(SANITIZED)

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Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 
CIA-RDP94B00280R000700070020-3
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RIPPUB
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T
Document Page Count: 
9
Document Creation Date: 
December 22, 2016
Document Release Date: 
March 11, 2011
Sequence Number: 
20
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Publication Date: 
November 6, 1985
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FORM
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STAT Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/03/11: CIA-RDP94B0028OR000700070020-3 Next 3 Page(s) In Document Denied Iq Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/03/11: CIA-RDP94B0028OR000700070020-3 Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/03/11: CIA-RDP94B0028OR000700070020-3 ARTICLE AP,'~' L ~ED ON PAGE 1- i..~ WASHINGTON TIMES 24 October 1985 Sporkin faces Senate questions about role in probe of CIA leak By Bill Gertz THE NMSHINOTON TIMES The Senate Judiciary Committee today will examine allegations that CIA general counsel Stanley Spor- kin acted improperly during a Jus- tice Department investigation of a senior CIA official suspected of leaking classified information, con- gressional sources said yesterday. The committee has scheduled closed hearings on Mr. Sporkin's_ nomination to a federal judgeship on the U.S. District Court for the Dis- trict of Columbia. Mr Sporkin is expected to be questioned about his relationship with former CIA National Intelli- gence Officer Charles E. Waterman, the congressional sources said. Also facing questioning are CIA Director William Casey and several Justice Department officials. The committee is examining whether Mr. Sporkin, a former enforcement chief at the Securities and Exchange Commission, shielded Mr. Waterman from federal investigators and arranged free legal counsel for him when he was under scrutiny for alleged disclo- sure of CIA secrets. Mr. Sporkin did help Mr. Water- man secure counsel of Washington attorney Seymour Glanzer, a former special prosecutor in the Watergate affair. Mr. Glanzer, in a telephone interview last night, denied that he provided free counsel to Mr. Water- man, but he declined to comment on the financial arrangement. He also is expected to testify today. CIA spokesman Patti Volz denied that Mr. Waterman was provided with free counsel. "While he [Mr Sporkin] did advise Waterman to get a lawyer," she said, "he did not tell him he would be able to get one free of charge" Senate investigators are looking into why Mr. Waterman was not pros- ecuted, congressional sources said. Mr. Waterman, 46, directed CIA analyses of Middle Eastern affairs until last year when he left the agency after polygraph tests he took showed inconclusive results, sources said. The tests related to unauthorized disclosure of CIA secrets relating to political, military and economic developments in the Middle East, sources said. The CIA confirmed that Mr. Waterman served as a national intel- ligence officer and also as deputy chairman of the National Intelli- gence Council until 1984. National intelligence officers advise the director of Central Intelligence. Mr. Waterman, reached by tele- phone in Northern Virgina, declined to comment on the allegations or his reasons for leaving the CIA. Concern has been growing among intelligence officials over the con- fidentiality of classified materials. FBI Director William Webster tes- tified before the Senate investiga- tions subcommittee 'Iliesday that many government employees and members of the press "have become numb or lost respect for the princi- ple of confidentiality." "[And that] forms the basis for the illegality because distributing clas- sified information is illegal;' Mr. Webster said. He pointed to the case of Samuel Loring Morison as an example. Morison was convicted on espionage charges last week in a Baltimore federal court for passing U .S. intelligence photographs to a trade publication. According to one intelligence source, the National Security Agency intercepted in June 1982 several cables from Washington to a large Asian corporation that described details of Middle Eastern military, economic and political intelligence matters. The NSA traced the data to the CIA's National Intelligence Daily (NID). The NID is an internal digest circulated to approximately 200 senior govern- ment officials. The intercepted information included top secret, "code-word" data on the Iran-Iraq military standoff, U.S. plans to halt purchases of Libyan oil and details of internal Iraqi political developments, the source said. The secrets were col- lected from U.S. spy satellites and by NSA intercepts of foreign govern- ment communications, the source said. NSA security officials contacted the FBI, and its investigation led to Mr. Waterman, the sources said. He was given several polygraph tests - all of which were inconclusive with regard to questions of unauthorized disclosure of secret data, the source said. The investigation also linked Mr. Waterman to Richard Straus and Kenneth Wollack, who are employed by a Washington-based consulting group called the Middle East Policy Group. The group publishes Middle East Policy Survey, a bi-monthly newsletter that is noted for carrying intimate details of Middle East affairs. Asked whether Mr. Waterman had supplied CIA information to the con- sulting firm, Mr. Straus said, "I knew Charlie Waterman, and he never leaked any secrets" After the FBI polygraphs, Mr. Waterman acknowledged providing classified information. But during an investigation by the CIA's Office of Security, which included addi- tional polygraph tests that bolstered the FBI findings, Mr. Waterman recanted his initial statement, the source said. Both the Justice Department and CIA Office of Security moved to prosecute Mr. Waterman on espi- onage charges. They were put off the investigation at the request of CIA Director William Casey, sources close to the investigation said. Those sources also said Mr. Casey circu- lated a memo in an effort to clear Mr. Waterman of accusations of wrongdoing. Mr. Casey dismissed Mr. Water- man from the agency. Mr. Waterman currently works as a foreign affairs consultant and reporter for the Christian Science Monitor. His arti- cles have appeared periodically since December 1984. The CIA vigorously denied that Mr. Casey had any involvement in curtailing the investigation of Mr. Waterman. "Mr. Casey has not used his posi- tion to influence any security inves- tigation, and I emphasize any," said Ms. Volz, the agency spokesman. She said Mr. Casey as a rule "advocates vigorous pursuit of the facts" Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Strom Thurmond, South Carolina Republican, and Sen. Jere- miah Denton, Alabama Republican, are opposing Mr. Sporkin's nomina- tion on the basis of alleged impropri- eties in protecting Mr. Waterman from prosecution, congressional sources said. Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/03/11: CIA-RDP94B0028OR000700070020-3 Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/03/11: CIA-RDP94B0028OR000700070020-3 ARTICLE A ED ON PAGE NEW YORK TIMES 25 October 1985 Casey 'n' Sporkin, Sporkin 'n 'Casey By JEFF GERTH SgeW to Ths Now York Tim= WASHINGTON, ? Oct. 24 - Some view them as an odd couple. William J. Casey, 72 years old, is a rich conservative who often speaks in cryptic mumbles. Stanley Sporkin, 53, is a loquacious man of modest means and a more liberal bent. But for all their seeming differ- ences - Mr. Sporkin says one of the few things they have in common is a love of chess - the two men are close friends, the ideological and social fis- sures between them bridged over by a personal loyalty and respect devel- oped through years of working to- gether in public life. Frlendehipo Do Develop Washington tends to polarize per- sonalities, politics and power being what they are, but such friendships periodicially develop, and a right- wing Republican and leftwing Demo- crat might end up as drinking buddies or a labor lobbyist and corporate law- yer end up shunting business toward one another. Thus it comes as no surprise to those familiar with the Casey-Sporkin friendship that Mr. Casey, the Direc- tor of Central Intelligence, is sched- uled to appear at a closed hearing of the Senate Judiciary Committee next week to testify in behalf of Mr. Spor- kin, the C.I.A.'s general counsel, who has been nominated to be a Federal judge in the District of Columbia. Mr. Casey normally does not get in- volved in a Washington issue such as the nomination of a judge. But this case is of special interest. An Unusual Effort When President Reagan nominated Mr. Sporkin 16 months ago, it was at Mr. Casey's urging. And since then Mr. Casey has per- sonally lobbied in behalf of Mr. Spor- kin, an effort that one Administration official said was unheard of for Mr. Casey. Alan B. Levenson, a senior partner at the law firm of Fulbright and Jaworski, who once worked at the Se- curities and Exchange Commission with Mr. Casey and Mr. Sporkin, de- scribed their relationship by saying: ` It's really a matter of chemistry. Their mutual respect is for both the thinking and judgment of each other, which doesn't necessarily mean they It a Mir. Casey and Mr. Sporkin began developing a friendship back in the early 1970's at the S.E.C., where Mr. Casey was chairman and Mr. Sporkin was working in the enforcement divi- sion, Investigating corporations, in- cluding some clients Mr. Casey had represented earlier while he was practicing law. Later, when Mr. Casey went to the C.I.A., he took Mr. Sporkin with him. "Their relationship shows how some deep bonds of respect can get forged when people work together in public life in this town," said one White House official. On a Watergate-Era Matter Whenever questions have arisen through the years about Mr. Casey's private business investments, his ini- tial failure to put his assets into a blind trust or his conduct in govern- ment, Mr. Sporkin has been in the forefront of his defense. It was Mr. Casey's judgment 13 years ago to heed Mr. Sporkin's ad- vice on a Watergate-era matter that especially helped shape the Casey- Sporkin relationship. Mr. Casey, as chairman of the S.E.C., had been asked by the Nixon White House to delay the questioning of Robert Vesco in a commission in- vestigation. For all their apparent differences, the two men are close friends. Mr. Sporkin told Mr. Casey it would be inappropriate to postpone the testi- mony, and Mr. Casey took Mr. Spor- kin's advice. The matter subse- quently became an issue in the Water- gate-related criminal trial of former Attorney General John Mitchell, in which he was acquitted. "Whenever Casey had a problem, he could turn to Stanley," said Irwin M. Borowski, who worked at the S.E.C. with the two men and is now a partner in the Washington law firm of Shaughnessy, Borowski and Gagner. Honesty and Creativity "Casey wanted people who gave him honest good advice and who were creative," Mr. Borowski said. "Stan- ley was the epitome of that. That was the relationship. Out of that devel- oped a tremendous personal feeling between the two." In early 1981, when the Senate took up Mr. Casey's involvement in the Vesco case during his confirmation hearings for Director of Central Intel- ligence, Mr. Sporkin, still at the S.E.C., wrote a letter to the Senate In- telligence Committee in behalf of Mr. Casey. In the letter Mr. Sporkin de- fended Mr. Casey's actions at the (AJ Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/03/11: CIA-RDP94B0028OR000700070020-3 Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/03/11: CIA-RDP94B00280R000700070020-3 commission and praised him for ag- gressively pursuing the Vesco case, which resulted in charges of a huge financial fraud and led to Mr. Vesco's fleeing the country. "As I reflect upon the Casey years at the commission, I can truly say they were some of the finest moments during my 19 years on the commis- sion's staff," Mr. Sporkin wrote. Several months later Mr. Casey chose Mr. Sporkin to be the intelli- gence agency's general counsel, even though he _had had no experience in the field of national security or intelli- gence. "One of the reasons he wanted me was that he didn't want somebody who would tell him what he wants to hear," Mr. Sporkin said. "There's a tremendous loyalty going both ways," he said. "Casey knows his interests will be respected. We're very candid with each other. I give him my best advice. It's a mag- nificent relationship. It's almost a fa- ther-son relationship." Mr. Sporkin's father was a a com- mon pleas judge in Philadelphia. Mr. Casey, knowing Mr. Sporkin's long- time desire to emulate his father, recommended in 1984 that President Reagan nominate him to fill a Fed- eral district court post in Washington. A Convoluted Process Because of questions from both Democratic and Republican senators about Mr. Sporkin's role in various C.I.A. activities, President Reagan has had to resubmit the nomination twice to the Senate. A C.I.A. official said that one area of interest to be explored in the Sen- ate' hearing next week will be Mr. Sporkin's role in helping arrange legal counsel for a C.I.A. official sus- pected of leaking classified docu- ments. According to a White House offi- cial, the hearing, which had been scheduled today but was postponed, would probably be the last step in a convoluted and complicated nomina- tion process that has lasted 16 months. An official familiar with Mr. Spor- kin's nomination compared the con- firmation maneuvering to a chess game, an analogy that is not lost on Mr. Sporkin. "We're both avid chess players, but we never play," he said of himself and Mr. Casey. "I think he's too good for me." Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/03/11: CIA-RDP94B00280R000700070020-3 Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/03/11: CIA-RDP94B0028OR000700070020-3 ' _ ?. ';.E APB?EAR~u ON PAGE a __ WASHINGTON TIMES 29 October 1985 Vote nears on Sporkin judgeship BBr Bill Gertz VVIS***GTON ?MEs The Senate Judiciary Committee is ex- pected to take up the nomination of CIA General Counsel Stanley Sporkin to a fed- eral judgeship after more than a year of controversial Senate review. Mark W. Goodin, a committee spokesman, said the closed-door session today will deal with sensitive national se- curity information and that a vote on the nomination was not expected until next week at the earliest. "Sen. [Strom] Thurmond thinks there are serious allegations here, and he wants to make sure all the facts are made known to the committee, Mr. Goodin said in an interview "The senator is unde- cided [on the nomination], but as chairman he wants the allegations looked into and [to] let the facts speak for them- selves." Mr. Sporkin was former enforcement chief at the Securities and Exchange Commission until CIA Director William Casey appointed him general counsel in 1981. His nomination to the judgeship has been held up by Judiciary Committee members who are questioning Mr. Spor- kin's role in a Justice Department inves- tigation of a senior CIA official suspected of leaking classified information. Mr. Sporkin has denied any wrong- doing. One administration official said Mr. Sporkin's nomination has taken "an inor- dinately long time" "Since the president has demonstrated his continuing support for this nomina- tion, it certainly deserves the opportu- nity to be voted on," said the official, who requested anonymity. Allegations that Mr. Sporkin might have acted improperly during a CIA in- quiry first surfaced after the nomination was sent to the Judiciary Committee, the official said. But he added that the Jus- tice Department and the CIA have "thor- oughly investigated" Mr Sporkin's in- volvement in a probe of CIA disclosures and "feel this nomination should go for- ward:' Mr. Sporkin, Mr. Casey, several Justice Department officials and others are ex- pected to testify at the hearing originally scheduled for last Thursday. That hear- ing was postponed pending delivery to the committee of Justice Department documents related to the issue. Initially, the postponement was attrib- uted to Sen. Jeremiah Denton, who dashed off to the dentist last Thursday for emergency treatment of an abscessed tooth, sparking rumors that the Alabama Republican had been hospi- talized. Mr. Denton is said to oppose Mr. Sporkin's nomination, although a spokesman for Mr. Denton would not comment on the senator's position. Mr. Sporkin achieved notoriety as a liberal SEC official who threatened to publicize SEC investigations of corporate managers in order to force them to com- ply with the agency's regulations. Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/03/11: CIA-RDP94B0028OR000700070020-3 Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/03/11: CIA-RDP94B0028OR000700070020-3 WASHINGTON TIMES 30 October 1985 Sporkin judgeship pondered in secret By Bill Gertz a WASHINGTON TIMES The Senate Judiciary Committee, in a rare secret meeting, yesterday questioned CIA Director William Casey and several other witnesses. on the nomination of agency general counsel Stanley Sporkin to a federal judgeship. The committee, which Friday will resume its consideration of the nomination, is investigating allega- tions that Mr. Sporkin, a close Casey friend, acted improperly during a' CIA leak investigation several years ago. Mr. Sporkin, a former Securities and Exchange Commission en- forcement chief, was first nom- inated to the bench last year. His nomination has sparked a con-, troversy over whether Mr. Sporkin arranged "pro bono," or free, legal counsel and did more than advise a former CIA official that he needed a lawyer during a probe into the dis- closure of classified CIA secrets. Mr. Sporkin has said that the con- troversy involves "my role in recom- mending and assisting [the official] in obtaining counsel." "It was strictly in my role as the attorney for the CIA,' Mr. Sporkin told reporters. "This was not a. per- son I knew that well. This was strictly carrying out my responsibil- ities:' Mr. Sporkin arranged for former Watergate prosecutor Seymour Glanzer to represent former CIA National Intelligence Officer Charles E. Waterman during the CIA investigation. Mr. Glanzer, in a re-, cent interview, denied he worked "for free" but declined to specify what financial arrangements were made during the probe. The investigation focused on a leak of CIA details on Middle East political, military and economic in- telligence that was discovered in June 1982. Mr. Waterman left the CIA in late 1984. He was a senior Middle East intelligence analyst and deputy chairman of the National Intelli- gence Council, and he now works as a foreign affairs consultant and re- porter for the Christian Science Monitor. Mr. Casey was the lead-off wit- ness when the committee called its session in a secure fourth floor hear- ing room at the U.S. Capitol. All but three of the 11 witnesses scheduled to testify, mostly CIA and Justice De- partment officials, were questioned yesterday. Mr. Sporkin is expected to testify when the hearing resumes Friday morning. Committee aides said it was the first time a hearing has been closed for national security reasons. The Senate Judiciary Committee held a closed session in 1982 on the nomination of Clarence Pendleton as U.S. Civil Rights Commission chairman and held another closed session in 1983 on a judicial nominee for the federal court in Puerto Rico, according to a Senate aide. Mr. Sporkin was appointed CIA general counsel in 1981 by Mr. Casey, even though he had no exper- ience in national security affairs and, as SEC enforcement chief, had advocated more open government. He had worked under Mr. Casey at the SEC from 1971 to 1973. Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/03/11: CIA-RDP94B0028OR000700070020-3 Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/03/11: CIA-RDP94B0028OR000700070020-3 CJ-4 PZ+c WASHINGTON TIMES 1 November 1985 Sporkin may testify today on his fitness for judgeship THE WASHINGTON TIMES CIA General Counsel Stanley Sporkin is expected to testify today at a closed hearing of the Senate Ju- diciary Committee examining alle- gations that he acted improperly during a CIA investigation of na- tional security leaks, according to congressional sources. Mr. Sporkin is being questioned by the committee in connection with his nomination to a federal judgeship for the District of Colum- bia. Mr. Sporkin is expected to testify along with Justice Department and FBI officials about an investigation several years ago relating to the un- authorized disclosure of top secret information about the Iran-Iraq war, U.S. Libyan oil purchases and Iraqi political developments. The infor- mation had been collected by some of the intelligence community's most sophisticated technical spies. Mr. Sporkin publicly has denied doing anything more than his re- quired duties in notifying a senior CIA official, who has since left the agency, that he needed a lawyer. Both Democratic and Republican members of the Senate panel have charged privately that the notifica- tion tipped off the suspect that a leak investigation was under way. As CIA general counsel, Mr. Sporkin's func- tion under certain circumstances is to advise CIA employees that they need legal representation. Administration sources said the allegations concern the "most seri- ous" unauthorized disclosure of classified information from the U.S. government in the past five years. Mr Sporkin has retained famed trial lawyer Edward Bennett Wil- liams as his counsel during the Sen- ate proceedings, according to con- gressional sources. - BW Gertz Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/03/11: CIA-RDP94B0028OR000700070020-3 Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/03/11: CIA-RDP94B0028OR000700070020-3 WASHINGTON POST 4 November 1985 V THE FEDERAL REPORT Inside: the Federal Judiciary END IN SIGHT ...CIA general coun- sel Stanley Sporkin, whose quest for a federal judgeship resembles the travails of Sisyphus and the rock, is getting clos- er to his goal, sources said-last week. Sporkin's nomination to the U.S. Dis- trict Court here has been held up for 16 months because of opposition from con- servative senators including Jeremiah Denton (R-Ala.). The Senate judiciary Committee held an unusual closed-door session last week to hear allegations against Sporkin, in- cluding one that Sporkin improperly helped a Central Intelligence Agency of- ficial under investigation by the Justice Department for leaking classified infor- mation. Sources said most of the 11 scheduled witnesses testified and cleared up many of the questions in Sporkin's favor. The committee had scheduled Sporkin and the remaining witnesses to testify last Friday, but there was yet another delay, and Sporkin's testimony is now likely to be heard next week. Sources said that barring new ques- tions, Sporkin appears headed for con- firmation. Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/03/11: CIA-RDP94B0028OR000700070020-3 Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/03/11: CIA-RDP94B00280R000700070020-3 Ar, i ICLE AP'EA 13N PAGE WASHINGTON TIMES 5 November 1985 Thurmond is seeking investigation of leaks in the case of Sporkin Bye Christopher Simpson TH W SMINGTON TIMES The chairman of the Senate Judiciary Com- mittee has asked the FBI to investigate what he said was a leak of classified information that appeared in a story in The Washington Times about the nomination of Stanley Spor- kin to the U.S. District Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, a committee spokesman said yesterday. Mark Goodin, spokesman for committee chairman Sen. Strom Thurmond, South Caro- lina Republican, confirmed that Mr. Thur- mond wrote to FBI Director William Webster on Sept. 24 requesting an investigation into the source of the published information. He said this information involved national secu- rity. The story detailed the committee's ex- pected closed hearings into the nomination of Mr. Sporkin, who is general counsel to the CIA. The story included a lengthy account of classified information that federal authorities were said to have intercepted enroute to the Middle East. "The chief reason for the request is that this is a disclosure of information involving national security and that is a very serious offense," Mr. Goodin said. "We have no indication where the leak came from. This is just an attempt to ensure that the FBI investigates the leak, finds where it occurred and punishes the individual re- sponsible." Mr. Goodin said the FBI has not responded to the request for an investigation. An FBI spokesman said the bureau will respond only to Mr. Thurmond and he could not comment further. The story detailed allegations that Mr. Sporkin acted improperly during a federal investigation into a senior CIA official sus- pected of l=9r. classified information. The story told Sporkin was slated to be questioned by Judiciary Committee mem- bers behind closed doors regarding his in- volvement with former CIA National Intel- ligence Officer Charles E. Waterman. The focus of the questioning was whether Mr. Sporkin shielded Mr. Waterman from fed- eral investigators who were investigating al- legations that Mr. Waterman had disclosed CIA secrets. The story also described infor- mation the National Security Agency inter- cepted in June of 1982 as it was sent from Washington to a large Asian corporation. The story said this included classified data on the Iran-Iraq military confrontation, plans by the United States to halt purchases of Lib- yan oil and internal Iraqi political develop- ments. In addition, the story included accounts of Mr. Waterman's alleged in- volvement in passing the documents, along with details of the FBI investigation and the CIA's role in allegedly protecting Mr. Water- man from being prosecuted on espionage charges. Mr. Goodin said the committee's chief in- vestigator had access to top secret informa- tion, some of which appeared in the news story, for nearly a year before any leaks oc- curred. He speculated that the disclosures to The Times may have come from committee staff members after the information was cir- culated beyond the investigator, but that was a question for the FBI to determine. "There were facts in that story that obvi- ously originated from a review of information involving the Sporkin matter," Mr. Goodin said of the information that could have been leaked from a number of sources outside the com- mittee. "But it had to be someone with access who made the unauthorized disclosure:' Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/03/11: CIA-RDP94B00280R000700070020-3