA-RDP90-009658000100280004-0
~.~
held accountable for actions which
do more harm than good to our na-
tional security interests.
While efforts to curtail the pub-
lication of state secrets have, in re-
cent years, been quickly met with
cries of freedom-of-speech in-
fringement and the public's right to
know, there comes a time when one
in the media must be charged with
the responsibility -ethically and
morally - of undertaking his own
damage assessment as to the impact
the publication of such sensitive in-
formation will have on his country's
national security.
We believe dir. Woodward and The
Washington Post either made no ef-
fort to undertake such a prior dam-
age assessment or, if they did, their
assessment was grossly flawed.
The freedom-of-speech concerns
raised in opposition to efforts in this
country to impose government sanc-
tions against the release of such in-
formation, we believe, are un-
founded. Other democracies, such
as Great Britain, have found it nec-
essary to pass legislation aimed at
inhibiting the publication of state se-
crets and have not suffered unduly
as a result.
In the final analysis, such legisla-
tion became necessary because the
media, as a cornmer-cial enterprise,
proved to be motivated more by
bottom-line profits than by any com-
mitment to national interests. The
end result was that national security
suffered while the reporting of state
secrets flourished.
As the industry proved unable to
impose voluntary restraints upon it-
self, the British government was
compelled to impose involuntary
ones on the industry's behalf. Free
speech has not suffered.
In the case at hand, if one removes
the profit motive, there is absolutely
no sound basis for opting to disclose
secret information about the admin-
istration's plans to frustrate Qad-
dafi's subversive and terrorist ac-
tivities around the world. In
Qaddafi, we have a man who has
demonstrated on many occasions his
total lack of respect for international
law and order, except when it was in
his own interest to do so. His assas-
sination "hit squads" have murdered
Libyan exiles who criticized his re-
gimefrom abroad; his embassy staff
used the cloak of diplomatic immu-
oily to escape responsibility for the
death of a policewoman in London;
he continues to give financial and
moral support to international ter-
rorists.
The CIA plan reported in The Post
did not propose the assassination of
Qaddafi. Rather, it sought to give ac-
tive support to Qaddafi's opponents
in a judicious effort to tumble him
from power - an effort made nearly
impossible by The Post's disclosure.
We know from our own service in
the government that there are those
in the media who have placed such
restraints upon themselves volun-
tarily.
If one removes the
profit motive, there is
absolutely no sound
basis for opting to
disclose secret
information about the
administration s plans
to frustrate Qaddafi s
subversive and
terrorist activities
around the world.
This was demonstrated just last
month when a news agency received
a report hours before U.S. forces in-
tercepted the Egyptian airliner
which was carrying the Achille
Lauro hijackers to safety that the op-
eration was going to occur. A ham
radio operator who had been mon-
itoring conversations between Pres-
ident Reagan and Secretary of De-
fense Weinberger (both of whom
were airborne at the time) over an
unsecured line about the proposed
operation was the source of the in-
formation.
The news agency, to its credit, as-
sessed that far greater virtue lay in
striking a blow against terrorism
and not endangering the U.S. forces
charged with responsibility for de-
livering that blow than lay in being
the first to break "the big story."
It is regrettable that in the
present case, instead of exercising
similar wisdom, Mr. Woodward and
The Post gave great aid and comfort
to the enemy.
Declassified in Part -Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/12/19 :CIA-RDP90-009658000100280004-0