CIA ASKED COLUMNIST TO KILL INVASION STORY

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000100170030-3
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: January 11, 2012
• Sequence Number: 30
• Publication Date: October 13, 1980
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/11: CIA-RDP90-00965R000100170030-3
PORTLAND OREGON JOURNAL
13 October 1980
CIA asked columnist to kill'
invasion story
Columnist Jack Anderson said in Port-
land on Monday he would not have re-
leased a controversial column detailing
-preparation of a proposed U.S. invasion of
- Iran if the CIA had put in writing that its
publication would jeopardize national se-
curity.
But Stansfield Turner, head of_the CIA,
refused to do so, Anderson said. The con-
troversial column ran on Aug. 18 in news-
papers around the country, including The
Journal.
"Turner called me and said if I ran the
column I would compromise national se-
curity," Anderson said. But he said Turner
refused to put his concerns in writing and I
therefore he decided to go ahead with the
report.
Anderson had referred to the possibility
of an invasion in earlier columns, men-
tioning that the Russians apparently were
aware of such activity.
The Washington, D.C., columnist is
here for an address sponsored by the Ore-
gon Episcopal School.
publicans are worried the Carter adminis-
will spring an "October surprise"
tration
to boost the incumbent's re-election bid.
`"The Republicans are sufficiently con-
cerned that they have put together a task
t it
h
'
a
see if they can determine w
force to
might be, and then possibly discount it,"
he said.
He said it .could be another effort to
rescue. the! hostages, even though Iran and
Iraq are,, at' war and the Soviets have
warned, the United States to stay out of
the two countries.
The widely syndicated Anderson called
the Carter administration "the most inept
I have seen in my 32 years iri Washing-.
But he said he has. no great enthusiasm
for Ronald Reagan, the GOP standard
bearer.
"Carter has some bright people, but
they don't have any authority," he said. .
He said the incumbent, like President
Nixon, distrusts the so-called "Washing-
ton establishment" and takes all his
advice from his "Georgia cabinet.
"To a distrubing extent, Carter is very
much like Nixon," said Anderson. "Both
men are introverted and tended to run the
country from a glass bubble." . ,
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/11: CIA-RDP90-00965R000100170030-3