MARCHETTI V. UNITED STATES

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80-01601R000200120001-9
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 60
• Document Creation Date: December 9, 2016
• Document Release Date: December 29, 2000
• Sequence Number: 1
• Publication Date: December 30, 1972
• Content Type: NSPR

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Marchetti oUni United Stat-es
By Kenneth McCormick of course, the Pentagon Papers case
?1 1 a tenxornrv period
t
The ray of hope of reassertion and
protection of our rights of free speech
and press-which many had when thus
Supreme Court ruled against restrain-
ing publication of the Pentagon Papers
-has faded.
While many civil libertarians have
pointed out the dangers of sanctioning
even temporary prior restraints, as
was done by some of the Justices in
the Pentagon Papers opinions, a sub-
sequent case, in which the Supreme,
Court has just denied review, raises
the specter of Government censorship
to a far greater degree-Marchetti v.
United States.
In April 1972, the Government in-
stituted legal proceedings against
Victor L. Marchetti, a former C.I.A.
agent, by obtaining a. temporary re-
strainin g order from the United States
District Court for the Eastern District
of Virginia. The temporary order,
which later became a preliminary and
permanent injunction, requires Mar-
chetti to submit to the C.I.A., thirty
days in advance of release, all writ
ings,-even fictional, which relate or
purport to relate. to intelligence, intel-
ligence activities, or intelligence
sources and methods, The C.I.A. may
forbid disclosure of any information
which it has classified and which has
not been placed in the public domain
by prior disclosure. The basis of this
broad injunction was a secrecy agree-
ment signed by Marchetti in 1953
when he began working for the C.I.A.
The decision of the District Court
was affirmed, with slight modification,
by the Court of Appeals for the Fourth
Circuit. It is that opinon which now
stands by reason of the Supreme
Court's denial of certiorari.
Although the Circuit Court of Ap-
peals' opinion does allude to the im-
portance of the first Amendment, it
allows the C.I.A. full discretion to pre-
vent the publication of any material
which is "classified" and not in the
public domain. The ruling means that
once material has been stamped "clas-
sified," no court may look behind that
stamp to determine whether or not it
is reasonable--?let alone necessary.
In effect, it purports to allow the
executive branch unfettered discretion
in determining what information can
be withheld from th,e public. It. im-
poses no requirement that some need
for secrecy exi_ ts.
While a traditiaanal view of the First
Amendment wouid impose a firm man-
date a-: inst any prior restraint by the
Govcrnnurit. it c. ;;not he denied that
nr m idc
nere , as 1 I
< sere
of restraint to enable the judiciay,
at various levels including the Supreme
Court, to determine whether or not
dissemination of the publications
would be harmful to the nation. In
the Marchetti case, however, the de-
cision of the Circuit Court of Appeals
allows prior restraint by the execu-
tive branch without meaningful judi-
cial review.
Moreover, by holding that the courts
may not look behind the government
label of "classified," the Fourth Circuit
would abrogate the important role of
the judiciary to protect the First
Amendment rights of the people. To
allow the executive branch such uni-
lateral determination not only under-
mines the very purpose of the First
Amendment but it serves to weaken
the whole concept of responsible gov-
ernment so vital in a democracy.
While it is difficult to attribute any
concrete reason to the denial of re-
vicw by the Supreme Court, one can
hope that the determining, factor was
that no attempt to restrain publication
of specific. material had been made.
In its brief to the Supreme Court,
the Government argued that the issue
of prior restraint as posed by the
Marchetti situation was now only
.,academic." It emphasized that 'Mar-
chetti had not yet submitted any pro-
posed publication to the C.I.A. and
that the C.I.A. had not denied approval
for publication of any material. To that
extent, the Marchetti case can be dis-
tinguished factually from the govern-
nment's action to restrain publication
of the Pentagon Papers.
Should Marchetti proceed with his
writing and should the C.I.A. order the
deletion of certain materials prior to
publication, the Supreme Court justices
could still determine that judicial re-
view of the appropriateness of such
deletions is required.
Kenneth McCormick is senior consult-
ing editor of Doubleday.
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Of
DONALD 1k. MORRIS
Post News Analyst
A numher of federal
agencies are breathing easier
in the wake of a recent Su-
preme Court decision. The
G injunction to prevent
Viicttoorr - Iarchetti from pub-
lishing material based on his
service with there has been
upheld by the highest court in
the land.
As usual in such cases, the
issues are far from clear and
generate considerable emo-
Post Inc 1ysis
tine. :Marchetti claimed that
the injunction i~iterfered with
his freedom of speech, was
contrary to a 11'1 ruling per-
mitting the media to puhlish
portions of the Pentagon Pa-
rnrs, anti would lead o a sys-
tenlaiic scheme of censorship.
He -Was, supported by the Au-
thors tLcaguc c` Am'rica. the
Association of American Fub-
lithei?s and the American Civ-
il Liberties Union.
The injunction, issued by a
U.S.' Circuit Court in Septern-
ber, ~anrchetti to ad-
here to the secrecy agree-
ment he signed when he went
to work for the CIA in 1.956.
Th? agreement does not pro-
hibit Marchetti from publish-
Ir^-. It only requires him to
submit relevant material to
the agency prior to publi-
cation for review on security
grnuntt. ?l;s' ur rrt~cles
containing classified material.
/ The appellant is Victor P. hlar-
d chetti of Vienna, Va., formerly ex-
ecutive assistant to the d e p u t y
director of the CIA. After resign-
ing in 1,1169 he submitted an article
to a magazine which, the govern-
ment contended, would disclose
classified information about intelli.
gence sources, methods and opera-
tions. He also has attempted to
publish a novel about the CIA.
Marchetti was supported in his
appeal by the American Civil Lib-
erties Union, the Authors League
of America and the Association of
American Publishers. The appeal
said the injunction would lead to
"a systematic scheme of censor-
ship which will surely result in the
denial of the fundamental right of
the American people to be supplied
with information about the conduct
of their government."
Defending the ruling of lower
courts, the government said it is in
accord with the Supreme Court's
"consistent recognition of the need
for secrecy in the sensitive areas
of foreign affairs and national se-
curity."
Apparently little attention was
paid to the fact that Marchetti,
when he joined the CIA in 1956,
signed an agreement never to di-
vulge classified information with-
out the director's approval. One
would have to assume that he and
the American Civil Liberties Union
think his right to publish, whatcv-
er? the consequences for his coun-
try, is more important than keep-
ing his word.
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C'AN`T PUBLISH ARTICLE
J7' .fit.,
speech on
da learned The Supreme July Zofor pla ring tt apublishlantarticwas - le "Thet Rohas' pe published aboo ut la pthis oliceet.o~arr~ t foralithorit
al plea by
a Intelli- lvicared st:dc shat~ilyShould
rM, rii-
curtai',ed b
mer Central a
c Central Intelligence Agen- in "Esquire" magazine about ~ciice~t Age tcy "National
conrt,
CY employe for permision to the CIA.
publish the the age about y' s prior neys Larepresentingettht e aCIAttor- do n" magazine that was criti- ju tices declined totcgo along.
CIA ova without said that Marchetti isn't crti cal of the CIA. Von Slcichter was arrested
apTho justices, ? tled, to publish articles or Ills attorneys said he has by an officer who testified that
The a brief order
to der books dca1 t y abandoned plans 1
without comment, refused the agency ned Mans to publish the he slotted Von Slec :ter
hear the "Esquire" article, but has. "passing and changing" some-
/ appeal for Victor L, because he signed a contract
Marchetti, of ienna, Va., who with the CIA iu 1953 in titi rich signed a contract to write a thing with two other men.
he pledged never to do so. look about the CIA. When he approached Von Slei-
o 1969. worked for the CIA fram,1955 In appealing to the Sunrc me In another case involving chter, the officer said, and to 19G9 Court, the American Civil Lib- S~t- Slcichter cursed hint and ran
the ~'v ashington area, the S.
Justices William 0. Douglas, erties Union attorneys repre preme Court refused to hear wa Y.
"Wit lam J.. f>re, nn a' and sent.iz, Marchetti surd that an appeal in which it was The office found him und:cr
Potter Stewart dissented, say- fight to free order speech. violates his asked to curtail the authority Heath a car nearby. and arrest-
view would groat fullre- right to
view of Marchetti s appeal. It
They said the contract is "a to ai test per o: s~lfoi ctrsi a ?? e-d cuMin for rsing irlp bl c. \,%heu on
;.kes the till vole of fo' ): ,ii' es systematic scheme of censor-, ,
or a full court review. ship which will surely result in on Public sheets.. Sleichter climbed out from un-
? The effect of the court's ac- the denial of the fundamental. T7IE PRACTICE of arrest- ha der g the of car, heroin the where' officer fo iound a
had
lion was to ]cave standing an right of the American people ing people who titter cu se been lying.
order by Judge Albert V. to be supplied with inf.ortna- words when accosted by police
Bryan Jr. of U.S. District tion about the conduct of gov- is "obnoxious" and "a serious Von ' Slcichter was never
Court in Alexandria which ern.meta. and mulawful infingenent prosecuted for disorderly con-.
bars Marchetti from writing r- TIM C 0 U R T ORDER upon the liberty of many call- duct. Instead, he was brou l:t
s gut, the agency. 1 or- against Marchetti amounts to seas," said attorney John Van- to trial only on the narcotics
der was later upheld eld by by the "a prior restraint forbidden by de star, representing William count. He vas convicted and
4th U.S.'Court of Appeals. Von Sicichter,'rvilo was arrest- ser.:cr;ced to a fine of $100 or a
the First Amendment," they ed in Geogctoratt in 1969. jail term of 90 days. -- I It'21)
TIIE GOVERNMENT added:
sought ? the order after it Since he left the CIA, Mar- "We strenuously urged that BARNES.
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 EDITOR & t'utsiJlatir.n
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Co .rt's ruling,:
could restrain-
secrecy stories
By Luther ITustoil
Reporters who write "inside" stories
about the operations of government intel-
ligence agencies could find themselves in
trouble because of a Federal Court of
Appeals ruling in the case of Victor L.
Marchetti,
Marchetti signed a secrecy oath, which
is required of all CIA employees, when he
went to work for the agency 11 years ago.
He resigned in 1969 and wanted to write
a book about the CIA and arranged with a
publisher to publish it. His years with
CIA gave him access to many of the agen-
cy's secrets.
When the CIA ]earned of his plans for
a book, it sought an injunction against
publication, claiming the secrecy provision
of his contract applied. Opposing issuance
of a restraining order, Marchetti claimed
an injunction would infringe his First
Amendment rights.
Judge Albert V. Bryan, in U.S. District
Court, Alexandria, Va., ' rejected the
First Amendment argument, held that it
was a question of contract law, and issued
a permanent injunction. Marchetti took
the case to the Fourth Circuit Court of
Appeals.
Appeal to Haynesworth
In an opinion written by Chief Judge
Clement F. Iiaynesworth, the appellate
court affirmed Bryan's decision, holding
that the CIA's contract with Marchetti,
including the secrecy provision, was legal
and constitutional. The appeals court,
however, modified the injunction to make
it reach only to classified information,
inapplicable to information that is unclas-
sified or that has been officially disclosed.
Haynesworth wrote that, although the
upon information that is not classified and
has been officially made public, the court
First Amendment precluded restraint
in the case before it, was "concerned with
secret information touching upon the na-
tional defense and the conduct of foreign
affairs, acquired by Marchetti in a posi-
tion of trust and confidence," and the
First. Amendment argument did not ap-
ply..
Although the Marchetti case involved
only a book, the ruling could conceivably
he invoked by the government in any sub-
sequent case ` inVolying publication of
stories purporting to relate secret activi-
ties of a government agency. The Supreme
Court, conceivably, might be asked to
reconcile its ruling in the Pentagon Pa-
pers case that prior restraint on publica-
tion was unconstitutional with the lower
court judgments in the Marchetti case.
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run it. "I was the lone ethnic in the CIA hierarchy, their
1 token Wop," he said recently on a Channel 13 interview.
Obviously Marchetti was a whistle blower who should be
silenced if possible-or it may be that the agency decided
that one test case pending in the courts was enough, and
so did not proceed against McGarvey.
The Authors' League has just filed an excellent brief
in the Marchetti case which disposes of the Court of
Appeals argument. The First Amendment, the brief points
out, bars the Congress and executive agencies from im-
posing, by contract and injunction, restraints on free speech
that they could not constitutionally establish by statute
or regulation. Second, the petitioner-Marchetti-did not
waive his First Amendment rights to speak or write about
the CIA by signing a secrecy pledge. Finally, and most
important, the First Amendment rights at stake are not
solely the petitioner's; and he did not have the power
to waive them. The guarantees of the First Amendment
"are not for the benefit of the press so much as for the
benefit of all of us." Few more important cases are
.currently en route to the Supreme Court. If the Court
of Appeals decision is reversed it will be a boon for the
whistle blowers such as McGarvey and Marchetti, and
other frustrated bureaucrats who may have a mind. to
blow their whistles as a means of telling the public sonic
of the things it needs to know about big organizations,
Ralph Nader and two colleagues, Peter J. Petkas and
Kate Blackwell, have written a book on this topic (Whistle
Blowing, Grossman Publishers, 398 pp. $6.95). A good
case is made for whistle blowing not merely as a means.
of keeping alive the conscience of bureaucrats in large-
scale public and private organizations, but of getting to
the public some small part of the information it needs
in order to understand what these organizations are doing
that may adversely affect the general welfare. The book
contains fascinating case histories of thirty-three whistle
blowers who, in one way or another and at sonic risk to
themselves, have served the public well by "going public"
with their stories.
j A new recruit to the whistle blowers is Patrick J.
t/ McGarvey, who spent fourteen years with the CIA, the
Defense Intelligence Agency, and Air Force Intelligence
before telling all-or at any rate more than was comfort-
able for his former employers--in CIA: The Myth and
V' Madness (Saturday Review Press). The CIA read the
book in advance.and made a few minor deletions, but did
not try? to stop publication. The agency took quite a
different' tack with Victor Marchetti ,[see The Nation,
April 3 and May,15]. In his case the CIA obtained a
court order preventing Marchetti from writing any book
about the CIA that had not been cleared by it. The Court
of Appeals has now ruled that the First Amendment does
not bar prior censorship of the writings of former public
servants, whether established by contract or statute, to
prevent the disclosure of classified information. The case
is now on its way to the Supreme Cc-rt and, obviously,
a precedent is in the? making which could have an im-
portant bearing on whistle blowing in the future.
Marchetti feels that the CIA elected to proceed against
publication of his book for special reasons. His case did
present an awkward problem for the CIA. He comes
from a working-class ethnic background. He is in no way
a radical. He started at the bottom and rose to be execu-
tive assistant to the number-two man in the agency, Adm.
Rufus Taylor. He was one of the elite who had morning
coffee with Richard Helms, the director. He is, in his
own 'Words, "a typical Middle American," who became
disillusioned with the CIA because of its "goofed-up"
management and policies. He was particularly annoyed
by the "old boy network" that pervades the agency and
the "born-with-a-silver-spoon-in-the-mouth WASPs" who
public and private.
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DAYTON, OHIO
NEWS
161,249
S-215,360
NOV 119721'
L
And T6?u,. t To()
Pc `tin Secrets
Victor Marchetti is being made out as
some kind of hero, suffering the persecu-
tion of the Central Intelligence Agency
(CIA) which, in the contemporary folk-
Mt,; 's bad because it doesn't subject
more of its activities to popular refer-
enda.
Mr. Marchetti has.writtcii a book about
the CIA. The CIA is suing to. halt
publication. 'T'hus the. image j s set - the
open individual, clutching to his right to
Say what he wants, versus the establish-
ment spy agency.
Well, the CIA can suffer criticism, and
has. But the fact of the matter is that Mr:
Marchetti signed a contract saying he
would not write about his activities' when
he was hired' by the CIA. By giving that
pledge, he was trusted with information.
Now Mr. Marchetti wants to peddle the
secrets in a book.
behavior of diplomats who resign and
instantly reveal all their doings. Though
there could be a case for such revelations
when great national questions are at
stake, in recent years the instailt mem-
oirs have served mainly to mess up
diplomatic relations by' giving the dis-
tinct impression that anything anyone
'says confidentially to an American repre-
sentative is going to get blabbed.
This is no more acceptable than the
If- the United States wants to run the
CIA by regularly publishing all its se-
crets. and activities, it can do that.
Meanwhile, employes should be held to
their word.
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^ STA?TINTL LIBRARY JOURNAL
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APPEALS COURT FAVORS CIA District Court for the Eastern District of
IN MARCHETTI RULING Virginia a permanent' injunction stipu-
lating agency donscnt prior to publica-
A panel of judges for the U. S. Appeals tion (LJ, July p. 2326). At issue here is a
Court, headed up by Supreme Court re- nonfiction book on the agency Marchetti
ject Clement F. Haynsworth, has upheld plans to write for publisher Alfred A.
a lower court ruling restraining former Knopf, Inc. The author, who was em-
CIA agent Victor Marchetti from pub- ployed by the CIA for 14 years, has al-
lishing books or articles about that ready had published a novel and two ar-
?agency without prior authorization from ticles, all of them critical of the agency
the Director of Central Intelligence or a and of its subservience to the wishes of
designated representative. The govern- the President.
ment first took action against Marchetti The CIA contends that Marchetti is
when it moved to block an article he had bound by a secrecy agreement he signed
submitted to Esquire magazine last when first employed by the agency and
March. Its contention was that the article that this agreement is not in violation of
contained classified information con- his First Amendment rights. The de-
cerning intelligence sources, methods,.fense, which has the backing of the As-'
and operations. _ jsociation of American Publishers, has
argued that the prior restraint violated
Marchetti's rights and that it also runs
counter to the public's right to know and
be informed as established by the First
Amendment. Moreover, it contends that
the decision is in direct conflict with the
recent Supreme Court ruling permitting
publication of the Pentagon Papers. 'I n a
similar action against a publisher, the
.CIA put the heat on Harper & Row: first j
by demanding to see galleys of Alfred
McCoy's The Politics of heroin in
Southeast Asia and then by issuing a cri-
tique of it, charging that McCoy had
falsely accused the agency of drug
trafficking. In this case, however, the
CIA backed off from any court action,
and Harper proceeded with publication
(LJ, September 15, p. 2792-94).
The three judges on the Court of Ap-
peals panel unanimously ruled in favor of
the government agency in the Marchetti
case. The court added; however, that the
author could seek judicial review of any
CIA disapproval of a manuscript for
publication. It further stipulated that the
CIA must act promptly to approve or
disapprove any material submitted to it.
Undue delay, said the panel, would im-
pair the reasonableness of the restraint,
and that reasonableness is to be main-
tained if the restraint is to be enforced.
Marchetti's lawyer, Melvin L. Wulf of
the American Civil Liberties Union, has
announced that he will take the case to
the Supreme Court.
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STATINTL
John area.
tvcomiment
Critical Documentar
e:y
Foriner CIA'Man
VICTOR MARCHETTI wrctie a book about spies, but the
spies, ignoring what "The Godfather" did for the Mafia, don't
want Marchetti's work published. Marchetti's problem is that
the spies in his book are the good guys, officially, and judges
often side with them. A New York television station has made
a film about the conflict. -
Marchetti was an executive assistant to a deputy director
of the Central Intelligence Agency, V. Adm. Rufus L. Taylor,
when Marchetti quit the CIA. in 1969. He wrote a novel about
the organization that nobody complained about (or read, ap-
parently), but now he has done an outline of a more factual
book and the government espionage people are trying to pre-
vent its publication.
-Barbara Gordon, who produced a one-hour documentary
about Marchetti for New York City's educational station,
WNET, said, "This film is not an expose of the CIA. It is
about a man who believes the ' CIA must be limited in its pbw-
ers, and what.has happened to him since he became convinced
of,,this."
,.':A major publishing firm has tentatively agreed to print
Marchetti's book, but it probably will be the United States Su-
preme Court that will decide whether the former CIA man can
be stopped. Employes of the CIA are required to sign an oath
saying they will not write about the methods of the organiza-
tion after they leave - unless the writing is censored by the,
!CIA - and the court must determine whether such an oath is
constitutional. The American Civil Liberties Union says it is
]tot.
The file on the case is labeled "Victor Marchetti Vs. Unit
ed States of America," and that is the title. of the television
Alm.
Among the reasons ? Marchetti wants the public to know
more about the CIA is, that he is convinced that this highly se-
cret organization, with some co-operation from the President,
can start wars without a single Congressman being consulted.
Ms Gordon hopes that the program about Marchetti will be
shown by educational stations throughout the country. A print
'pf, WNET's film can be obtained for $100-$150, she said.
"Marchetti is not some irresponsible radical," Ms Gordon
said. "He joined the 'CIA after he graduated from college in
'1055 because he felt Communism was a menace then. He cried
when he' left the CIA, but he is convinced that it is a bigger
threat to our freedom than Communism."
WNET will show the Marchetti film tomorrow night. Un-
lesstelevision viewers in other cities indicate enough interest,
,New Yorkers may be the only ones who will see it. St. Louis's
KETC-TV has usually decided that there is minimal interest in
specials of this type, even when produced by Public Broadcast-
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.classroom programs. Besides, KEIC-TV 1s televising the am-
::elot auction this week.
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ACLU To h se Marchetti
1 0%
N-M se T o S re rr: e Court
The government's injunction against
unauthorized publication by author Vic-
tor L. Marchetti of classified information
relating to his experiences as an em-
ployee of the Central Intelligence Agency
contains a threat of broad-scale censor-
ship, according to the American Civil
Liberties Union, %~hich has asked the Su-
preme Court to review the case.
The immediate efTect of a recent U.S.
Court of Appeals decision upholding a
government-sought injunction against
the former CIA employee will, among
other things, "introduce a systematic
scheme of censorship which will surely
result in the denial of the fundamental
right of the American people to be sup-
plied with information about the conduct
of their government," the ACLU said in
an August 21 petition to the High Court.
Marchetti, who was hired by the CIA
in 1955 and resigned in 1969, published
several articles and a novel, "The Rope
Dancer" (Grosset & Dunlap), in 1971
dealing with CIA-related experiences. He
had other articles and books drawing on
his intelligence background in the works
when the government took action against
him last April.
The government said Marchetti was
,bound by secrecy agreements with the
CIA not to disclose anything relating to
the agency or his work there without
prior authorization by the Director of
Central Intelligence.
A? U.S. District Court judge issued a
temporary restraining order against dis-
closure of such information in future arti-
cles, books or radio and television ap-
pearances.
After losing a bid to dissolve the re-
straining order, Marchetti appealed to
the U.S. Appeals Court for the Fourth
Circuit. That three-judge court sitting in
Richmond, Va., on September II re-
nmanded the case to the District Court
"for the purpose of revising the order to
limit its reach to classified information."
Marchetti is entirely within his First
Amendment rights to publish materials
which are not classified or which have
been placed in the public domain by prior
disclosure, the Appeals Court said.
The ACLU, acting on behalf of
Marchetti, has taken issue with the Ap-
peals Court on several grounds. In its pe-
tition for Supreme Court review, the
ACLU said that the CIA prohibition
constitutes a prior restraint forbidden by
the First Amendment. The ACLU also
challenged the authority of the Federal
courts to impose such restrictions on
publication and asserted that Marchetti
had been denied due process of law by the
government's "intolerable degree of con-
trol" over his defense.
"The court must also ? confront the
prospect that approval of an historically
forbidden prior restraint on behalf of the
CIA today," the ACLU petition said,
"will yield an argument by the govern-
ment tomorrow that similar restraints
may be imposed against employees of the
State Department and the Department of
Defense (including members of the
Armed Forces), and, the day after tomor-
row, against employees of the Depart-
ments of I Iealth, Education and Welfare,
and Housing and Urban Development."
In other words, "this case has a critical
bearing upon the continuing right of
American citizens to know what their
government is doing," the ACLU as-
serted. "The Constitutional prohibition
against prior restraints is of critical im-
portance because a prior restraint, as op-
posed to a system of subsequent criminal
sanctions,-cuts off at the very source the
ability of citizens to secure access to in-
formation."
Furthermore, the ACLU said, the rul-
ing of the lower courts "allows the CIA
a completely free hand to designate ma-
terial as classified and surrenders any ju-
dicial responsibility for determining
whether the designation is reasonable or
even cal;: icious."
The Appeals Court took the position
that while the First Amendment limits
the extent to which the government may
impose secrecy requirements on its errs-
ployees, the government does have au-
thority to make binding contracts against
disclosure of "secret information touch-
ing upon the national defense and the
conduct of foreign affairs."
While the public has a right to know,
there are sonic circumstances in which
the government has a duty to withhold,
the three-judge court said in its unani-
mous decision. "Although the First
Amendment protects criticism of the
government, nothing in the Constitution
requires the government to divulge infor-
mation. _
"Since information highly sensitive to
the conduct of foreign affairs and the na-
tional defense was involved" in the
Marchetti case, the court said, "the law
would probably imply a secrecy agree-
ment had there been no formally ex-
pressed agreement, but it certainly lends
a high degree of reasonableness to the'
contract in its protection of classified in-
formation from unauthorized disclo-
sure." SUSAN VAGNER
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 STATINTLSTATINTL DAILY
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1"111 f15 } CIA
TC71-.1CIt COI.!lt'I'
V AS1f1NG'il The Alrieric;in
Civil 1_ibnrtic I:j,i,)n 1~*oundaIiaii
has petitioned the U.S. Supreme
Court to revcrsc the Sept. 11
decision of the U.S. Court of
Appeals in the curse of ex-CIA
a ent Victor L. '11:il hotti, claim-
111c" that the Co; rt has allowed
co r-orsl~ip in the ; :.archetti case.
The U.S. Court of Appeals up.
held an earlier' culing by the
District Court c.hich held that.
i iarciietti may not write or
speak about stutters which -re-
late to or purport to relate to
thr_' Central Inte)Upence Agency,
intelligence activities, or intelli-
gence sources or methods" with-
outp iorCfA clearance.
The court also held that the
CIA may deny clearance of in-
formation which is "classified
and which has not-been placed
in the public domain by irrior
disclosure."
The ACLU petition declared,
..The instinct of government. of-
ficers to classify indiscrii:~i late
ly is a notorious fact. This case,
therefore. has a critical hcar-
ing . upon the continuing right.
of American citizens to know
what their government is do-
1 ng ..
The petition further states that,
if the CIA is allowed to control
its former employees' publica-
tions about its activities. other
government agencies are likely,
to claim the same authorit}'.
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 ~~S,nnTnnATINTL rr s OW-8
STAT"R.roved For Release 0d 91i ga'('9 16
agency, 'db1i6ty - director Adm.
fir' t Ef ;w1' .:.7 `..r( .Gh7
4: ~.J d L.a L-1 L_.1 w.: L:a V
And living to tell about it, more or less
By Henry Allen
You'll never . . . there's no way.
... you have to be in it to .. .
understand.
Victor Marchetti, poor 'boy
from a Pennsylvania mining town,
former- bright young man of the
Central intelligence Agency exec-
utive suite, understands. He
spent 14 years with the CIA. Now,
he's fighting an agency suit to
censor anything else he writes
about intelligence. His novel, The
Rope Dancer, startled old agency
friends with its bitterness, and his
article in The Nation attacked the
whole show out there in Langley.
But he still understands--that's
something you never lose. He
understood, perhaps, on the very
moment it all began, one spring
night in 1955, when he walked
into a hotel room in University
Park, Pa. and mot the man with
two fingers missing from his ciga-
rette hand, one of those old GSS
spook types, magnificently diffi-
dent, the right schools, the right
scars--the recruiter.
Trying to make you understand,
Marchetti tells you:
"On the way down in the eleva-
tor, afterwards, he put his arm
around my shoulders and he said,
'Marchetti, you're the kind of guy
we're looking for. You're not just
one of these colic- .'e boys. You've
knocked around--Paris, the Army
"If that guy had given me a gun
and told me to go assassinate
Khrushchev, I would have left for
Moscow right from the hotel
lobby."
But finally, this former bright
young man, this spoilt priest of
the curia of American intelligence
--finally Marchetti shrugs and
tells you: "You'll never . . .
there's no way ... you have to be
Init..."
One afternoon in 1'G9, Mar-
despair of a man who has lost his
faith. It was over.
He had just sat across the desk
from Richard Helms, director of
the CIA, for the last time, had told
him no, he wasn't moving to an-
other job, but yes, he was work-
ing on a spy novel.
It came out in 1971. It was about
a poor boy from a Pennsylvania
mining town who makes it all the
way up to executive assistant to
the deputy director of the Na-
tional Intelligence Agency, and
then, for no apparent reason,
starts selling the Soviets every
secret he can xerox, photograph
or tape-record.
Helms had noted Marchetti's
steady rise from a year of clandes-
tine field work to the analysis
desks of the Intelligence Directo-
rate, to a slot on the national esti-
mates staff, which measures mili-
tary and political potentials of
other countries; then up to the
executive suite to he the "token
dago" as Marchetti puts it, of the
14 men who attended morning
coffee every weekday at 9. They
were all "spooks," Marchetti re-
calls, meaning that the inner cir-
cle that runs the CIA is not com-
posed of the sort of tidy intellec-
tuals who could spend 20 years
studying Kurdish newspapers
down in the directorate, but of
the guys who savor they spook
gargle for the game's sakcl_ev-
erything from locking the type-
writer ribbons up at night to run-
ning airlines in, say, South Amer-
ica; everything from "termination
with extreme prejudice," which is
what the CIA calls assassination,
to the toppling of a particularly
aggravating Middle Eastern re-
girne.
Marchetti was executive assist-
ant to the number-two man in the
Rufus Taylor.
In 1969, at 39, Marchetti looked
like a comer----dressing a bit less
establishment than the pin-stripe
CIA dons, and sometimes playing
the professional Italian, which
was strange, seeing that his
ancestors were German-speaking
Tyrole`ans, only Italian by sur-
name---but still promising. "I
never thought of Vic as naive,"
says an associate from those days.
"Vic was smart. Smart and . . .
can't think of the right word ... it
isn't 'devious'. . ."
Perhaps he only needed a little
seasoning. Perhaps he could have
risen very high if, like most men
in very high places, he learned to
relish working not only on the
strengths of his convictions or his
cynicisms, but on pure animal
survival instinct.
Anyhow, Helms had seen it
happen to a lot of bright young
men. He had seen them go stale,
get nervous, get bitter or compla-
cent. Sometimes they quit, like
Marchetti. Sometimes they built
little bureaucratic fiefdoms for
themselves. Sometimes they just
waited out their pension time.
It was the kind of sea change
that's an occupational hazard in
any outfit that demands loyalty
bordering on infatuation--the
Marine Corps, for instance, or
some Ivy League colleges-the
kind of organizations whose min-
ions purse their lips and nod their
heads every so often and vow that
they're "going to write a book
about it someday.
So Marchetti wrote his book
about it.
"Listen, I'm no Daniel Ells-
herg,"he says ndw. "I never loved
anything in my life so much as the
CIA. I was going to be one of
these guys who get special dis-
pensations to keep working past
retirement age. I wanted to die
with my boots on."
(Between discreet "no com-
ments," a former supervisor of
Marchetti let slip a surprised,"Crh,
really?" when Marchetti's enthu-
siasm was quoted to him.)
chetti dr?vq~' f ''r ` le480-01601 R000200120001-9
monoxide a. __ . L c 1. , a7
he was crying with the spastic Style section of The Washington
continued
~TATINTL
 STATINTL
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CHICAGO, ILL.
DEFE 9 2 8187B
DAILY - 21,124
WEEKLY - 23.695
~
"CID. p
''.?...~ III/
WASHINGTON, D. C. -
The American Civil Liber-
ties Union Foundation ask-
ed the U. S. Supreme Court
to reverse the Sept. 11 de-
cision of the U. S. Court of
Appeals in the case of ex-
CIA Agent Victor L. Mar-
chetti, claiming that the
Court has allowed censor-
sSip in the :Marchetti case
in direct conflict with the
decision of the U. S. Su-
preme Court last year in
New York Times v. United
States.
Marchetti, author of the
novel, The Rope Dancer,
has a contract with Alfred
Knopf to publish a book
assessing American intelli-
. gence practices. The CIA
obtained a Federal District
Court order forbidding Mar-
al etti's disclosure of any
.-information about the CIA
without the CIA's prior ap-
proval.
The U. S. Court of Ap-
peals for the Fourth Circuit
substantially u p li eld the
District Couri's ruling. It
said Marchetti may not
write or speak about matters
which "relate to or purport
to relate to the Central In-
telligence Agency, intelli-
gence or intelligence activi-
ties, or intelligence sources
or methods" without prior
CIA clearance. The CIA
may deny clearance of "in-
,formation whiol: is. classified
and which has not been
placed in the public domain
, by prior disclosure."
The ACLU Foundation
notes in its petition to the
Supreme Court that the CIA
itself decides which infor-
mation is classifield. There-
fore, the Fourth Circuit's
opinion gives the agency
unlimite d discretion to keep
information from the public.
In the New York Times
case, on the other hand, the
Supreme Court said publi-
cation of information could
be restrained only if the
government could prove in
court that disclosure would
"surely result in direct, im-
mediate and irreparable in-
jury to the Nation or its
people.
"The instinct of govern-
ment officers to classify in-
discriminately is a notorious
fact,"- the ACLU 'oundation
says. Further, if the CIA is
allowed to control its former
omp10yoes' publications -
aboiit its activities, other
government agencies are
likely to claim the 'same
authority in the future.
"This case, tLLerefore, has
.6 critical bearing upon the
continuing right of American
citizens to know what their
government is doing." The
petition points out that "the
facts a b out the MyLai
massacre, f o r e sample,
were gathered almost entire
sonnet."
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 STATINTL THE HOUSTON POST
Approved For Release 2001/61f4V*"C&Zl DP80-01601 R
By DONALD H. MORRIS
Post News Analyst
fidentiai sources of information, Marchetti r-e-
fains the same unimpaired right as any citi-
zen to publish unclassified material or classi-
By a unanimous three-man decision on Sept. fled material which has been otherwise dis-
1.1, `a federal court of appeals upheld the Cen- closed (such as the Pentagon papers). Ile is
Crecy agreements signed by its former em undisclosed classified material to which he
ployes. it was the first judicial recognition of had access as the result of his employment.,
the validity of the agreements, which thou- The CIA, in turn, is bound to respond within
sands of federal officials have signed. 30 days to any material Marchetti submits for
The decision stemmed from the activities of review. But the court added that it sees no
Victor Marchetti, a CIA employe from 1953 reason for subsequent judicial review of any
until 1969. Marchetti signed a secrecy agree- material the CIA chooses to object to,
ment: before entering on duty, and a second The CIA has consistently maintained that it
one on his resignation. Both in effect bound does not: object. to and will not take action
him not to publish undisclosed classified ime.tc` against material attacking its policies and
rial f-'Avhich he had received as a result. of r
pactices, but will act to bar publication of
his employment, unless specifically authorized material hearing on the security of. its collet
in writing b}' the director. lion sources, successes and techniques.
t is difficult to criticize policies and
Since his resignation, Marchetti has publish- Since it'
ed ?a novel patently based on his CIA ex- practices without touching on techniques, this
periences and a magazine article criticizing a t a t c in c n t is obviously open to mis-
CIA policies and practices. lie has appeared interpretat ion, but the CIA's track record in
on TV and radio shows and has given press the 25 years of its existence generally con-
interviews. The government: took no action firms its stand.
against these activities. A considerable amount of material has In
In March, 1972, Marchetti submitted an ax- fact been published by former employes. Most
ti.cle based on his employment to various of it, but far from all, has been submitted for.
magazines, and submitted the outline of a pro- review. When. material is submitted, the CIA
posed book to a publishing house. does not censor criticism as such (alt.hough it
The CIA went to court as a result of the frequently offers material in rebuttal for the
proposed book. A district court ordered author's edification), but, limits itself to mark-
Marchetti. to submit his fiction and nonfiction' ing disclosures of sensitive sources and tech-
writings which bore on intelligence to the CIA niques, the use of which it then "negotiates"
30 days before their release to any person or with the author.
Corporation, and a court of appeals has now . The majority of former CIA employes who
upheld this order, do write about intelligence have a perfectly
Clearly at stake was a possible infringement clear idea of what material is not yet known
of Marchetti's right of free speech under the to opposition intelligence services (specifically
First Amendment. The court found for the the KGB), and avoid it. This results in the
government on the basis of the agreement publication of a certain amount of material.
Marchetti signed in 1955. which, while perhaps new to the public, is in
The court pointed out that freedom of -fact already known to the KGB and thus "sur-
speech and of the press were neither abso- faced."
? lute nor irrational, and detailed numerous Material emanating from non-CIA employes,
areas in which limitations were imposed on; not signatories to secrecy agreements, is in a
both `speeches delivered orally or writing. different category, The CIA is again relatively
It also mentioned such special areas as ac- uninterested in criticism, ? oily in the dis--,
counts of criminal careers written by federal closure of sensitive sources and techniques.
prisoners, a right used by the government to In a recent case, for example, a non-CIA
prevent certain publications in the Valachi employe wrote a scholarly book describing the
-case. drug traffic in Southeast Asia, in the course of
To these areas the court has now added the which he accused the CIA of abetting the na.r-
government's right to protect secret and con- cotics trade. ThQ national security was not in-
volved, and the CIA took no court action. It,
did, however, request advance review of the
manuscript, which the publishers provided
over the objections of the author. The CIA
then provided material rebutting specific
charges, the publishers chose to ignore the..
material and the book was published as writ-
ten. The government took no further action.
STATINTL
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 0 FEW YORK TIMES
Approved For Release 2001103/04.c qtA#-FP80-01601
STATINTL
STATINTL
~> l> ~!?( ~ rF}'. t of nos Car e Arr iy~a
P `c1?e by L.Pb, F'd
~ - ~ k ~ E.-1,:-,U
1 y LES L EDRTTFR
The United States Court of
Appeals for the Fourth Circuit
has upheld a lower court ruling
restraining a former agent Of
the Central Intelligence Agency
from publishing books or arti-
Icles about his former employer
without prior authorization,
from the Director of. CentralI
Intelligence or a designated
representative.
The three-judge panel ruled;
in the case of Victor L. Mar
chetti, who left the agency ink
1.969 after 14 years, serving,
his last three years as execu-
tive assistant to the deputy
director.
The judges ruled unanimous-
'Iy that Mr. Marchetti would
not. be deprived of his right to
speak and write about the in-
telligence organization as long
as he did not. "disclose classi-
fied information obtained by
him during the course of his
employment which is not al-
ready in the public domain,"
Articles Blocked
Victor L. Marchetti
mediately," said the attorney,
Melvin L. Wulf, legal director
of the American Civil Liberties
Union.
On June 30, 1971, by a vote
of six to three., the. Supreme
Court refused to restrain pub-
lication of the Pentagon papers
by The New York Times and
The \Washinz:ton Post because
The Government brought. its the Government did not prove
action against Mr. Marchetti to that its reasons for wanting the
block an article he had sub-
mitted to )"squire magazine last
March. It contended that the
article contained classified in-
formation concerning inl.elii-
gonce sources, methods and
,operations:
In the opinion last Monday,
Chief Judge Clement F. Baylis-
worth Jr. wrote for the corm:,
"Marchetti by accepting em-
ployrnent with the C.I.A. and
by signing a secrecy agreement
did not surrender his First
Amendment rights of free
speech, The agreement is en-
forceable only because it is not
a violation of those rights."
The court added that Mr.
Marchetti could seek judicial
review of any CIA disapproval
of a manuscript for publication,
The attorney for Mr. Mar-
chetti denounced the newest
setback for his client as per-
mitting "an extraordinary bur-
den to be imposed upon First
)Amendment rights and is in di-
rect: conflict with the Supreme
Court's opinion in the Pentagon
papers case."
"We shall of course take the
case to the Supreme Court in-
articles stopped outweighed the
constitutional guarantee of
freedom of the press.
Referring to the question of
restraint prior to publication,
the appeals court said, "Be-
cause we are dealing with prior
restraint upon speech, we think
the C.I.A. must act promptly to
approve or disapprove any ma-
terial which may be submitted
o it by Marchetti. Undue delay
would impair the reasonable-
ness of the restraint, and that
reasonableness is to be main-
tained if the restraint is to be
enforced."
Mr. Marchetti wrote a novel,,
"The Rope Dancer," published
by Grosset & Dunlap, shortly
after leaving the C.I.A. In the
hypothetical adventure story,
the "National Intelligence
Agency" distorts facts to fit
the desires of the President and
plots to overthrow the Govern-
ment of Colombia.
He also published an article
in the April 3, 1972, issue of
The Nation entitled, "C.I.A.::
7 he President's Loyal Tool,"
which criticized the agency and
its activities.
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 ^ i3ALTIlft~R) i]t.~l'I
STATINTL
Approved .For Release 2001 /0` 'O d RDP80-01601 R
STATINTL
'Ex-CFA.aide, loses
bid to publish book
Biclimorid (Special)-A for-
nier employee of the Central
Intelligence Agency yesterday
lost a move to dissolve a court
injunction that prevented him
from writing a book about se-,
cret activities of the espionage
agency.
Victor L. Marchetti, who wasl.
executive assistant to the CIA's
deputy director when he re-
signed in 1969, claimed that he
was denied his right of free
speech by the injunction.
But. Mr. Marchetti, whose
claim was supported by the.
American Civil Liberties
Union, was granted a chance
to argue that, the court. re-
straint on him is too broad and
should be modified--even
though it cannot be dissolved
completely.
The case was decided in an
,opinion prepared by Chief
Judge Clement F. Ilaynsworth,
of the Fourth Circuit Court of
Appeals.
Mr. Marchetti admitted that
he signed an agreement with
the CIA that bound him to
silence about the ultra-secret
activies of the agency.
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 :l ; S -pt 3.9 72
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t> EX--CIA IM MARCHETTI LOSES ANOTHER ROUND
The authority of the Central Intelligence Agency to impose a secrecy oatl.7. on i.t.s
employees was upheld by the Fourth U. S. Circuit Court of Appeals in iti.chmond, Va.,
last week. The appellate court affirmed an injunction. granted last May by Juclge
Albert V. Bryan in Federal District Co6.r.t in Alexandria, Va., restraining Victor
L. Marchetti from publishing a book about the CIA. In a 3..-O decision, written by
Chief Judge Clement F. lla.ynesworth, the court held that the provision, in the CIA's
contracts requiring an employee to pledge under oath not to publish infor_mnation
about the agency (even after separation from it) was legal- and constitu.t:i_onal. It
is the position of the American Civil. Liberties Union, which represents Marchetti,
and the Association of American Publishers, which has filed an a7:ni_cus brief on his
;behalf, that a citizen can't sign away his rights under the First Amendment - even
if he wants to. Judge Bryan., however, when granting a permanent injunction, held that
contract law, rather than the First Amendment, applied. In sustaining Judge Bryan's
ruling, Judge Haynesworth wrote, ?V . . . we are here concerned with secret information
touching upon the national defense and the conduct of foreign affairs." The govern-
ment's right to''cra.join applied to such information, the appeals court said, but not
to unclassified or previously disclosed information. The case was remanded to the
district court to limit the reach of the restraining order to classified information.
Marchetti, who resigned from the CIA in 1969 after 1.4 years, is the author of the
spy novel "The. Rope Dancer" (Grosset & Dunlap) published last fall. He has a contract
with Alfred A. Knopf to write a nonfiction. book about the agency and it is this book,
still unwritten, which is cause of the present legal maneuvering.
June 5, July 31.)
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 WASHINGTON POST
Approved For Release 2001 /03.(04s I*RDP80-g 1i 0200120001-9
C4 J'. `- . a ,
', -~~f
is l e1d
RICHMOND, Vv.; .Sept, 11,
(AP) The Youth U.S. Mr-
cult Court of Appeals today
upheld the authority of the
Central Intelligence Agency
to impose P. Secrecy ohth on.
its emplo5-ees, but:, restricted
the scope of the .oath to-mat-1
tern that have been classified:.
The case involved an at-
tempt by Victor L. ili.archetti,
a former. CiA employee, to re-
Move himself from the oath
so he can publish a. book about
the CIA. 'Marchetti resigned
iti..19G9 after working for the
agency for 14 years. HIS posi-
tions Nvitli the CIA included
that of executive assistant to
;the, deputy director. /?
Last May, U.S.' ])istrict
.Court Judge Albert V. Bryan
Jr. of Alexandria, Va,, granted
the government a restraining
order prohibiting, 1Glarchet.ti
from publishing information
about the CIA.
In upholding Judge Bryan
by a 3-0 vote, the appeals
court said the secrecy oaths
are 1eg al and constitutional
contracts.
-The decision was written by
Chief J u d g e Clement F.
Haynesworth.
'].'he First Amendment pre-
cludes restraint. upon infor-
mation that is unclassified or
has, been officially disclosed,
iiaynsworth wrote, "but we,
are here concerned with secret'
information touching upon the
national defense and ,the con-
duct ` of foreign affairs, ac-
quired by Marchetti in a'posi-
',ton of trust and confidence,"
The case was remanded to
U.S.' District Court to limit
the reach of the restraining
order to classified information
and to allow Marncattt to pur-
sue further legal action.
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 STATINTL TEE NEW YORK TINES BOOK REVIEY,7 "
3 S.ep'temper I~72
- . Approved F N ease 0./0.04: CIA-- HOPI OF 1
STATINTL . The a,..A@ as JOOx v e
In any case, it is not the univers:
practice in ? publishing to let the C.LI
By RICHARD R. LINGEx AlT review every book about it before pubi
cation. According to Robert Bcrristei7
- ,?
Time was when the Central Intelli president 'of Random House, his compa.i
gence Agency was accused of some par- twice refused such requests.
ticularly dirty trick by the press it would Last Word That there are circumstances wi reply blandly, "Tile. C.I.A. neither con- which the C.I.A. wants to play we rol
firms nor denies the charge." Recently, of pre censor is shown by the rilarchet
the agency has departed from case. Mr. Marchetti, who' had airead
however
,
its customary inscrutability; it has doffed --- -? written an unimpressive novel about
}he cloak, drawn the dagger and inter- C.I.A. man, signed a contract with Alfre
vened openly in the book-publishing _ wrote a book on drug abuse and was glad A. Knopf for a nonfiction work about tti
process. The most publicized of these, , to accede to the publisher's suggestion agency. In April the agency went t
interventions has been its demand to that an expert read it over for possible court and gat an injunction against. tl:i
examine, prior to publication, the manu- errors, And, of course, Harper & Row -book on the grounds that as a form anienaf!.e?
If not, it will be alienated, and ultimately destroyed.
That is the paramount issue of the Victor Marchetti censor-
ship case. [See Marchetti's "The CIA: The President's
Loyal Tool"; The Nation, April 3.]
Marchetti, now 42, graduated from Pennsylvania State
University in 1955 with a degree in Russian studies and
history. He was recruited for the CIA by a professor, who,
.interestingly enough, was secretly on the agency's payroll
as a talent scout. In time, Marchetti was promoted to
the CIA executive staff and served finally as executive
assistant to Adm. Rufus L.' Taylor, deputy director from
1966 to 1969. Marchetti was with the agency for fourteen
years, resigning in the same year as did Admiral Taylor.
Obviously, Marchetti knows a lot about the CIA-that is
part.of the trouble.
Ile was well thought of by his colleagues. Richard
Helms, CIA director, presented him with an autographed
picture inscribed, "To Vic-With appreciation for his
support." But the longer Marchetti served the CIA the
less he appreciated it and its work. Among his reasons
for leaving Ile cites "the clandestine attitude, the amorality
of it all, the cold-war mentality-these kinds of things
.made me feel that the agency was really out of step with
the times." And: "It's one of my strong beliefs that the
-CIA has to be more tightly pverviewed by Congress. As
it is now, the agency operates almost exclusively under
the authority of the President." Thus the CIA is one of
the factors in the subordination of the legislative branch
to the executive. For that matter, once it is let loose on a
project, the agency is subordinate: to the executive itself
ernment is whether a U.S. citizen can agree to waive.
freedom, of conscience, of thought, of moral sentiment in
the manner prescribed by the CIA. The case dramatizes
the fact that the CIA is essentially an alien institution---
alien to American custom, alien to the constitution, and
incompatible with both the forms and the spirit of democ-
racy. In our view, Marchetti not only has the right but
the moral obligation' to write his book, just as it was his
moral obligation to write the article commissioned by
The Nation.
A ruling to that effect by the federal courts would not
impose an unreasonable limitation on the proper and law-
ful activities of the CIA, or any other agency. It can set
up rules, office policies, and normal administrative means
of enforcement, but it cannot compel a former employee
to waive his freedom to say or. write what he sees fit, once
his employment is terminated. If an agency of the govern-
ment deems something that has been published to be in
violation of law, it may proceed against the author and
publisher, but pre-cetcrAiipl WrLepugnant to American
institutions.
only in a very loose sense. As everyone now knows, it is
carrying on a war in Laos at a cost of roughly $500 mil-
lion /
a year, using tribesmen as mercenaries and running
its own, airlines, etc. In the Kansas City area it maintains
an arsenal, with a "huge inventory" of weapons for its,/
foreign operations; it has bases for training. and ether
purposes elsewhere in the United States.
The Marchetti case assumes constitutional importance
because Mr. Marchetti, when he joined the CIA, signed
the usual agreement not to write or talk about the agency's /.
activities even after he left it. Marchetti came to the at-
tention of The Nation when he wrote a spy novel, The
'Rope Dancer, which had apparent reference to the CIA.
Since this was in-fictional form it does not appear to have /
agitated the CIA management; nor did The Nation article V
which, together with some interviews Marchetti gave to
newspapers, was read by Admiral Taylor, who 'had some
reservations about accuracy but concluded that there was
nothing damaging in any of the material. But when Mar-
chetti contracted with Alfred A. Knopf to write a non-
fiction book about the CIA, the government got into
action. Although Marchetti is willing to have the CIA re-
view the book for classified material, the government went
before U.S. District Judge Albert V. Bryan, Jr. in Alex-
andria, Va., and obtained a temporary restraining order
prohibiting Marchetti from writing the book for Knopf-
a book of which lie has not yet set down a single line.'
The American Civil Liberties Union is trying to get the
restraining A 1pr eFoiv 1e'Ateu2O1 103/04 :.CIA-RDP80-01601 R000200120001-9
The' question raised by the action on behalf of the gov-
 STATINTL
6 May 1972
Approved For Release 2/4I
ook' turns
-01601
But His Old Boss, the CIA, Goes to Court,
Says . is New Book Would Spill Some Secrets -
By Michael T. Malloy From CIA: No Comment
Ballplayers leave baseball and write The Government said this amounted to
tsooks about what's wrong with it. Soldiers a legal contract. It contended that Mar-
leave the Army and write books about chetti violated the contract by sending his
what's wrong with that. Victor Marchetti -writings to a publisher. On this ground it
quit his job and sent an outline of a book obtained clear his awritinas n injunction requiring days his old business to a New York pub-
fore showing them to anyone else. If Mar-
"Then last Tuesday the roof fell in, lie chetti violates the injunction, he can go to
jail for contempt of court.
said between court appearances last week. The Government's use of this circuitous
"'Marshal Dillon and Chester came to the
door and, presented me with some legal route to head off a possible breach of secu-
paper~. Being just an ordinary guy with rity is unprecedented, lawyers say, with
three kids living in suburbia, I didn't know the possible exception of an obscure case
during World War I. But it offers the Gov-
where to go for advice. I called my agent .
and hollered, `Help!' " ernment a method to silence Marchetti
Marchetti's publishing problem is that Without a difficult and time-consuming ef-
he used to work for the Central Intelli- fort to prove that the information in his ar-
gence Agency (CIA). The 'legal papers titles was damaging to national security.
constituted a court order requiring him to If the CIA's case, holds' up, it needs to
clear anything he writes about intelligence prove only that he violated an agreement
matters, even fiction, with his old em- that he readily admits signing.
ploycr. If the order holds up ih further The CIA has a' policy of taking its
4 court tests, it could give the Government a lumps in silence, so no spokesman was
crew way to plug "leaks" of classified in- available to defend its position. But others
formation. Looked at another way, how- familiar with the. security laws said the
ever, it could give the Government a pow- laws paradoxically could require 'the
erful new tool for suppressing informed agency to bring Its secrets into open court
prose-
debate of its military and foreign policies. in order to protect them, and that a prose-
cution could leave Marchetti free to write
ACLU. Answers Call and speak for months on end as courts and
J' "It's no less important than the Penta- juries made up their minds.
gon Papers case," says Melvin Wulf, legal
director of the American Civil Liberties
Union (ACLU), which immediately re-
sponded to Marchetti's call for legal
help. "If they establish this precedent,"
Marchetti contends, "it means no Govern-
ment employe who had access to classi-
fied information will be able to criticize
the actions of the Government."
The Government's action grows out of
a manuscript that Marchetti submitted to
Esquire magazine and a book outline he
J
tion to Jack Anderson to support the opy"
posite position, they'd go to jail."
Marchetti didn't start out to be a cru-
sader, and he still doesn't want to go to
jail for the sake of civil liberties. He left
the CIA after 14 years in 1069, at least
partly because of the here-I-am-going-on-
40-and-what-have-I-accomplished blues. He
did believe the intelligence apparatus
had become too big, too expensive, and too
frozen in Cold War attitudes, but mostly,
he says, he wanted to be a novelist.
Security vs. Image
He has since published one spy novel,
The Rope Dancer; which he first showed
to the CIA. ("Pretty trashy," says Admiral
Taylor.) And he wrote one highly critics,"
magazine article, which he didn't clear
with the agency.
' "In my opinion, this and other things
Victor Marchetti says are-damaging to the
image of constituted authority, and it does
no good to do things of this sort," Admiral
Taylor says of the article. "i3ut I person-
ally perceived no outright security
breach."
Marchetti suspects that the intelligence
agency is more concerned about its image
than any security breach in his new manu-
scripts, which Admiral Taylor hasn't seen.
"The CIA have been the golden boys of.
the Federal Government, the American
James Bonds," Marchetti says. "Very few
people have ever spoken out against them.
This is a new experience for them and I
A Matter of Security guess they didn't like it.
"Ex post facto action against unautho- "Look, I'm very reluctant to use the
rized? disclosure is always difficult," says 1initials of the agency where I used to
retired Adm. Rufus L. Taylor, for whom work," Marchetti frets, as he tries to de-
Marchetti was executive' assistant when scribe his criticisms of the CIA without
Taylor was deputy director of the CIA. violating the court order.
"You've always got to prove damage to
the national security and sometimes even
intent to damage national security."'
To Marchetti and his-ACLU lawyers,
that Is just the point. They say the
breach-of-contract argument makes it pos-
sible for the Government to silence its
critics without proving that they had en-
dangered national security. They say the
information in Marchetti's manuscripts
did not present such a danger, and that
the secrecy "contract" is legally unen-
forceable because it compels an employe
to sign away his freedom of speech.
"A Government agency can still use
classified information to support its poli-
cies and build its image," Marchetti
argues. "When the military budget comes
up, all this stuff about Russian missile
c
to not reveal an
without wrIULan i r the c i1~t~ es QQ~~t~~to su ort its ost,
agency. 06vd'orr easetiazinu'a ahdt~i PB(11a410
But if somebody took the same informa-
sent to Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., a publishing
house. A CIA agent obtained copies of
both, and the agency went to court con-
tending the works contained classified in-
formation whose publication would do "ir-
reparable damage" to national security.
To knowingly transmit such informa-
tion to anyone else, including a publisher,
would seem to leave Marchetti open to
prosecution -under laws that prescribe a
l0-year prison sentence for violators. But
the Government made a different case. It
agreement while with the CIA, promising
lassified information
y
Whipping the KGB
But in abstract terms, and trying to
avoid any concrete examples that could
put,him in jail, he argues that the agency
has succumbed to the mental inertia that
afflicts any bureaucracy when it faces no
outside pressure to change. "It's very
hard for a bureaucracy to reform, itself,"
he says.
Marchetti would like to see an intent-
gence system that was smaller, cheaper,
more subject to congressional control, and
less influenced by the military. He be-
lieves the CIA should stick to intelligence
gathering and abandon political missions
like those that helped overthrow govern-
ments in Iran and Guatemala, and in.--
volved the United States in a secret war in
"The CIA can take pride that the3'
fe man3
1(APY7~ I Bps tain
1 d agger operation.-
 ` ALEXANDRIA GAZETTE
*T84A For Release 200110Ap&A-HP80-01601
'would be made following the
ekiy rante J May 15 hearing.
~f fi Marchetti admitted after yes-
's hearing that his novel,
d
t
ay
er
teativel "The in
t~ Case
fi E Y se the Cellar "t is based on Rat t ex-
dis-
periences in the CIA. He
Ex- I -ikg e n t counted, however, the co`